Grace Harris gets the better of her sister Laura as Surrey win title en route to 154-run chase at Kia Oval.
Grace Harris wins family tussle as Surrey land Blast title.
Surrey’s matchwinner in the Women’s Vitality Blast final, Grace Harris, acknowledged that she had conflicting emotions about defeating her sister, Laura, who finished on the losing side for the Warwickshire Bears, but she was proud of her team’s aggressive strategy in their five-wicket victory at the Kia Oval on Sunday.
Surrey played up to their reputation as favourites by easily reaching a victory goal of 154 with 20 balls remaining, led by Australia international Grace Harris, who top-scored with a usually hard-hitting 63 not out. She found important partners in Kira Chathli, whose 16 not out from nine balls included the winning boundary from Issy Wong, and Sophia Dunkley, who hit seven fours and two sixes in her 33-ball knock.
But if her sister had done the work she had threatened to do during the Bears innings, that goal might have been much higher. At the beginning of the 14th over, Laura Harris had amassed a wild knock of 25 from 11 balls, which featured three fours and two sixes. Phoebe Franklin had to make an exceptionally cool catch at deep midwicket to remove her.
“I was a little bit nervous,” Grace told the ECB Reporters Network. “I was thinking at long-off, ‘just hit it down someone else’s throat!’ You want her to do well and it’s not like I would have hashed the job, but if I’d caught it, I would have been a little bit disappointed.
“I’m happy she got out when she did because it could have been a 180-chase if she’d hung on.”