Freeborn credits Surrey batting as Bears fall short at The Kia Oval

Abbey Freeborn was quick to praise Surrey’s batting performance as Warwickshire Bears Women lost by six wickets in the Vitality Blast at The Kia Oval on Wednesday.

2026-07-09T09:12+01:00

Despite posting 180 for five, the Bears succumbed to a history-making innings by Laura Harris who equalled the fastest half-century in Women's T20 history to inspire the hosts to victory.

Harris matched her own record and that of Marie Kelly in 2022 in racing to the mark in 15 balls, before she was eventually dismissed for 81 off 32 balls.

Freeborn says Harris’ innings at the top of the order was key to the outcome of the game, and that on a good batting pitch, 180 was short of where they needed to be.

“Both her and Bryony Smith hit a pretty good strike rate up top and that took the game away from us,” she said.

“It was a good wicket, so we knew it would be a challenge trying to defend 180. We wanted a bit more than that.

“When Laura comes in and plays an innings like that, we probably needed 220 to 240 really.

“If we are honest with ourselves, we probably didn't do enough in any of the three facets of the game.”

Freeborn had earlier continued her fine form in this year’s Blast, notching her fifth 50 of the competition. She now has 365 runs in the Blast and sits second in the run-scoring charts.

The 29-year-old was supported by Charis Pavely (45 from 18) and Nat Wraith (42 from 30) who provided the fireworks in what looked a daunting total of 180 for 5.

Harris had other ideas though, as her second-wicket stand of 78 with Smith (54 from 28) came off just 29 balls, with the score reaching 174 before she was dismissed. Surrey reached the total in 15 overs.

The Bears will look to return to winning ways when they play their final Blast fixture of 2026 in front of a home crowd at Edgbaston on Friday 10 July. Their game against Hampshire Hawks gets under way at 3:00pm as part of a huge double-header, with the men’s team playing Glamorgan at 7:00pm. Tickets are still available.