Surrey claimed the most dramatic of victories in an all-time classic Women’s London Championship fixture against Kent, defeating them in the last over by one wicket, on the back of an incredible 153-run partnership between centurion Maddie Blinkhorn-Jones and Charlotte Stubbs.
Chasing 267 runs in 50 overs, the Three Feathers were well on course to knock down the target, requiring 17 runs from 42 balls, before Kent fought back by taking three consecutive wickets, including those of set batters Blinkhorn-Jones (125) and Stubbs (80).
Things changed from in-control to very tense in a matter of moments as Izzy Kirby had her namesake Izzy Sidhu caught for four shortly after the run out of Charlotte Lambert for four, leaving Surrey five runs short of the target with three wickets in hand.
What made the equation tricker for Surrey was that on-field injuries picked up in the first innings had limited the involvement of batters Amy Gordon and Robyn Bentley, and the responsibility to take Surrey home was on Abbie Thompson and seamer Anna Lewis.
Lewis responded to the call and struck a vital boundary off Kirby, making the scores level with 13 balls remaining. Kent, however, kept their spirits high and stayed in the game as Megan Sturge bowled out a wicket-maiden from the other end, dismissing Thompson on the final ball.
Skipper Gordon finally walked out to the middle, but it was Lewis who would have to face Kirby in the final over of the match. In extremely tense surroundings, Kent jumped in joy when Kirby pinned Lewis lbw for four and claimed her fourth of the innings.
Bentley then joined the captain as the number eleven, and much to the relief of the visiting camp, Kirby missed her mark as Surrey claimed a famous victory with a wide ball.
For most of Surrey’s batting innings, however, tension was not the dominating emotion, courtesy of Blinkhorn-Jones and Stubbs’ 153-run stand for the third wicket. The pair put on a clinic of positive batting as they dealt with Kent bowlers in boundaries.
After Hannah Burridge was caught and bowled by Zeena Bilal for nought in the very first over, Blinkhorn-Jones took it upon herself to lead Surrey’s response. She partnered with Ellie Barker (25) for 98 runs – 60 of which came from the bat of the South East Stars’ batter.
Once Barker was clean bowled by Tilly Corteen-Coleman, Stubbs lifted some responsibility off Blinkhorn-Jones and displayed her range of shots with immaculate fluency. Both batters sailed smoothly until the collapse occurred, turning the game on its head.
Earlier in the day, Gordon had inserted Kent to bat, who lost their opener Charlotte Pope early, Charlotte Lambert (1/24) getting her caught for one.
Surrey found it difficult to break the second-wicket partnership as Megan Sturge and Isla McCulloch showed how good of a batting deck it was at Beckenham.
Debutant Sidhu, who was presented with her Surrey debut cap before the start of play, found the breakthrough when she had Sturge caught by Anjali Ketan for 48. The left-arm wrist spinner was the pick of the bowlers throughout the match, having delivered three maidens in her excellent ten-over spell and fetched 2 for 34.
For her second scalp, Sidhu clean-bowled McCulloch for 31 as Surrey wrestled back some control from the hosts.
The game continued to ebb and flow as Coco Streets (63) and Genevieve Jeer (52) rebuilt Kent’s innings before speeding up and taking Kent past 220.
Surrey seamers Lewis (2/46) and Stubbs (1/51) came back to close out the innings and removed the two set batters one by one, before Emily Thompson played a smashing cameo of 25 not out from 12 balls as Kent finished on a high, setting a target of 267 runs.
Before the start of play, a minute’s silence was impeccably observed at Beckenham in the memory of Patsy Lovell, Surrey’s most-capped women’s players. Surrey also played the game with black armbands on their sleeves.
