Women's Metrobank v Durham - Last game to Taunton

The last game at the home ground in the Metro for Somerdset Women.  They will be at Taunton Vale for a couple but this will be the final County Ground appearance of 2026.  fter the excellent win in Hampshire last week the side will be preparing for their T20 Finals Day at Old Traffoed next weekend but first there is the little matter of Durham in a 50 over game.

Women's Metrobank 50 v Durham @ Taunton Wednesday 26 August 2026

Before the T20 Finals Day at Old Trafford on Saturday there is the little matter of staying in contention in the Metrobank competition.  After the win in Southampton last week Somerset must go into this one with some confidence that their campaign is still on track into September.  .

Sophie Luff won the toss and has decided to field first.  The side:

Odgers, Luff (c), Corney, Holland Gibson, Deane, Hazell (w), Griffiths, Skelton, Anderson, Harris

Good to see two of our English internationals back in Somerset colours and even better to see a re-vitalised Ellie Anderson bowling at Mia Rogers and Emma Marlow.  It gets even better when Rogers is bowled by the first ball she faces which nips in and bowls her through the gate.  1 for 1 after 1. 

Alex Griffiths takes the first from the River end and Holly Armitage is in to face that.  They have 6 by th I e end of the second before Ellie adds more grist to the mill by having Armitage edge a ball moving away fromher on a length into the hands of Bex Odgers and the visitors are 9 for 2 with Anderson 2 for 2 off 9 balls.  Mady Villiers comes out to join Marlow to reset this innings.

But in her fourth over, Ellie is not to be denied as she has Villiers going at a length ball which goes to Charlie Dean and doesn't die enough so she gets her hands under it.  Villiers, another dangerous player, is gone for 14.  Anderson has 3 for 14 and Durham are 33 for 3.  Danni Collins is in at number 5 before the 10 over!!

Charlie Dean is the first change from the River with the 8th.  The Durham 50 arrive via an excellent strigt lofted shot off Dean to the CA from Marlow in the 10th over Collins has moved on to 12 fro her 6 and Marlow has 18 from the 26 she has faced.  After the 10th Durham have 54 for 3.

Dani Gibson takes the 11th over.  Chloe Skelton then joins the attack and the bats have difficulty getting any of them off the square.  At 67 Marlow on 28 sends it straight at Naimh in front of the Caddyshack.  She seemed to have it but it was coming short and she realised late and moved forward but not quickly enough.  the ball bounces in front of her and scuttles over the boundary.  A miscalculation turned into poor miss off Gibson.  Hoever Chloe makes up for this with Collins' wicket when she cramps the bat and she gets the top edge of the bat to it and simply flings it up for Harris to catch.  Collins goes for 17 at 69 for 4 and in comes Bess Heath as we move into the 17th with 70 on the board.

Lola Harris is introduced for the 20th to give the Durham pair something else to think about as they seem to have settled a little into their job of work.  She works into the 20s with Dean and finally tempts Heath with a flighted on which she deposits into the hands of Chloe Skelton in the deep 95 for 5.  She goes for 16.  Lola's variation of length and flight just keeps the bats guessing all the time and they tend to finally guess wrong.  In comes Grace Thompson and Somerset are into the bowling resources.

In the 22nd Thompson seems to be run out at the non strikers end as Dean gets her hand to the driven shot.  Unfortunately the umpire seems to have not seen this and makes no decision.  Looking at the replay she was out by an absolute mile.  However the pair remain and the 100 arrives in the 24th with Marlow as the bat we need to get rid of.

The 25 over drinks break arrives with Durham at 110 for 5 with Marlow on 48 from 79 and Thompson lucky to still be there with 3 from 10.  Marlow then moves to an 81 ball 50 with 7 fours reaching 52 halfway tnrough the 26th.

Niamh Holland is introduced in the 30th over and she is soon pairing Ellie Anderson who returns for the 33rd and provides the ball that Thompson sends for four to bring up the Durham 150.  At 163 for 6 Lola finally gets Marlow as she flights one and the bat sends it to Charlie Dean at long off and the danger bat goes for 71 from 112.  The Somerset bowler has been working at her since she started to bowl and third time lucky she gets her.  The new bat is Eleanor Larosa and although she is looking to push the score along but she meets Charlie Dean who is giving nothing away from her 8 overs for 19.

Chloe Skelton is providing some runs though as LaRosa takes Durham 200 in the 41st over and herself to 27 from 21 runs.  She has provided 3 fours in the over. The breakthrough comes in the 42nd as Thompson hit the ball to Luff on the leg side and sets off, only to realise that she'd hit it to the wrong player.  She tries to get back but fails as the Somerset skipper fires the ball in to Hazell who breaks the stumps as Thompson struggle to regain her ground.  She is run out for 41 at 215 for7 - possibly a balancing of the scales as she was much further out with 3 to her name a few overs ago.  But what goes around comes around and the balance is reset.  In comes Katherine Fraser after a partnership fo 51 of which 41 have come from the bat of LaRosa!  

LaRosa escapes when she fires the ball straight to Lola Harris at Point from Dean and it goes straight through her hands.  A chance we needed at 43.  However Ellie keep the damage down as she has LaRosa chopping on for 44 at 222/8 trying to chop the bowler.  Anderson's figures of 7.1 4 for 32 are her career best List A for Somerset.  Fraser is joined by Katie Levick with 6 overs to go.

Dean bowls out at 2 for 27 in the 46th.  Then Anderson absolutely cleans up Katherin Fraser and gets her first county 5-fer for 34 runs at 229 for 9.  In comes Lauren Filer. 

