Report & Reaction: Hampshire Women v Durham, Metro Bank One Day Cup

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Maia Bouchier and Charli Knott made light work of chasing down 191 as Hampshire beat Durham with a bonus point in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competition.

Bouchier crashed 53 – her third half-century of the summer – as she continued to rebuild her confidence after a difficult winter with England.

Knott oozed class for her first half-century of the One-Day Cup as Hampshire knocked off the runs three down with 74 balls to spare.

Earlier, Phoebe Turner had top-scored with 38 but Hampshire’s spinners – led by two for Knott and incredibly economical spells for Linsey Smith and Bex Tyson – stifled Durham and kept them to an under-par total.

Durham chose to bat but lost Emily Marlow within the first five overs as Lauren Bell beat her for pace and cannoned into her off stump.

Suzie Bates showed more fluency than any of her team-mates that followed but her 26 off 28 balls – ended when she pulled Bell to midwicket – began a trend of starts but no substantial scoring.

The reason: the pressure built by Linsey Smith and Hampshire’s suffocating spinners.

Mady Villiers and Hollie Armitage showed restraint to giving their wicket away for 92 balls, but could only add 40 runs before Villiers was caught and bowled by Smith and Armitage missed a sweep and was castled by Bex Tyson.

Smith eventually returned an incredibly economical one for 25 in her 10 overs, while fellow left-armer Tyson was marginally more expensive going for one for 29.

But it was off-spinner Charli Knott who was rewarded with wickets as she pinned Leah Dobson leg-before and bowled Katherine Fraser with a bail trimmer.

Bess Heath’s patient 31 and Phoebe Turner’s 38 – which largely came in an innings high 42-run stand – gave the total a boost, with anything north of 200 promising to cause a challenging chance.

Heath fell with six overs to go when she sliced another spinner – Georgia Adams – to short third, while Turner was run out, with the visitors reaching 190 for eight.

Ella McCaughan ended a run of 64, 133 not out and 57, when, having already been dropped, was bowled by Fraser with the third ball bowled by a spinner in the second innings.

But Bouchier and Knott showed off their international pedigree with two innings of high quality.

Durham’s spin trio of Fraser, Villiers and Katie Levick were negotiated with ease, with a mixture of finding the gap and powering the ball to the boundary.

The biggest difference was their use of the feet, which opened up more gaps than the Durham batters had managed.

They both brought up half-centuries within four balls of each other, Bouchier first in 61 balls before Knott followed in 47 – with eight fours.

Neither could get the job done, with Bouchier failing to clear mid off and Knott was lbw, but Adams and Rhianna Southby knocked off the remaining 32 runs together to make it three wins from five.