Women's Finals Day Dreams Ended With Semi-Final Defeat To Middlesex

Leicestershire Women’s magical T20 journey came to an end at the semi-final stages as Middlesex won a DLS-affected clash at The County Ground, Northampton.

Scarlett Hughes scored 47, while in-form opener Francesca Sweet added 38, but Middlesex capitalised on tricky bowling conditions to canter to their revised target of 108 with 3.2 overs remaining.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to field first, but were put to the sword early on by destructive opener Sweet and Leicestershire captain Becki Brooker, who both took two boundaries apiece in the opening couple of overs.

Sweet cut three Katie Wolfe deliveries to the ropes in the fifth over to advance the score to 38 without loss before Brooker (16) top edged a sweep to Rachana Cambampaty two overs later to leave the Foxes 43 for one.

It did little to deter Sweet’s attacking inclinations. The 20-year-old “ who came into the day as the leading run-scorer in the entire competition - struck Cambampaty for successive boundaries to bring up the Foxes’ fifty at the start of the eighth.

She eventually perished to Hannah Davis “ bowled for 38 off 33 balls “ but the passing of the torch to Hughes was glowing. The Blaze loanee swept impeccably on several occasions before portraying her power to smash Cambampaty through the covers for her sixth boundary.

Wickets fell steadily at the back end of the innings, including Hughes for 47 (37b), as Leicestershire looked to accelerate the rate. Ellie Phillips’ five-ball 13 “ featuring a massive six off Middlesex skipper Saskia Horley in the final over “ taking the Foxes to 140 for seven after 20 overs.

Then came the rain. A lengthy delay postponed the resumption until 1:30pm, with Middlesex’s revised target 108 off 14 overs.

Opening duo Issy Routledge and Finty Trussler made a rapid start, taking 54 from the first five overs, as the rainfall curbed any possibility of early swing for Leicestershire’s reliable new-ball pair Emma Thatcher and Ellie Phillips.

Sweet added some calmness to proceedings with her first over yielding just three runs. But, as the ball became increasingly tricky to grip and field, Routledge (45*) and Trussler (52*) accelerated their attack, getting Middlesex home by 10 wickets with 20 balls to spare.

Leicestershire return to action on Saturday away at Glamorgan in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.