Warwickshire Bears Women Head Coach, Ali Maiden, was disappointed in the manor of defeat after his side fell to a 71-defeat against in-form Hampshire at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton.
Having lost an important toss, Warwickshire were tasked with bowling first as temperatures soared on the south coast, however they made early inroads thanks to two run outs.
Abi Norgrove then countered for Hampshire, putting together a well-compiled 64 before she was removed by Chloe Brewer, however it was Rhianna Southby with an unbeaten 90 and 42 from Amanda-Jade Wellington that helped the hosts to 265 for seven after 50 overs.
In reply, 50s from Georgia Redmayne (53) and Abbey Freeborn (54) gave the Bears hope, but the fall of regular wickets after their partnership ended saw Warwickshire’s innings end 71 short.
Maiden says his team showed plenty of resilience on a testing day, and that after losing an important toss, the heat played its part.
“It was a tough defeat because it was a hot day, but it was hot for both teams,” he said. “We felt the toss was quite important as the pitch was only going to get slower and harder to bat on in the baking sun.
“We fought really hard and showed good resilience and character, but we weren’t quite good enough on the day.”
Having won three in a row, the Bears have now registered successive losses, dropping to fifth in the Metro Bank One Day Cup table in the process. with five games of the league stage to play.
After the final five games of the league stage are played, the top four in the table will then progress through to the semi-finals.
Maiden was hoping for a positive result against a Hampshire side that have now won five of their last six games, after his team impressed in the Vitality County Cup last weekend.
“We’ve had a tough Blast campaign but then played well in the County Cup on Sunday, so I was hoping to get a bit of momentum from that, which is why the result is disappointing,” he added.
“We got one good partnership with Freeborn and Redmayne but the problem we had was that the rate was creeping up and then we lost wickets so we couldn’t get another partnership going. It was tricky.”
The Bears now have a two month break before the next Metro Bank One Day Cup fixture, with the Vitality Blast and The Hundred taking place throughout July and early August.