Surrey heading to finals day after high-scoring victory over Warwickshire Bears

T20 County Cup Quarter Final: Surrey (200/6) beat Warwickshire (190/6) by 10 runs

• Cranstone and Chathli star with the bat as Surrey post 200

• Stylish cameo from Spence gives added momentum

• Surenkumar the pick of Warwickshire’s bowlers

• Wraith leads spirited reply by the Bears before unlucky run out

• George and Perrin’s efforts not enough as Bears end 10 runs short

• Bethan Miles the pick of Surrey’s bowlers

It has not been the season that either of these teams dreamed of. 

Surrey, reigning T20 Blast champions, were unceremoniously dismantled by the Blaze in that competition at the semi-final stage. Whilst in the Metro Bank One Day Cup, they currently lie in sixth place with more losses than wins.

Warwickshire sit five points and three places above Surrey in the Metro Bank table, but have been disappointing in T20 cricket, winning only three of their 12 Blast fixtures and coming eighth in the table, a far cry from 2025, when they reached the final, where they lost to today’s opponents, Surrey.

Off the field, Warwickshire have been airing their dirty washing in public rather a lot this week, with the acrimonious departure of their captain Georgia Davis, a move which mirrored somewhat the abrupt and unanticipated departures of captain Eve Jones in 2024 and Head of Women’s Cricket Laura McLeod in 2025. It gives the impression of a club not completely at ease with itself.

Today’s game therefore, would be a welcome opportunity for both sides to set aside their disappointments and focus on the tantalising possibility of silverware. The T20 County Cup may not be the most prestigious of the trophies on offer this season, but it is a trophy nonetheless and the winner today would be heading to finals day at Old Trafford next weekend.

To remind those who are unsure of the vagaries of this competition. It began in April when 28 teams from Tier 2 and Tier 3 took part in round one. Highlights included Norfolk’s shock defeat of Sussex at Hove and Beth Gammon’s heroics to rescue Glamorgan from ignominy against Devon.

The second round (in May) was formed of seven games featuring the winners of round one. In this round, the stand out result was Leicestershire restricting Worcestershire to a paltry 72/8 only for rain to arrive in the first over of the Foxes’ reply and the game to go to the first ever indoor school bowl-off in this competition, which Worcestershire won.

So the seven victorious counties (six from tier 2 plus Buckinghamshire from tier 3) joined the nine tier one counties in the third round, which was played in the midst of the T20 World Cup in June. Eight teams progressed to today’s quarter finals, which are being played nine weeks after the previous round of matches. Are you still with me? It has made this charming and enjoyable competition very bitty and difficult to follow. Surrey’s third round victory over Worcestershire sees them return to the West Midlands to play Warwickshire, who had defeated Middlesex in the previous round.

Warwickshire won the toss and invited Surrey to bat. Surrey’s batters made the most of the short boundaries and lightning-fast outfield at Portland Road to accelerate towards what looked like being an enormous total. After Bryony Smith chopped on to her stumps in the middle of a 10 ball Mary Taylor over (3 wides plus a no ball), Aylish Cranstone and Kira Chathli took charge through the middle phase of the game, striking at over 10 runs per over. Both were out soon after reaching their 50s: Cranstone caught by Arlott at long on, Chathli square cutting a poor short ball by Millie Taylor straight to Davina Perrin at cover.

With the score at 150/3 after 13 overs, Surrey were surely heading towards a score in excess of 220. Jemima Spence was in scintillating form, launching Hannah Baker for back-to-back sixes in the 12^th over. However, incoming batters were not all able to continue the momentum that had been created by Cranstone and Chathli. Franklin and Monaghan chewed up 15 dot balls in the 19 balls they faced between them and Surrey eventually crept up to 200 by running a bye on the final ball of the innings. 200 was a great score, but it felt that they had left some runs out there. Could Warwickshire make them pay for it?

Despite losing Meg Austin from her first ball – tamely hitting the ball into the hands of Kira Chathli at cover from the bowling of Izzy Sidhu, Warwickshire made very good progress as they attempted to overhaul Surrey’s total. Davina Perrin is clearly not back to her best form after struggling with injury this season. She battled her way through the first half of the chase, streaky at times, not timing the ball brilliantly, but just about surviving. It feels that her omission from the forthcoming England v Ireland series is probably a good decision, as she needs to be in better form when the England call inevitably eventually comes.

At the other end was Nat Wraith, who was seeing the ball so well she looked unstoppable. One six was launched miles over the club house, causing many of the spectators to worry about their windscreens. Her unlucky dismissal turned out to be the turning point of the game. At the beginning of the 8^th over, with Warwickshire keeping up with the rate well, Perrin powered a straight drive, which hit the pads of the advancing Wraith and rolled gently back to where Dani Gregory was standing by the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Wraith, hopelessly out of her ground could only watch in despair as Gregory gratefully removed the bails. Having hit 41 from just 20 balls, Wraith was dismissed and momentum was lost.

Temporary skipper (maybe all Warwickshire captains should be referred to in this way?) Katie George joined Perrin and the two added useful runs, but not at the rate that was needed. Following Perrin’s dismissal by the impressive Bethan Miles, a somewhat subdued Charis Pavely joined George and the required rate kept climbing. After Pavely was dismissed – Miles’ second wicket - a steepling catch held very well by Alice Davidson-Richards, Em Arlott’s arrival caused a shimmer of anticipation.

With 41 needed from 23 balls, Arlott’s long levers could be just what was needed for Warwickshire to muscle their way to an unlikely win. A mix up with her captain after facing only one ball meant that Arlott was soon heading back to the pavilion and with her any hopes of a Warwickshire win.

The game ended with the Bears 10 runs short. Not a bad effort, but a day of wasted opportunities for the Midlands side. For Surrey, a trip to the north next weekend, where they will play Somerset in the second semi-final, with the opportunity of playing Essex or The Blaze in the final.