WOMEN'S T20 BLAST ROUNDUP: Third-place Bears are under pressure after losing heavily at home, while Lancashire are hot on their tails in the race for Finals Day
Falkland: Hampshire 174-5, Lancashire 175-2 - Lancashire won by eight wickets
Emma Lamb pumped her highest Women's T20 Blast score to fire Lancashire Thunder to a third victory in a row and boosted their chances of reaching the knockouts.
England international Freya Kemp had whacked 63 and Abi Norgrove celebrated her maiden Hawks fifty as the hosts reached 174 for 5, after a rocky start.
But Lamb's exemplary 66 not out, coming in partnerships of 65 with Eve Jones and 92 with Seren Smale, saw Lancashire home by eight wickets.
Hawks and Thunder had gone into the match level on 21 points, with the visitors' four points giving them a strong chance of leap-frogging Bears into third, and qualify for finals day.
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Edgbaston: Bears 139, Surrey 140-6 - Surrey won by four wickets
Surrey cemented their place at the top of the Women's T20 Blast with a thrilling four-wicket victory over Bears at Edgbaston.
Bryony Smith's side edged to their eighth win in 10 games after bowling the home side out for 139. Sterre Kalis resisted with 38 (30 balls), but wickets fell frequently to a focused attack led by Alice Davidson-Richards (3 for 11) and Alexa Stonehouse (2 for 23).
Surrey's batters also found the going hard, but Emma Jones hit a fluent 46 (39) before an unbroken stand of 42 in 24 balls between Davidson-Richards (28, 18) and Kalea Moore (22, 14) saw them home with two balls to spare.
It was a valiant effort from a depleted Bears side, which is without all-rounder Charis Pavely for the foreseeable future due to a stress fracture in her left foot.
Surrey move forward in high spirits to the second half of a 24-hour double-header with their closest pursuers when they visit The Blaze on Friday (July 11).
Lead image: Dave Vokes/Hampshire Cricket
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