Yorkshire Women rock bottom as alumni teach them a lesson

Durham win by 21 runs

Yorkshire 0 points, Durham 4 points

Yorkshire lost their fifth successive T20 fixture. Having battled hard with the ball after a fast start for the visitors, they were unable to gain any momentum with the bat and finished on 134 for eight.

Durham’s 155 for six had seen Bess Heath top-score with 36 off 25 balls before their Yorkshire-born leg-spinner Katie Levick impressed with two for 13 from four overs. The seam of Heather Graham and Sophia Turner claimed three and two wickets respectively.

Scotland seamer Hannah Rainey struck twice in her first game of the season for Yorkshire following a broken rib, while England all-rounder Sarah Glenn bowled nicely for one for 27 with her leg-spin on her White Rose debut having missed the first two months of 2026 with a broken finger.

Durham’s cause was advanced by a host of useful contributions on a typically true surface here.

Each one of their top six made at least 17, but only Heath, captain Hollie Armitage with 24 and wicketkeeper Mia Rogers with 29 not out were able to get out of the teens.

Openers Armitage and Mady Villiers took 32 off first three overs. But seam and spin put the brakes on.

Rainey had Villiers caught at deep midwicket pulling and Emily Windsor caught at point, while off-spinner Claudie Cooper struck twice in the 17th over to bowl Heather Graham and get Grace Thompson caught at cover. Heath, miscuing to mid-off, had fallen to Glenn not long before.

When Thompson fell, Durham were 127 for six after 17, only for Rogers to impressively add important late runs.

Yorkshire openers Lauren Winfield-Hill and Erin Thomas both miscued to mid-on against Katie Levick and Trudy Johnson as the chase slipped to 27 for two inside five overs.

Glenn, in at number three, and Jess Jonassen steadied. But when acceleration was needed, they were unable to advance the White Rose cause.

Jonassen was bowled by fellow Australian overseas Graham - 59 for three - and things unraveled quickly from there.

Sterre Kalis, in her last game before representing the Netherlands at the forthcoming T20 World Cup, holed out to long-on off Sophia Turner before Glenn was bowled playing back at Levick for 19.

That left the score at 67 for five in the 12th over.

Turner, who played for the old Headingley-based Northern Diamonds alongside the likes of Levick, Armitage and Winfield-Hill, later had Maddie Ward caught at long-on.

Yorkshire’s on-loan debutant Alice Clarke impressed with a consolatory 32, only to be bowled by Graham, who now has 12 wickets in the campaign.

Yorkshire seamer Hannah Rainey said: “We were a lot better in the field today. We’ve had a real focus on that, trying to cut off the runs we’ve let slip in the last couple of games.

“We felt really tight out there as a unit, but our batting has let us down again. We lacked a partnership, especially up top.

“They bowled well, and we struggled to find the boundary in that powerplay. That always set you up in a T20 innings.

“I’m really happy to be back and contributing. I had a bit of a nervous start, and I think that’s natural having not played in a while. Alice Clarke came into the side and put in a really solid performance in a tricky situation. That was nice to see her do well.

“There’s a lot of frustration, and we wanted to get that win on the board. But we do feel like we’re heading in the right direction.”

Durham head coach Dani Hazell said: “It was good to get another win on the board. The girls are going really well at the moment.

“I felt like we put a par score on. We were pretty happy with that. We left a few out there, but excellent in that second innings. We picked up key wickets.

“All in all, a really good performance. It’s always tough to come down here to Headingley and play. So, yeah, really pleased with how we went about things.

“A few of the girls have played a lot of cricket here and are local to here with where they’re from. It feels good, but we know it’s a long comp, and we want to keep ourselves on the winning side of things. We’ll have a few days off now and focus own Tuesday (Yorkshire again at the Banks Homes Riverside).”