Maiden eyeing must-win games following defeat against The Blaze

Warwickshire Bears Women Head Coach, Ali Maiden, is eyeing a swift return to winning ways after his side’s 70-run defeat in the Metro Bank One Day Cup against table-topping The Blaze.

2026-08-27T12:30+01:00

Having won the toss at Edgbaston, the Bears opted to bowl first, and despite a five-wicket haul from the returning Issy Wong (5-58) and two key wickets from Phoebe Brett (2-51), The Blaze were able to reach 282 for seven from their 50 overs.

In reply, the Bears were well-placed at 148 for two from 30 overs, thanks to a 125-run third-wicket stand between Katie George (89) and Brooke Halliday (52), however the loss of key wickets halted their progress, and they were eventually dismissed for 212.

“I think we had the game where we wanted it to be,” he said. “Then we probably gave the game back to them in many ways.

“There's a bit of difference in experience between the two teams and that shows in those sorts of situations, when the games are in the balance. One team knows how to manage that, how to deal with that and the expectation and the pressure around it, and we didn't do that quite as well.

“Our job as a coaching group and as a team is to learn those lessons quickly.”

The result saw the Bears drop from third to fifth in the Metro Bank One Day Cup table with three games remaining, with Maiden’s team needing to climb back up to third place by its conclusion to ensure qualification through to the elimination.

“We knew this was one of the tougher games that we were going to face,” he added. “If we won this game, that would have been a huge opportunity for us and it would have given us a bit of breathing space and helped us to get through to that qualification game.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game though, so we've now got games coming up that we know are must win games. It's black and white really. We've got to win the next three games and that's all we need to concentrate on.”