Somerset Women v Essex Women
Vitality Blast
Cooper Associates County Ground
Tuesday 08 July 2025 | 2:30am start
Team News
Somerset Women: Bex Odgers, Niamh Holland (c), Ruby Davis, Fran Wilson, Jess Hazell (wk), Alex Griffiths, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Chloe Skelton, Mollie Robbins, Olivia Barnes, Erin Vukusic.
Essex Women: Lauren Winfield-Hill (wk), Grace Scrivens (C), Cordelia Griffith, Jodi Grewcock, Maddie Penna, Jo Gardner, Eva Gray, Sophia Smale, Kate Coppack, Esmae MacGregor, Abtaha Maqsood.
Match Details
Umpires: Ben Peverall & Rose Dovey
Match Referee: Wayne Noon
Toss: Somerset Women win the toss and elected to bowl
Result: Somerset win by 4 wickets
Post-Match Reaction: Jodi Grewcock
Match Highlights
Match Report
Amanda-Jade Wellington played a match-winning innings under pressure as Somerset beat Essex by four wickets at Taunton’s Cooper Associates Ground to register their first win of the Vitality Blast T20 campaign in their tenth game.
The Australian international raised 29 from 23 balls, struck 4 fours and shared in a crucial stand of 45 off 29 balls for the fourth wicket with Fran Wilson, who contributed 41, as the home side chased down a victory target of 156 with three balls to spare.
Esmae MacGregor claimed 3-19 to keep Essex in the hunt, but Wellington and Alex Griffiths, required to score 16 runs off the final 17 balls, held their nerve to carry the Cider county to their first win of the season at headquarters.
Returning from England A duty, Jodi Grewcock top-scored with 45 from 34 balls and shared in a stand of 58 for the third wicket with Cordelia Griffith, who contributed 31, as Essex posted 155-5 after being put into bat. The pick of the Somerset bowlers, Wellington returned figures of 1-25 from four overs.
Deputising for the injured Sophie Luff, stand-in Somerset captain Niamh Holland won the toss, inserted the opposition and watched her bowlers reduce the visitors to 30-2 in 4.1 overs. Lauren Winfield-Hill plundered three boundaries in moving effortlessly to 19 from 14 balls, only to be cut down in her pomp by an Olivia Barnes delivery that pinned her in the crease. Three balls later, fellow opener Grace Scrivens followed the former England batter back to the pavilion after pulling a shortish ball from Erin Vukusic to mid-wicket for six.
Charged with the task of repairing the damage, Griffith and Grewcock advanced the score to 40-2 at the end of the powerplay and 66-2 at the halfway stage, despite finding boundaries hard to come by. The 50 partnership occupied 45 balls and Griffith, having raised 31 from 29 balls, was beginning to accelerate when she attempted to pull Mollie Robbins to the deep mid-wicket boundary and succeeded only in finding Alex Griffiths with the score 88-3.
That was the cue for Grewcock to take centre stage, the England A batter opening her shoulders to harvest three successive fours in an over from Barnes as the fielding side came under real pressure for the first time. Grewcock had made 45 from 34 balls and was eyeing a half century when she gave the charge to Amanda-Jade Wellington’s leg spin and holed out to Vukusic at long-on.
Essex were 115-4 in the 16th over with work still to do as Jo Gardner joined Maddie Penna in the middle. These two staged a useful stand of 40 from 27 balls, Australian Penna scoring 21 at a run a ball and the forthright Gardner 22 from 12 deliveries, to hoist Essex to a competitive total.
Somerset required the reassurance of a good start and Bex Odgers and Holland provided exactly that, adding 41 in five overs before the former blotted her copybook and top-edged to short third man for 20 off the bowling of Eva Gray. Holland had also scored 20 when she surrendered her wicket in similar fashion next over, skying a catch behind off Esmae MacGregor as the home side slipped to 41-2.
Buoyed by her half century against Hampshire last time out, Fran Wilson hit the ground running as Somerset passed 50 in the seventh, while debutant Ruby Davis calmed any nerves by straight-hitting Gray for four as the third wicket partnership began to profit.
These two added 46 in 36 balls and were threatening to take the contest by the scruff of the neck when Davis, having raised 19 from 16 balls, attempted to reverse sweep MacGregor and was adjudged lbw with the score 87-3 in the 12th.
Wellington drove Grewcock down the ground and pulled Smale for four to serve notice of her intentions, but Abtaha Maqsood and MacGregor kept things tight to push the asking rate above eight. Somerset’s fourth wicket pair took 15 off the 15th, bowled by Smale, at which point they required 35 off the last five.
Victory looked to be a formality, only for Wilson to dance down the wicket and lose off stump to MacGregor with 24 needed off 22 balls. Wellington then hit Scrivens to long-on in the final over, but Griffiths and Chloe Skelton saw the job through.
Purchase your England v India tickets!
The England Men under 19s are playing in a four day Test match at the Ambassador Cruise Line Ground this summer!
They will face India Men under 19s, including 14-year old IPL superstar Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who became the youngest player bought in an IPL auction after being selected by Rajasthan Royals. He is also the youngest player to score a century in IPL history!
Day one will begin on July 20 with the final day concluding on July 23.
Tickets are still available via our Ticket Site, so have a browse and get yourself down to CM2 to watch the next generation of international cricketers.
