Brooker Fifty In Vain As Middlesex Secure Commanding Win
Sat 16 Aug 2025
Becki Brooker hit a second consecutive One Day Cup half-century, but a Leicestershire batting collapse allowed league-leaders Middlesex to take a comfortable 123-run victory at Uptonsteel County Ground.
The Foxes’ skipper hit 54 in a 93-run opening stand with Prisha Thanawala (40) but saw her side slip from 93 without loss to 172 all out after Middlesex seamer Sarah Pearson ripped through the home batting lineup with figures of six for 23 from 8.1 overs.
It followed Brooker’s opposite number Saskia Horley registering a fluent hundred for the visitors as Middlesex set Leicestershire 296 for victory.
Horley’s call was correct at the toss, with the Middlesex skipper opting to bat first. Leicestershire announced three changes from the defeat to Sussex, bringing Hayley Brown, Flora Davies and Ellie Phillips back into the XI.
New ball pair Phillips and Aimee Colquhoun kept tight early control of the scoreboard and were rewarded midway through the eighth over when the latter found in-form opener Finty Trussler’s (16) outside edge.
Francesca Sweet made it two shortly after, as Gayatri Gole (8) played onto her stumps. The dismissal brought Horley to the crease and she wasted no time in getting stuck into her work, guiding Sweet’s next ball round the corner for four.
The third-wicket fifty stand was reached in 57 balls, with Horley’s accomplice Ariana Dowse contributing just 12 of those runs. The former then hit Thanawala down the ground to the fence to bring up a 47-ball half-century, while Dowse’s followed “ from a more reserved 81 deliveries “ five overs later.
Leicestershire then lost Colquhoun after being struck on the toe while fielding in the ring approaching the 40th over, rendering her unable to take any further part in the game.
The injury delay may have accounted for Dowse’s concentration as she fell for 92 three balls after the resumption, skying April Herathge to Sweet at backward point to end a mammoth 185-run partnership.
Horley brought up a 93-ball hundred in Herathge’s next over, eventually falling to Sweet for 114 at the death after her scoop looped up to wicketkeeper Sophie Bennett. Middlesex ending on 295/4.
Leicestershire made a rapid start in reply, as Brooker and Thanawala reached their fifty alliance in just 45 balls, and even that was after a run of 12 successive dot balls.
Thanawala dispatched Anisha Dissanayake to the ropes in successive deliveries to move the score to 85 without loss but the spinner got her revenge two overs later, as Thanawala missed her sweep to depart for 40.
Brooker backed up her half-century against Sussex with a 60-ball fifty as the Foxes continued to advance. But when she lofted Dissanayake to Pearson at mid-on, a collapse ensued.
No other batter made more than 15, as Leicestershire “ without the absent Colquhoun “ lost eight wickets for 64 runs. Ellie Phillips ended on 13 not out but the Foxes were 123 runs shy of their target by the time Herathge (1) was bowled by the rampant Pearson.