In the 49th Ellie finishes with 5 for 40.  The first 5 fer for Somerset in the professional era.  The last Somerset one was Nicole Harvery who took 5 for 22 in a County Championship game against Surrey in Taunton in 2017 but that was the amateur/semi professional version of the game.  So well done.

Alex Griffiths bowls the last over and she nearly gets Filer who absolutely skies one but just out of the bowler's reach after a sprint to get into position.  Durham survive and finish on 248 for 9 - better than they possibily deserved with a couple of 'get out of jail' free cards.  Filer finishes with 9 from 12 Levick has 12 from 16.  Griffiths finishes with 31 from her 5 but probably because Anderson bowled really well. 

Somerset need 249.  They must be happy with that though they probably would admit they ought to have got them for less.

The Reply

Sophie and Bex arrive at the crease to face Filer from the MT first and Odgers is off the mark immediately with a single. After 3 balls there is a huge conference between 3 Durham players and the two umpires concerning something to do with the ball and it looks like it is going to be changed.  It is and we carry on and Luff gets off the mark as well with a single and we end the first over at 3 for 0.  LaRosa starts at the River end.  The first boundary comes from an 'agricultural bottom edge' to the CA boundary from Bex Odgers  as Somerset move into double figures at the end of the 3rd from Lauren Filer.

Sophie is playing across the next ball from LaRosa and that is not the thing to do if you miss it!  She does and is given LBW for 2 at 13 for 1 bringing in Emma Corney. The second partnership does not last long as Bex Odgers pulls the ex Somerset bowler to deep fine leg and finds the only fielder in front of the CA Pavilion  Katie Levick who takes the catch on the boundary. She could have hit that ball anywhere else in the vicinity but she hit it to the only fielder for a very soft dismissal.  She goes for 5 at 21 for 2.

In comes Niamh Holland with the job of establishing a base with Corney to settle and anchor this innings before the Durham new ball pair get this game in their sights and bowl us out of it.  

Emma gets the line to some extnet and it is a guided four from off Filer that takes Somerset to 50 from 8.5 overs and herself to 20 from 27 while Holland is supporting with a run a ball 7.  Durham replace LaRosa with the spin of Villiers for the 10th with Levick coming on at the other end for the 11th.  

Levick strikes in the 13th as Emma Corney finds a slow ball coming which she cannot get the bat on and is bowled for 22 at 60 for 3.  In comes Dani Gibson still with quite a job to do. She looks to impose herself but after 3 boundaries she is caught by Filer at extra cover off of Villiers for 16 at 84 for 4.  Charlie Dean comes in and is off the mark with a driven four.  The RRR has actually dropped below five so there is no significant  pressure to score these.  However, someone has to come in and bat sensibly to get to the total and we are still looking for that to happen.

The 100 arrives in the 18th over and prompts the return of LaRosa to try and winkle out the England captain.  It hasn't happened by the end of the 20th over with Somerset having moved on to 117 for 4 with Holland on 40 from 47 and Dean on 13 from 10.  

Into the attack comes Thompson for the first time with the 21st over and she is paired up with Fraser for her first bowl in this game with the 22nd.  The seam of Thompson is most definitely at a lesser pace than her two earlier colleagues while Fraser is another spinner.  

Thew 50 partnership arrives at 134 off 48 balls in the 24th over and at the turnaround drinks break Somerset have moved to 140 for 4 needing another 109 in the second half to progress in this competition.

Lauren Filer returns for the 27th and Niamh goes to 50 at 147 for 4 off 68 balls with 3 fours.  Her partner also passes that milestone in the 33rd over with a single off LaRosa off 49 balls and 4 fours at 179 - 5 short of the 100 stand between these two which has reset this game in Somerset's favour - the RRR is now down below 4.

A reverse sweep four takes Naimh Holland to 69 from 87 with Charlie on 52 from 50 and the 100 partnership arrives at 186 for 4.  But Naimh then tries to slog sweep and instead bottom edges it to LaRosa at midwicket in front of the Hildreth for 70 off the bowling of Fraser.  Somerset are 188 for 5 needing 61 from the 5 bats remaining in just under 17 overs as Jess Hazell comes to the crease and is off the mark with two immediately.

With 15 overs to go the runs required has moved to 52 and the 200 is only 3 runs away.  They run 3 off the first of the 36th to reach the 200 mark for 5.  When Charlie passed 50 she also passed her best ever score for Somerset in this format of the game.  That was her first half ton for the county in 50 over cricket.

Jess is not hanging about as she moves to a run a ball 16 attacking every ball she thinks is worth the effort.  She tries a little too hard to move it along and she's caught by Villiers off Lauren Filer for 17 off 19 with 5 fours looking to push it along 217 for 6 leaving a deficit of 32 to get in the 39th.  Filer is into her 9th over and ends it with 2 for 54 after a hard flash from Dean goes straight in and out of the hands of the fielder at short Third.  A definite drop but more because of surprise than a fielding error.

With 10 overs left in the contest Somerset have reached 226 for 6 and need 23 for the win.  Lauren Filer bowls out with 10 overs 2 for 56 and she leaves the attack with Somerset needing 20 from 9 overs.  Katie Levick bows out in the next over with 1 for 56 from her ten.  Somerset need 13.  This brings Thompson back into the attack and her slow bowling finally gets results as she bowls Dean trying to hit one that is far too slow for the shot she chose.  She goes for 76 off 70 with 6 fours.   236 for 7.   In comes Skelton who gets off the mark with a four and the runs required falls below double figures.  240 for 7.  A Griffiths four brings the win with 251 for 7 with her on 15 from 19 and Skelton finishing not out 7 from 8.  There were 5.2 overs left and we win by 3 wickets keeping our campaign alive!!