One Day Cup Final nail-biter is a fitting finale to 2026

Triumphant trio of trophies for tremendous Blaze

• McCaughan (78) and Kemp (52) build a strong platform for in-form Hampshire

• Fantastic death bowling from Phillips and Higham restricts Hamshire to 251/9

• Beaumont (74) and Elwiss (64) lead The Blaze towards victory

• Wellington (3/36) leads Hampshire’s fightback

• Emma Jones (34* from 25 balls) wins it for the Blaze with final ball boundary

  
  

The Blaze (254/7) beat Hampshire (251/9) by 3 wickets

In a stunning climax to the season, The Blaze added a third trophy to their already crowded cabinet by defeating Hampshire in today’s final. Emma Jones hit the last ball of the season for four to seal a three wicket win during a tense and chaotic final 30 minutes of a game which swung pendulum-like several times as it neared its conclusion.

Hampshire began their innings sedately but securely. Maia Bouchier, brimming with the confidence that only comes from accumulating over 700 runs in this competition, was watchful and cautious on a cool Autumnal morning, as she shared opening duties with Ella McCaughan, her less lauded team mate who nevertheless finds herself amongst the top five run scorers in the 50 over format.

For the Blaze, Grace Ballinger provided the threat in the early overs, her left arm pace bowling swinging back into the right-handed openers, who did not dare risk any aggressive shots, wisely choosing self-preservation over rapid accumulation. 

Ballinger’s counterpart at the hotel end of the ground was Charley Phillips, who has experienced a breakthrough season for the Blaze, an essential cog in their ultra-efficient cricketing machine, helping to catapult them to two trophies already with her fast, straight slingy bowling.

Phillips was uncharacteristically off the mark in her first three overs, sending down four leg-side wides before being withdrawn from the attack. Her replacement, Cassidy McCarthy, was equally profligate, so there was a possibility that Ballinger’s miserly contribution could be rendered insignificant. 

The introduction of Kirstie Gordon brought a modicum of control back to the Blaze’s bowling attack, with her first five overs conceding only eight runs. It was Lucy Higham, however, who finally produced a breakthrough, as Bouchier, having looked untroubled for her slowly accumulated 29 runs, skied a catch to Kathryn Bryce at long-on.

Things went from bad to worse for Hampshire, as captain Georgia Adams could not resist attacking the truly dreadful ‘pie’ of a full toss served up by Higham, but instead of depositing it in the Shane Warne Stand, found the grateful hands of Kirstie Gordon at mid-off.

Freya Kemp joined Ella McCaughan for what proved to be the most productive phase of the Hampshire innings, finding the boundary with regularity, including a six from Kemp from the bowling of Orla Prendergast. At this point, with Hampshire on 166/2 and 18 overs still remaining, a score in excess of 280 seemed possible, but the dismissal of McCaughan, somewhat curiously given out lbw to Grace Ballinger for 78, put the brakes on Hampshire’s innings, with the revitalised Charley Phillips returning to the attack and proving very difficult to get away.

As the innings approached its death phase Hampshire could barely score more than four runs per over as wickets continued to tumble with regularity. Kemp reached 52 before being stumped, dancing down the wicket to Higham. The Blaze bowlers did well. Six of the final 10 overs in Hampshire’s innings bowled by Phillips and Higham resulted in 4 wickets for 17 runs. A final total of 251/9 was clearly 20-30 runs short of what it could and should have been. At the half way point it was advantage The Blaze.

Tammy Beaumont and Sarah Bryce seemed unflappable when they came out to bat for the Nottingham-based team. Again, care and caution were needed against opening bowlers Daisy Gibb and Naomi Dattani, but the experience of Beaumont and Bryce saw them through the powerplay unscathed and well ahead of Hampshire’s equivalent score, advancing to 95/0 after 16 overs, reducing the required rate to 4.6 and leaving the 2,200 spectators in no doubt that The Blaze were now very likely winners.

Then Amanda-Jade Wellington arrived. Like her namesake the Iron Duke, the Aussie leg spinner never shirks a good battle and sensing that today could be her Waterloo, she immediately dismissed not one but two Bryce sisters in her first over: Sarah caught in the deep by Freya Kemp, then Kathryn brilliantly caught at slip by Georgia Adams from a ball that pitched on leg stump then fizzed across her bows, taking her outside edge.

Wellington has been by far the most effective bowler in the whole One Day Cup this year, taking 40 wickets at 17 apiece costing less than 4 runs per over. Today in the final, she once again proved her worth. Hampshire will have done well if they secure her services again for next season.

Georgia Elwiss joined Beaumont at the crease and the two World Cup winners spent the next hour and a half nudging singles and slowly reducing the runs required. However, as the runs required fell, the run rate required rose from 4.6 to 7.0. This would not be a problem as long as both these batters remained at the crease. Indeed, Hampshire’s containment strategy involved Adams, Wellington and Bex Tyson, their most effective and experienced bowlers, all completing their allocation early in pursuit of a breakthrough, so The Blaze could be confident that the final few overs would be more productive for them.

