Hampshire beat Essex in Women's T20 Blast

Jodi Grewcock swings a ball to leg for Essex against Hampshire

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Essex fell short in their run-chase despite an unbeaten 57 by Jodi Grewcock

Published4 hours ago

Hampshire Hawks' spinners shared figures of 5-74 to strangle Essex and secure a first Women's T20 Blast victory of the season.

Bex Tyson, Georgia Adams and Amanda-Jade Wellington's 12 combined overs went at barely a run a ball as the Hawks defended a score of 160-7.

Kate Coppack's exceptional 4-18 had kept the home side to around par, as Naomi Dattani top scored with 31.

But despite the newly capped England all-rounder Jodi Grewcock hitting a half-century, Essex fell short by 23 runs.

On three occasions during the Hampshire innings, Coppack throttled the Hawks – who had chosen to bat first – with unrelentingly accurate bowling.

Firstly, in the powerplay, where her two overs went for nine runs, with the added bonus of having Georgia Adams caught at mid-wicket.

Her third over saw her bowl Francesca Sweet – who had looked dangerous with a quickfire 20 – and only went for four runs.

And her final return, in the penultimate over of the innings, ended Hampshire's most fruitful partnership – 45 from 28 balls between Rhianna Southby and Nancy Harman as Coppack dismissed both of them in the over.

Despite that, Hampshire built a solid score, with every batter getting a start and plenty of partnerships formed, but none kicking on to help set an imposing total.

Amanda-Jade Wellington and Poppy Tulloch, combining for 21 runs off the final seven balls gave the hosts some momentum.

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Essex's Kate Coppack is also an employment lawyer

Essex had scored 76 runs in the powerplay in their win over Warwickshire Bears on Friday night but had the opposite experience when they could only muster 28 this time.

That was largely down to Dattani dismissing both Eagles openers, who were caught in the fourth over.

But Cordelia Griffith (40) and Grewcock laid down a platform with a 71-run stand but Essex could not make the most of it as they slumped in the second half of their innings.

The trio of spinners locked things down, stemmed the runs and with regular wickets, made sure of the home win, as Grewcock's unbeaten 57 off 43 balls was in vain.

Adams boasted the best of the figures with 2-26, with Wellington taking 2-27 and Tyson 1-21.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.