Preview: Durham Women vs Bears Women, Vitality Blast

Em Arlott is set to return for the Bears this week after a highly successful month with the England Women’s White-Ball teams.

joshstacey

2025-06-10T15:55:14.000Z

Em Arlott is set to return for the Bears this week after a highly successful month with the England Women’s White-Ball teams.

Arlott featured in three T20s and two ODIs during the recent white-ball series against the West Indies, claiming 10 wickets, the joint most by any player.

It was her debut in both formats and follows her excellent run in the Metro Bank One Day Cup, where she took 14 wickets in seven games at an average of 20.85.

Arlott also scored her first professional century in the competition, blitzing an incredible 130 from 141 balls to save her team in Chelmsford, after walking to the crease at 22/5.

Head of High Performance Bears Women, Laura MacLeod, said, “Em has done amazingly well with her England start.

“With Em coming back, we’ve got an all-rounder, who adds to the power hitting of the team and the bowling unit.

“It allows us to consider the make-up and balance of the team to play to our strengths.”

The Bears are sitting third in the Vitality Blast table after five games, and fell to a second defeat of their campaign at the hands of Lancashire Thunder on Sunday.

The Bears dominated both powerplays, reducing Lancashire to 37/4 and powering to 47/1 in their pursuit of 162/7.

Nat Wraith was excellent in the run chase, keeping the Bears alive right up to the last ball, but they ultimately fell just short in a five-run defeat.

MacLeod said, “We won both powerplays, which sets you up really nicely for the next phase of the game.

“We stayed with the rate in the chase, and Nat batted brilliantly there. That’s the first time we’ve seen Nat go beyond 50 in her Bears kit. Now she’s got over that milestone I hope to see more of her expressing herself to her potential”.

“She batted fairly similarly against Surrey in our record chase, I think we just needed another one of our top orderbatters to accompany Nat and get us over the line.”

The Bears will travel to Durham for their next fixture, a team that they have already beaten this year, thanks largely to Laura Harris’ scintillating, record-breaking half-century.

However, Durham boast a lot of talent and experience, particularly with the likes of Suzie Bates, Hollie Armitage, Maddie Villiers and Bess Heath, who have international caps.

MacLeod said, “You can’t guarantee anything in the women’s game at the moment. What we’re finding is that you’ve got to play very well in all of the departments – batting, bowling, fielding and running between the wickets - to compete”.

“From a team point of view, Suzie Bates is probably the key player still, but they’ve got a strong bowling line-up, some good pacers, coupled with youth in their ranks.”

Squad

Georgia Davis (c)Em ArlottMeg AustinHannah BakerBethan EllisAbbey FreebornHannah HardwickLaura HarrisCharis PavelyDavina PerrinMillie 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.