Preview: Bears Women vs The Blaze, Metro Bank One Day Cup

Bears Women should “fear no one” after their stunning start to the new season as they prepare to face a Blaze side packed with England experience.

That’s the view of Bears Women Head Coach Ali Maiden following Sunday’s astonishing win at Essex Women – a team made up largely of the Sunrisers side that won the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy last season.

Em Arlott led the charge at Chelmsford as she smashed 130 in 141 balls to rescue her side from 22/5 and set up a resounding 108-run win.

The Blaze arrive at Edgbaston tomorrow (Weds 30 April, 10.30am) on the back of a five-wicket win at Durham but an opening round reverse against Lancashire Women.

Blaze’s starting XI at Chester-le-Street had more than 700 England caps between them, led by Captain Tammy Beaumont (242 games) and former Bear Amy Jones who’s made 222 international appearances.  

But Maiden said confidence in the Bears camp is high and that the game represents a great opportunity for his players to put on another show.

“Blaze have lots of strong individuals with international experience,” he added, “but we shouldn’t be afraid of anyone.

“Games like this are exciting for the competition and we want to test ourselves against the best players.

“Several of our girls have England and England A games under their belt. They are looking for more honours so this is a real chance for them to make a statement and stake a claim for more international exposure.

“It’s a great opportunity for us and our players are desperate to show what they can do against some of the country’s best players.”

Bears Women sit second in the fledgling table with the Essex success coming on the back of a nail-biting tie against Hampshire in the opening game at Edgbaston last Wednesday.

Maiden added: “Confidence is high but we’ll look at areas where we can keep improving, anything we can add to our game and keep progressing the style of positive play that we want to be known for.

“We were under real pressure at Essex and when things aren’t going your way, there can be a tendency for players to go into their shells. But I was impressed how we stayed positive and on the front foot.

“We kept the run rate going. The partnership between Chloe Brewer and Em was excellent; they played positively, hit down the ground against their spinners, ran really well and put the pressure back on them.

“Em was smart. Through her career she’s played aggressively, hitting big sixes, but she showed a canniness to her game. Charis Pavely came in and did really well to support her, they were two great partnerships.

“Issy ran in nicely, could have had LBW first ball, and looked good with the new ball, plus she had a cameo with the bat.

“And it was great to see Katie George in the wickets. It was good captaincy from Georgia Davis, she made bowling changes at the right time, including Katie, and a couple of key bits of tactics from her helped influence the outcome.

“We’re looking forward to the Blaze challenge and hopefully will put on another great game for Warwickshire Members and fans.”

Squad

Georgia Davis (c)
Em Arlott
Hannah Baker
Chloe Brewer
Bethan Ellis
Abbey Freeborn
Katie George
Sterre Kalis
Charis Pavely
Davina Perrin
Amu Surenkumar
Millie Taylor
Issy Wong
Nat 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 Twitter 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.