Bears Women v Surrey (a): Vitality Blast preview

Warwickshire Bears Women travel to The Kia Oval to take on Surrey in the penultimate fixture of their 2026 Vitality Blast campaign.

2026-07-08T10:10+01:00

Play gets under way at 2:00pm on Wednesday 8 July. Here’s all you need to know…

Team news

Bears Women make one addition to the squad that played Yorkshire last weekend, with Charis Pavely returning after scoring two 50s in her last three matches for England A against India A.

Bears squad: Georgia Davis, Em Arlott, Hannah Baker, Sophie Beech, Davina Perrin, Phoebe Brett, Chloe Brewer, Abbey Freeborn, Katie George, Georgia Redmayne, Amu Surenkumar, Mary Taylor, Millie Taylor, Nat Wraith.

Current form

After winning three on the bounce, the Bears’ streak came to an end at home to Yorkshire on Sunday, as the visitors to Edgbaston chased 161 with just three balls remaining. Following a difficult start to the season, the Bears showed plenty of quality in putting together three straight victories, however defeat to the White Rose saw any outside hopes of reaching Finals Day disappear. Georgia Davis’ team will be hoping to finish their campaign with back-to-back wins, starting against Surrey.

In the Bears’ way is a Surrey side that are all-but guaranteed a place in the Blast semi-finals, as they bid to defend the title they won last year. With six wins from ten games, Surrey sit third in the table, and they could yet finish top of the table should they win their final two games and results go their way.

They have won two of their last three games, however fell to a nine-wicket defeat against Essex last time out.

Previous meetings

This is the second time the two teams have met this season, and it comes just 11 days after the first. On that occasion the Bears produced a dominant display with both bat and ball to ease to a 42-run win at Edgbaston.

Davina Perrin (50) and Abbey Freeborn (51) both struck half-centuries in an 88-run opening stand as the Bears set Surrey a daunting 173 for victory. In reply, captain Georgia Davis and right-arm quick Mary Taylor both took three wickets as Surrey were bowled out for 130.

This fixture is also a repeat of last year’s Vitality Blast final, where Surrey became the inaugural winners of the competition with a five-wicket victory.

On that occasion Surrey manged to restrict the Bears to 153 for nine from their 20 overs, and despite two wickets apiece for Em Arlott (two for 29) and Amu Surenkumar (two for 13), an unbeaten 63 from Grace Harris saw Surrey over the line.

Players to watch

Abbey Freeborn

A 49-ball 65 against Yorkshire on Sunday saw Abbey Freeborn go past 300 runs in this year’s Blast. It’s already her best T20 campaign to date, surpassing her mark from two years ago, with two matches remaining. She’ll look to continue that at the top of the order against Surrey.

Em Arlott

England international Em Arlott has taken three wickets in the last two games for the Bears with her right-arm pace. A genuine match-winner, Arlott took two wickets against Surrey in last year’s Blast final too.

Jemima Spence (Surrey)

Jemima Spence is having an outstanding year with both the bat and with the gloves. She added an unbeaten 69 off 41 balls to her tally of runs for the season in her last outing, which now sees her on 277 runs for the campaign.