<
>

Tilly Corteen-Coleman five-for shatters Diamonds

Tilly Corteen-Coleman produced figures of 5 for 19 Getty Images

South East Stars 127 for 4 (Smith 57*) beat Northern Diamonds 124 (Dobson 55, Corteen-Coleman 5-19) by six wickets

A remarkable spell of bowling from teenager Tilly Corteen-Coleman propelled South East Stars to a six-wicket win over the winless Northern Diamonds in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.

Having elected to bat first, Diamonds suffered a dramatic collapse from 88 for 0 to 124 all out at the Seat Unique Riverside, despite a well made 55 from opener Leah Dobson.

After the opening pair departed it was the Corteen-Coleman show, with the 16-year-old picking up career best figures of 5 for 19, including wickets from four consecutive balls, setting a platform for the Stars to grab their third win of the competition, with Bryony Smith getting her side home with an unbeaten 60.

Corteen-Coleman, who turns 17 in August, was only called up to the Stars' senior squad in April and paid back the faith her coaches have shown in her here. The teenager produced a magical spell of bowling, one which all bowlers would dream of, and picked up the key wickets of Sterre Kalis and Erin Burns.

Diamonds won the toss and opted to bat first, with the hosts getting off to a good start as Lauren Winfield-Hill cut the first ball of the innings for four. Dobson then started taking the game to Stars, with the opener hitting three fours from a Ryana MacDonald-Gay over.

Dobson continued to find the boundaries, with a lovely cover drive for four off the bowling of Kalea Moore.

The pair reached their 50 partnership inside the powerplay with Dobson the aggressor and Winfield-Hill playing the anchor role.

Dobson then reached 50 with a four, her half-century coming from 42 balls and including eight fours. However, just four balls later her opening partner Winfield-Hill was out, with the impressive Dani Gregory bowling her for 30.

The wickets came like buses for Stars, with England allrounder Sophia Dunkley claiming the key scalp of Dobson for 55. Then Diamonds skipper Hollie Armitage and Burns fell to continue the collapse.

Diamonds wickets kept on falling, with Bess Heath pulling a Tash Farrant ball into the safe hands of Dunkley for 9. Kalis also departed for 9, before Emma Marlow was bowled by Farrant for 4.

Then a remarkable over from Corteen-Coleman saw her pick off the Diamonds tail in the first three balls of the final over. Having dismissed Kalis from the last ball of her previous over, she had Grace Hall taken behind the wicket and then caught-and-bowled Katie Levick to complete her hat-trick, before bowling Rachel Slater to finish the innings. Diamonds had lost all 10 wickets for 36 runs.

Stars started nicely in their chase with Dunkley smashing Levick for six in the third over.

A bad day got worse for Diamonds when Smith was dropped in the deep, then Dunkley was dropped a few minutes later, adding to the home side's woe in Chester-le-Street.

Diamonds made their first breakthrough moments later with Slater removing Dunkley for 25. But despite the wicket, Diamonds continued to toil and their fielding was poor with many more dropped catches aiding Stars' chase.

They did get a second wicket when Phoebe Franklin departed for 14 after Levick struck, with Armitage then getting Paige Scholfield for 5 and Tash Farrant for 16. But Stars skipper Smith anchored the chase and finished unbeaten on 60 as her side won with four overs to spare.

SE Stars 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st41BF SmithSIR Dunkley
2nd31BF SmithPA Franklin
3rd19PJ ScholfieldBF Smith
4th30NE FarrantBF Smith
5th6A CranstoneBF Smith