Northamptonshire Steelbacks Women’s winning start to the Vitality Blast came to an end on Sunday afternoon thanks to a clinical bowling display from Derbyshire Falcons Women, winning by seventeen runs.
After Gemma Marriott won the toss and put the Falcons into bat, the visitors got off to a fast start in a productive powerplay, with Jessica Couser and Lara Shaw putting on forty-one for the first wicket, eventually taken by the impressive Lenny Sims, who took 3-21 off her four overs.
The Steelbacks wrestled back momentum in the middle-overs, taking two wickets in two balls in the thirteenth over, with sharp work in the field by Beth Ascott leading to a run out, before Anisha Patel took a sharp chance off her own bowling to dismiss Ella Porter, leaving the Falcons reeling at 79-5.
However, as the boundaries dried up, Derbyshire’s running between the wickets proved vital on a slow pitch as they passed three figures before Rhiannon Knowling-Davies and Adrianna Darlow provided some late innings runs to set the Steelbacks 118 to win, Couser top scoring with a well-made thirty-one at the top of the innings.
The Steelbacks failed to make the most of their powerplay, though, as Maria Andrews led the Falcons attack who reduced the home side to 18-4 inside the opening five overs. Captain Marriott was first to go before a flurry of single digit scores had the Steelbacks facing a heavy defeat until Abby Butcher’s impressive hand of 47 heaved Northamptonshire towards the target.
Wickets continued to tumble around Butcher, though, as Andrews took a superb 5-17 off her four as the Steelbacks limped towards one hundred after Butcher was stumped looking to advance down the wicket and keep the run chase alive with three overs remaining.
Some enterprising batting from Patel at the end, finishing unbeaten on sixteen, saw the Steelbacks finish on 101-9, seventeen runs short of the target and forced to settle for defeat against a Falcons side who barely put a foot wrong in a clinical twenty overs in the field.