Women's One-Day Cup 2026, BLZ-W vs DUR-W 50th Match Match Report, August 19, 2026

Superb hundreds from Kathryn Bryce and Georgia Elwiss, with a career-best unbeaten 134, helped The Blaze to their highest List A team total at 356 for 4 as the Nottinghamshire team consolidated their place as points table leaders in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competition.

The Blaze completed their 10th win from 12 matches by 59 runs on a Duckworth-Lewis-Stern calculation after a mid-afternoon downpour at Trent Bridge, where visitors Durham were bowled out for 217 in pursuit of a revised target of 277 from 34 overs.

Blaze skipper Kirstie Gordon took 4 for 54 and Grace Ballinger 3 for 44 after Mady Villiers (65 from 34 balls) and Bess Heath (57 from 28) had tried valiantly to keep their side in the hunt.

Scotland captain Bryce and 35-year-old former England allrounder Elwiss shared a partnership of 233 – another record for The Blaze and a competition record for the third wicket in the women’s One-Day Cup.

Coming just a month after they were thrashed by 10 wickets by The Blaze in the final of the Vitality Blast women’s competition at the Kia Oval, it was a chastening day for Durham, not least because Bryce was badly dropped on 22.

The Blaze, having been asked to bat first, were 51 for 1 after 10 overs when Bryce sent a leading edge looping towards backward point off Trudy Johnson. Calamitously, two Durham fielders – Elena Larosa and Abi Glen – both fancied it, but neither could take the chance.

Larosa, the Australian left-arm seamer making her Durham debut, had Marie Kelly caught at mid-off with her fifth ball as Durham’s decision to bowl reaped an early dividend. When Katie Levick joined the attack in the 12th over and had Tammy Beaumont leg before with her first ball, The Blaze were 55 for 2.

But that was as promising as the picture ever looked for the visitors as Bryce and Elwiss took charge, taking turns to inflict punishment as Durham’s bowlers regularly offered width on both sides of the wicket. They took just 14 overs to complete a 100-run partnership, and another 14 to double it.

Bryce’s hundred, her first since last September last year and sixth in List A cricket, came off 117 balls with 11 fours, many punched square of the wicket on the off side; the resourceful Elwiss’s was quicker, from 89 balls with 14 fours, as she posted her first for The Blaze.

They were finally parted when Bryce, on her highest score since her career-best 162 for Lightning against Central Sparks in 2021, was leg-before trying to reverse-sweep Scotland international team-mate Katherine Fraser’s off-spin.

Elwiss overtook her previous best of 115 for Southern Vipers, adding 69 in just 37 balls with Ireland international Orla Prendergast (27 off 18).

Gordon bowled Mia Rogers and Durham were 43 for 1 from 10 overs in reply when the rain arrived. On the restart, Hollie Armitage quickly found a fielder, and though Villiers struck four sixes, the rate required kept climbing and the wickets kept falling.

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