Treble-chasing The Blaze book their final place with comfortable win over Essex

Treble-chasing The Blaze booked their place in the Metro Bank Women’s One-Day Cup final as a nine-wicket bonus point victory over Essex Women at Chesterfield clinched top spot in the points table.

They were dislodged as leaders when they were beaten by Hampshire Women at the Utilita Bowl on Wednesday but with Hampshire having completed their fixtures needed only to avoid defeat against bottom-of-the-table Essex to regain the advantage.

They did so in some comfort, needing only 19.1 overs to chase down a modest target of 160 to win after sisters Sarah (70 not out) and Kathryn Bryce (67 not out) shared an unbroken stand of 132 against an Essex attack rarely able to cause either any problems.

Sarah Bryce said: “I think it was a great performance by the whole team, starting off with the ball. To keep them to that total was an incredible effort from all the bowlers. And then nice to be able to be clinical as well at the back.

“After the defeat at Hampshire on Wednesday, I think we just had to park it. We didn't have the best day out and we knew that. But we know what skills that we have. and if we turn up on the day, that we are a really good team. And thankfully we were able to show up well today.

“We wanted to be ruthless in the way we went about things. Sometimes these totals can actually be a little bit tricky if you dig yourself into a hole, so we wanted to come out with good intent and not give them a sniff."