Surrey 306 for 7 (Smith 110, Dunkley 79, Wyatt-Hodge 44, Wellington 4-47) beat Somerset 215 (Knight 36 Wellington 36, Monaghan 2-43, Gregory 2-43, Stonehouse 2-47) by 101 runs DLS method
Bryony Smith posted a superb hundred to steer Surrey to a convincing 101-run win over Somerset on the Duckworth Lewis Stern Method in the Metro Bank One Day Cup women's competition at the Cooper Associates Ground in Taunton.
Leading by example, Surrey's captain scored 110 from 103 balls, struck 15 fours and dominated crucial stands of 100 and 134 with Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Sophia Dunkley for the first and third wickets respectively as the visitors made 306 for 7 in a contest reduced by rain to 44 overs a side. Dunkley raised an attractive 79 from 81 balls and Wyatt-Hodge contributed 44 with eight fours, while Australian spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington returned figures of 4 for 47.
Chasing a revised target of 317, Somerset came up short in the face of accurate bowling and sharp fielding, Heather Knight and Wellington top-scoring with 36 and Alice Monaghan, Danielle Gregory and Alexa Stonehouse claiming two wickets apiece as the home side were dismissed for 215 in 40.5 overs.
Somerset's seamers struggled with their lengths and Smith and Wyatt-Hodge took full advantage, raising 50 in just 6.3 overs amid a flurry of boundaries as Surrey got off to a flyer. Smith was especially severe on anything short and wide, accruing eight fours in a forthright 57-ball half-century, as the opening partnership realised three figures in 13.4 overs.
Wyatt-Hodge took on Somerset's spinners and was just six runs short of 50 when she finally came a cropper, attempting to carve Wellington through the covers and slicing high to backward point with the score on 100. Wellington then had Alice Capsey held at slip in the act of reverse sweeping to further reduce the visitors to 106 for 2.
But there was no stopping Smith. Afforded a life on 80 when dropped in the deep by Laura Jackson off the bowling of Chloe Skelton, Surrey's skipper made good her escape to register a buccaneering hundred via 96 balls with 14 fours. She found a willing ally in Dunkley, who scored freely all around the wicket in compiling 50 from 57 deliveries, and these two threatened to take the game away from Somerset.
Under intense pressure, the home side made too many errors in the field and the third wicket stand was already worth 112 when rain forced the players off with the score on 218 for 2 after 32.4 overs. Desperate to take wickets and bring the DLS equation back into their favour, Somerset trusted in Wellington following the resumption. The Australian did not disappoint, persuading Smith and Paige Scholfield to hole out to Knight at long-off in quick succession.
Having done her utmost to ensure the visitors would post a total in excess of 300, the resourceful Dunkley stepped across her stumps and was bowled around her legs by Skelton as Somerset continued to fight back. Charlie Dean then accounted for Monaghan and Alice Davidson-Richards, but not before these two, together with Kira Chathli, had added valuable lower middle order runs.
Chasing a revised total of 317 in 44 overs at a required rate of 7.2 runs an over, Somerset suffered an early setback, Emma Corney playing down the wrong line and being bowled by Rhianna Macdonald-Gay with 19 on the board.
Adhering to the tenets of line and length, Surrey's seamers were able to create pressure and the required rate was above eight when Sophie Luff top-edged a pull shot and was brilliantly caught by Macdonald-Gay on the run at midwicket. Somerset's captain had scored 15 and the home side were 56 for 2 in the thirteenth over with much work still to do.
Having failed to defend big totals in matches against Warwickshire and Lancashire, Surrey needed to remove former England captain Knight for their own peace of mind. This they managed to do in startling fashion, Monaghan deflecting a Fran Wilson drive onto the stumps with Knight, having scored 36 from 41 balls, hopelessly out of her ground. There appeared to be no way back for Somerset from 73 for 3 at the end of the fifteenth.
Surrey were fully in charge by the time Wilson was stumped by Chathli, pushing forward to Gregory and departing for 23, while Dean was held at backward point off the bowling of Stonehouse as the home side lurched to 117-5. The game was effectively up by the time Griffiths was bowled by Gregory for 14 with the score on 144, but nobody had told Wellington or Skelton, who staged a defiant alliance of 53 to hold up Surrey. Capsey ended Wellington's innings on 36, holing out to deep backward square with a notional 120 more runs needed from eight overs.
