AFTER their dramatic five-run victory over Yorkshire in their previous Metro Bank One Day Cup game, Somerset Women travelled to Trent Bridge looking to repeat the result against The Blaze. However they failed in their quest against the top side and were beaten by six wickets.

On the pitch used for Nottinghamshire’s four-day match against Leicestershire that ended on Saturday, Somerset managed only two boundaries in the opening powerplay, losing Bex Odgers and Emma Corney as they struggled to 22 for two from 10.

Luff regularly stepped down the pitch to drive profitably, her half-century from 55 deliveries with seven fours dominating a 66-run partnership with Holland. But she missed a ball pushed wide by Kathryn Bryce and was stumped.

Wickets then fell at regular intervals. After Holland was bowled by a grubber, Jess Hazell found extra cover before Higham’s skilful, loopy off-spin accounted for Katie Jones (stumped), Jazz Westley (caught long-on), Chloe Skelton and Griffiths (bowled) before Ballinger bowled Lola Harris to finish the innings.

In pursuit of their target, The Blaze likewise lost two wickets in the powerplay, Prisha Thanawala (caught at slip) and Kathryn Bryce (caught behind) as Ellie Anderson twice found the edge of the bat.

Georgia Elwiss fell to a leaping, one-handed catch at fine leg as Somerset’s spinners kept a tight rein on the scoring rate but at 95 for three at the halfway point, The Blaze were on course.

The loss of Beaumont at 105 for four in the 27th over raised Somerset’s hopes, the former England international departing as Jess Hazell, diving forward, made a superb one-handed grab at deep mid-wicket.

But Sarah Bryce and Jones then took charge, consistently rotating the strike and judging the right moments to be aggressive. Bryce completed a half-century off 62 balls with three fours, Jones getting there from just 43 balls with seven fours.

Afterwards Somerset head coach Erin Osborne said: “We just got outplayed by a quality team. I think the batting conditions were a little bit tricky, and we found it really tough, especially early on.

“Sophie Luff fought her way through that really well and got going. It was just disappointing when she got out. At the end of the day we were probably 50, 60 runs short of where we needed to be.

“But we’re still in with a chance. We’ve got two tough games coming up against Lancashire and Surrey and we’re going to have to be at our best to beat those teams to have a chance of playing in the elimination final. It’s been a roller coaster of a year, but hopefully we’ll finish off with a bang.

The Somerset head coach added: We’ve played some really good cricket at times and we haven’t been at our best for long enough in some other games. So I think it’s a fair reflection of where we’re at as a really young team. We’re still learning a lot, we’re still developing. Their ceiling is so high. So I’m really looking forward to working with them and developing them and hopefully building towards something that will be a successful team for a long time to come.”

Somerset host Lancashire on Wednesday, 9th September at the Cooper Associates County Ground, starting at 10.30am before travelling to play Surrey at the Oval on Saturday 12th September starting at 10.30am.