Yorkshire triumphant on their Headingley début in Division One

Yorkshire (280/9) beat The Blaze (210 all out) by 80 runs

It has been quite a journey for the White Rose county. Aggrieved at being passed over for the right to become a Tier 1 county in the first year of the re-organised structure of women’s cricket in 2025, they did not quietly accept their fate, but instead protested vociferously and decried the unfairness of a system which rewarded their more northerly neighbours over them.

A year’s penitence in Tier 2 was not all plain sailing either. On this weekend last year at Headingley, the full-time professionals of Yorkshire were humbled by lowly Worcestershire, one of four defeats they experienced in their nine Tier 2 One Day Cup group games, before triumphing on finals day.

And so today, a year on from that 114-run defeat to Worcestershire, Yorkshire women were back at Headingley. Their start to life in the top division had not been a smooth one. An opening day defeat by one wicket away at Somerset, a defeat grabbed from the jaws of victory, had been followed by a second loss, this time at The Oval, where Surrey triumphed by three wickets.

Both games had shown signs that Yorkshire may well be competitive, but an inability to bat out 50 overs, a fragility in their batting once their three really good players were out, seemed to also point to a season of occasional highs surrounded by some disappointing lows.

Yorkshire’s big three, we might even call them the ”Wakefield Trinity” of the Yorkshire women’s team are 2017 World Cup Winner Lauren Winfield-Hill, six times World Cup Winner, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and owner of over 200 Australia caps, Jess Jonassen and Netherlands cricket legend, Sterre Kalis.

Alongside these three, Yorkshire have a number of promising young bowlers, such as Rachel Slater and Claudie Cooper, plus the ever-adaptable Maddie Ward, who can bat, bowl, keep wicket and captain when required.

However, one is left with the sense that for Yorkshire to win any game, major contributions are going to be needed from their big three players. In their previous game at the Oval, tellingly it had been the controversial dismissal of Winfield-Hill and her subsequent show of dissent which had sent Yorkshire into a tailspin, resulting in losing their last four wickets for no runs.

The Blaze won the toss on a cloudy morning and asked Yorkshire to bat. The opening pair for Yorkshire, 35-year-old Winfield-Hill and 16-year-old prodigy Ines Blackwell, occupied the crease well. Blackwell was channelling Yorkshire men’s legend Geoffrey Boycott as she defended her way solidly to 17 runs from 60 balls before being trapped lbw by Blaze captain Kirstie Gordon.

Winfield-Hill, who had been striking at just under a run per ball, was joined by Jonassen and the two old pros combined to accelerate the scoring rate. They added 122 runs together over the next hour, hitting 16 boundaries in that time between them and seemingly both destined to reach three figures. 

When the partnership was broken, it was Jonassen who was dismissed, lbw to Georgia Elwiss. The Australian remained in her crease long enough to show her complete disgust at the decision, but not quite long enough to merit any penalty runs. Within two balls of Jonassen’s dismissal, as so often is the case, Winfield-Hill was also dismissed, by a peach of an inswinger from Ballinger.

This created a similar scenario for Yorkshire that they had faced in their previous two games: a really good start, followed by losing key batters, so could it again be followed by total collapse? The fact that this did not happen was completely down to the skill and game management of Sterre Kalis. As the game entered its final ten overs, she took charge of the batting, facing the vast majority of the deliveries, whilst Erin Thomas wisely nudged singles to hand the strike back to her teammate.

Kirstie Gordon, Grace Ballinger and Charley Phillips all had expensive overs courtesy of Kalis’ bat as Yorkshire, far from imploding, took 83 explosive runs from the final ten overs, leaving a total of 280/9 for The Blaze to chase.

Having begun terribly, with Tammy Beaumont dismissed without scoring from the third ball of the innings, trapped plumb lbw by left arm seamer Rachel Slater, The Blaze proceeded to put together a potentially match-winning partnership of their own. Marie Kelly and Kathryn Bryce were fluent and composed in their batting as they accumulated 126 untroubled runs over the next twenty overs, putting The Blaze well ahead of Yorkshire’s equivalent score.

The dismissal of Bryce at the beginning of the 21^st over, looping a catch to Blackwell at extra cover with her leading edge from the bowling of Jonassen, began ten overs of absolute carnage for the hapless Blaze. Kelly followed Bryce almost immediately back to the pavilion, straying out of her crease to Jonassen only to have her bails whipped off by Winfield-Hill.

Prendergast called Elwiss through for a single which wasn’t there – a direct hit sending Elwiss back as the mortified Predergast couldn’t bear to look at her departing teammate. Jonassen added the names of Predergast and Sarah Bryce to her list of victims and suddenly 126/1 had become 156/6. 

Before long, it was left to Grace Ballinger and Kirstie Gordon to nurse the team towards an unlikely victory. They stuck around for 12 overs, nurdling four runs per over to leave them requiring an unlikely 77 from the final 10 overs with eight wickets down. The dismissal of Gordon in the 41^st over was the moment everyone knew that Yorkshire were going to record their first win, a fact which was confirmed a few minutes later when Grace Ballinger could only find the grateful hands of Rachel Slater at mid-on when trying to send a ball from Beth Langston to the boundary.

So Yorkshire are back! Jonassen, Winfield-Hill and Kalis combined to put on a total that the Blaze could not chase. There will be more good days ahead for Yorkshire, as well as set-backs this season, because surely these three cannot win every game for their team? However, today was a well-deserved day of celebration for the White Rose county, which teammates were clearly relishing at close of play. 

For The Blaze, having defeated reigning champions Lancashire in the first game of the season, this result brings them firmly back down to earth.

And it is Lancashire who await Yorkshire next weekend at Old Trafford in an eagerly anticipated Roses fixture. Yorkshire can only hope that Winfield-Hill, Jonassen and Kalis can continue their rich vein of form.