It was Wellington, inevitably, who provided that breakthrough in the 40^th over, pinning Beaumont plumb lbw with a looping ball which struck her toes. When first Elwiss and then Predergast were dismissed in the next couple of overs, The Blaze looked vulnerable.

They needed 46 runs from 38 balls with new batters Emma Jones and Kirstie Gordon at the crease. When Gordon was dismissed by Tyson in the 47^th over, The Blaze were 6 wickets down and still needing 29 from the last 3 overs. From a very strong winning position, the team from Nottingham had grasped defeat from the jaws of victory, so it seemed.

Emma Jones, however, still could do what Kirstie Gordon calls “Emma Jones things”. She is quite an unorthodox batter. Her reverse hitting is one of the ugliest sights in cricket. And yet she can be highly effective when coming in at number 6, her long levers capable of powering the ball to all parts of the ground. 

Poppy Tulloch, Naomi Dattani and Daisy Gibb needed to bowl the final three overs. They are fine players, but probably not the players that Georgia Adams would have wanted in this situation.

In the 48^th over, Jones pierced the infield to score a precious boundary through mid-wicket. Then two mis-fields in the deep turned probable singles into improbable twos, which kept Jones on strike. A wide down the legside and a couple more singles meant that 12 runs were taken from the over and 17 more were required from the final two overs – it was still too close to call and the dangerous Jones would start the penultimate over at the non-striker’s end.

Naomi Dattani bowled the 49^th over. With the first ball Higham found a fielder in the ring on the on-side, but Jones was already scampering through for the single that would get her back on strike, her dive sending up a mushroom cloud of dust and getting her safely over the line. Second ball, Jones got out her fabled reverse, hoiking a ball on middle stump over short third and to the boundary for four. The third ball, she tried the reverse again, completely missed the ball and almost lost her off stump. 

Fourth ball, Jones smashed down the ground for another four runs. Suddenly the equation was now 8 runs from 8 balls. Fifth ball was reversed again by Jones, this time to a fielder at third for what should have been a single, but another mis-field gifted another extra run to the Blaze. The final ball, Jones swiped down to fine leg for a single. 12 runs had come from the over, five runs were needed from the final six balls.

And so, 20 year old Daisy Gibb stepped up to bowl the most important over of her career. Five runs were needed for The Blaze to win, four runs would result in a super-over, three runs or fewer would see Hampshire lift the trophy.

The first ball was a back of the hand slower ball, which Jones could only hit straight back to the bowler. No run. The second ball went quickly along the ground to Dattani at long-on. Jones got a single, but now Higham was back on strike. The third ball was another slower ball, but incredibly wide of off-stump, only just bouncing on the strip. Higham should have left it alone, but in that moment, reached for it and sent it straight to Adams at extra cover with the toe end of the bat. Jones was already half way down the pitch looking for a single that was never there.

The result: Higham was run out, no run was scored, but Jones was back at the striker’s end with four runs needed from three balls. The fourth ball, Jones hit high towards Maia Bouchier at deep midwicket. The ball bounced in front of her, and the England opener parried, then mis-fielded the ball twice before throwing it in. Two more runs for the Blaze.

The fifth ball, Jones swung the bat, completely missed it, Southby removed the bails, but Jones was safely in her ground. Ballinger, meanwhile, at the non-striker’s end, was already half way down the pitch and had to quickly turn around and scamper back in order to not be run out.

And so, the final ball of the season arrived. Daisy Gibb, who had bowled a tremendous five balls, stood at the top of her mark. The Blaze needed 1 run for a super over, 2 runs to win. Hamshire needed a dot or a wicket. Those with long memories, including the watching England coach Charlotte Edwards, were probably recalling a game at Beckenham in 2015.

Emma Jones was squatted down on her haunches, breathing deeply as she tried to remain calm in the midst of increasing tension. Daisy Gibb stood at the top of her mark, making adjustments to the field, consulting and re-consulting the older and wiser heads around her. She had done a brilliant job to bring the game to this point. To win it now for Hampshire would surely be a moment she would never surpass, even if she played another 20 summers.

Gibbs bowled another slower ball, outside off stump. Jones moved herself to the off-side, swivelled, and manoeuvred the ball towards backward square leg. Ballinger, the non-striker was already half way down the pitch before Jones hit the ball, desperately trying to secure at least one of the two runs required. Jones did not connect with the ball as well as she would have wanted, but she found a big enough gap to direct it all the way to the boundary. The Blaze had won their third trophy of the season in the most dramatic fashion.

For Hampshire, reflecting on this defeat, there are so many “if only” thoughts. The lack of runs in the final 10 overs of their own innings, the mis-fields, the unlucky umpire decisions and lack of DRS (for the second season running), the dropped catches.

For The Blaze, winning has become a habit. They are a well-oiled trophy-lifting machine in the style of the Southern Vipers, Hampshire’s regional ancestor on the south coast.

All that remained was for Kirstie Gordon’s well-practised trophy lift and for friends, family and fans who had travelled from the East Midlands to rejoice in another well-deserved title.

And so ends the 2026 season. Players head towards various beaches and various franchise leagues before re-emerging next season for a 10-team top division, with Glamorgan about to join the élite. If next season’s ending can be anything like today’s, we are in for a treat.