Barnard still believing after Glamorgan defeat

Bears’ captain Ed Barnard still believes his side can qualify for the Vitality Blast quarter finals despite their narrow defeat against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens on Friday.

2026-07-03T22:15+01:00

After posting what looked like an above-average 184/4 from their 20 overs, Glamorgan got off to a flying start in the Powerplay and despite a strong bowling display in the middle overs, the Welsh side achieved their total with seven balls remaining.

With three matches of the Vitality Blast campaign to go, the Bears can mathematically still qualify for the latter stages and will be looking to bounce back against Gloucestershire on Sunday.

“I think we've been knowing we probably need to win every game up to now and I don’t think that's changed. I think if we win three, we're in with a shout.

“It's disappointing losing tonight, but think we still played a lot of good cricket. Obviously, we're looking in a lot better place than we did in that sort of first four or five. The team looks really settled. Everyone seems to be hitting the ball well and bowling well.

“We're going to approach these last three games with a lot of confidence still. We felt like we did a lot of stuff right tonight, but we just came out on the wrong end thanks to sort of an initial period of our earnings which we didn't get right.”

Sam Hain continued his good form with the bat, adding a 63* to his unbeaten 68 against Sussex Sharks on Wednesday, while spinner Usman Tariq starred with the ball, taking two wickets for just 13 runs from his four overs.

“We thought it was a tacky pitch. We thought it's been used a couple of times and we knew it was going to grip a little bit. It probably didn't grip as much as we thought when we were batting, hence why we ended up probably getting 180 rather than 160.

“We thought top of the stumps would be a hard length. We were probably a bit too full, to be honest, in that first six, which hurt us.

“I think a lot of the chat coming off from the batters was 160 would be a good score, so to end up at 180 we were really pleased. Obviously Beau and Hainy batted brilliantly there in a partnership and then Dan at the end giving us that sort of impetus.

“Fair play to their opening batters, they came out and played some really good shots. We probably didn't get it quite right, missed our execution in that front six and we were always facing an uphill battle after that. We did well to stay in the game. Usman was brilliant, to take it right to the wire. I think that power play in our innings probably just killed the game a little bit.”

Share this post

Bears Women v Yorkshire (h): Vitality Blast preview

Warwickshire Bears Women entertain Yorkshire at Edgbaston Stadium on Sunday 5 July, looking to continue their fine run of form. Play gets under way at 11:30am as part of another Sunday double-header at The People’s Home of Cricket. Here’s all you need to know… Team news Bears Women have named a 13-player squad for the visit of Yorkshire, with the playing XI set to be announced at the toss. Bears squad: Georgia Davis, Em Arlott, Hannah Baker, Sophie Beech, Phoebe Brett, Chloe Brewer, Abbey Freeborn, Katie George, Georgia Redmayne, Amu Surenkumar, Mary Taylor, Millie Taylor, Nat Wraith. Current form drag embedded asset published Georgia Redmayne (4) What a turnaround from the Bears since the Blast returned. Three wins from three have kept their slim hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the competition alive. It all started with a dominant 42-run victory over Surrey at Edgbaston at the end of June. That was followed by a nerve-shredding one-run win away against Lancashire last Sunday, before they returned to Edgbaston on Wednesday, toppling Essex by five wickets in a low-scoring game. With several players finding form with the bat, and the bowling unit able to restrict runs in recent outings, the Bears are playing their best cricket of the season. In contrast, Yorkshire are still searching for their first win of the competition having endured a testing run of fixtures. While they have yet to register a victory, they have been close to getting over the line on several occasions. Their season-opening game against The Blaze was decided with three balls remaining and they missed out against Essex by just three runs. Previous meetings drag embedded asset published Warwickshire Bears (2) This will be the first meeting between the two teams in the Vitality Blast. Yorkshire didn’t feature in last year’s inaugural season of the women’s tournament however were added to the Tier 1 competition for 2026 following the ECB’s annual county-by-county review. The teams have met once this season, doing so in the Metro Bank One Day Cup. On that occasion at Scarborough, it was the Bears that came out on top, winning by three wickets as they successfully chased down 239 for victory. Players to watch drag embedded asset published Amu Surenkumar (4) Amu Surenkumar Amu Surenkumar produced an outstanding spell in Wednesday’s victory over Essex, running through their top order to put the Bears in control. The right arm pace bowler took two wickets in an over, and ended with figures of three for 22 from her three overs. Georgia Redmayne A match-winning 43 not out in the Bears’ last fixture saw Georgia Redmayne help her side to a third successive win. The Australian has found form over the last few weeks, registering her first 50 of the campaign against Hampshire before last Wednesday’s winning knock. Jess Jonassen (Yorkshire) Jess Jonassen is Yorkshire’s leading run-scorer in the competition, and the Bears are all too familiar with her qualities at the top of the order. The Australian scored a brilliant 110 off 102 balls when the two teams met in the One Day Cup in May. The left-handed batter is also a quality operator with the ball.

16 hours ago