Bears Women are looking to take one step closer to Finals Day with a victory over the Blaze at Edgbaston on Friday.
The Bears have had an excellent first half to their Vitality Blast campaign, and could put themselves within touching distance of Finals Day if they can wrap up this block of fixtures with a victory.
In their most recent game, Charis Pavely starred with an incredible, unbeaten 68 from 40 balls, which carried her team over the line almost single-handedly to beat Essex at Edgbaston.
The impressive thing about the Bears so far is that, to a player, they are all contributing to victories.
Pavely became the sixth different player in eight matches to score a half-century in the Blast this year.
They also hunt in packs in the field, exhibited by Bears Skipper, Georgia Davis, who had two major impacts in the field against Essex during the powerplay.
Firstly, she stopped a certain four, bringing Grace Scrivens back on strike, who was then dismissed the next ball.
She followed that up with sharp work from her own bowling, running out Lauren Winfield-Hill, and in two swift movements, Essex’s best batters were back in the hutch.
Pavely said, “It’s a really special group. It’s nice to show people what we can do by just playing really strong cricket and backing each other when things go our way, and when things don’t.”
The Blaze are unbeaten so far in this year's competition. In their six games, they have won four, tied one, against the Bears in the opening round, and had their encounter with Somerset rained off without a ball bowled.
The Blaze were seemingly cruising to victory against the Bears at 115/1 from 14.4 overs, requiring 45 from 32 with nine wickets in hand.
But for a late fightback from the Bears, and two wickets off the last two balls, forced a tie.
Looking ahead to Derby Day, Pavely said, “Nothing changes for us. It’s another game of cricket, another chance to play at Edgbaston and show people what we can do.
“Hopefully a tight game, not as tight as normal, but it would be good to come out on the winning side and not a tie.”
Squad
Georgia Davis (c)Meg AustinHannah BakerBethan EllisAbbey FreebornEm ArlottHannah HardwickLaura HarrisSterre KalisCharis PavelyDavina PerrinAmu SurenkumarMillie TaylorIssy WongNat Wraith
How to follow
Members and supporters can follow the match live in our Match Centre at edgbaston.com, which will include a free-to-watch stream and a live text commentary. You can also see a ball-by-ball feed and watch highlights of all the action. Supporters can get involved by sending their match-day comments and thoughts on X via @WarwickshireCCC and we’ll publish the best ones on our live text commentary in the Match Centre. Supporters can also watch the Live Stream and get instant push notifications of all wickets, innings and match results via the Edgbaston app, which is free to download on iOS and Android. Match updates will also be available across the Club’s social media accounts, simply search for @WarwickshireCCC.
.png?clxf=t_general_medium)
