BEARS Women Head Coach, Ali Maiden, says his team’s aim this season was always to make the first ever Vitality Blast Finals Day.
The Birmingham team will head to The Oval on Sunday, taking on the Blaze in the eliminator, and if successful, Surrey in the final.
It has been an incredible campaign for the Bears side, who are just a couple of steps away from history in their first season.
Maiden told the Bears’ official website: “The aim all along was to get to Finals Day.
“I’m really proud of the team for getting this far and excited for what we could achieve going into the day, and also excited for the players to experience the event.”
The Bears have won eight of their 14 games on the way to securing third place in the Vitality Blast table, losing five and tying one in the opening round against the Blaze.
The Finals Day spot was secured with a win away at Hampshire in the penultimate group fixture.
Davina Perrin cemented her place as one of the tournament’s best batters with an imperious 70 from 48 balls to lift the Bears to 165 from their 20 overs.
Hannah Baker took three wickets, including that of premier all-rounder Ellyse Perry (58), to help the Bears wrap up the win and grab the spot in the eliminator.
Maiden added: “There have been parts of the tournament where we’ve played fantastic cricket and got momentum our way and made it look straightforward, but there have also been times where we’ve hit challenges and had to overcome them, and it’s easy to forget that when you go on a run winning four in four.
“It wasn’t always that easy. Going into our last three games, we thought we’d have to win two of those against Hampshire, Somerset or Surrey, and we felt that was going to be quite a stiff task, but we made it look relatively straightforward in the end.”
Perrin has amassed 384 runs in the competition at a strike rate of 143.28, while Millie Taylor has taken 19 wickets at an average of 16.10.
Maiden said: “Millie said at the start of the season, all she wanted to do was make her debut, and now she’s gone from that to being picked in the Hundred as a wildcard because of how good her performances have been.
“She’s been unbelievable. She works hard, has a fantastic attitude, and thoroughly deserves it.”
“Davina is high quality; she has so much potential. In T20 cricket, she’s just showing people what she can do; she is right up there for me.”
While Perrin and Taylor both have exceptional returns, they are not alone in helping the Bears secure qualification.
Six different players have registered half-centuries in the Blast this year, and between them, Hannah Baker, Georgia Davis and Taylor have taken 55 wickets. Nat Wraith has also been excellent with the gloves, taking seven stumpings, the joint-most in the competition.
Maiden added: “If you look at our batting, the top seven have all contributed at some point. We’ve had games where we’ve lost four wickets up front and gone on to post 150-plus. We never think we’re out of the game, always fighting with everybody contributing. That’s been a big factor.
“At the start of the summer, I said that as a squad of 16 players, they were all going to play a part at certain points, and that’s the strength of the characters in the squad that they’ve all contributed.”
It has been an all-round effort from the Bears, backed up by some spectacular fielding feats that have helped them qualify for the inaugural Vitality Blast Finals Day.
Maiden said: “We’ve got a really clear way of going about our cricket, and as long as we stick to that, we’ve got a really good chance on the day.
“Everybody knows their roles, and I think everyone is confident. Throughout the competition, we’ve been a quietly confident but humble group. We know what we can do, we back ourselves, but we’re not arrogant and over the top. We’re confident in what we do because we do it so well.”
