Ryana MacDonald-Gay stars with bat and ball to put Surrey in final

Surrey Women took a crucial step towards winning the first silverware of the new women's era, coming out on top against fellow Tier 1 side Warwickshire with a three-wicket victory in the first semi-final of the inaugural Vitality T20 Women's County Cup Finals Day in Taunton.

Surrey appeared to be on top of an inexperienced Warwickshire side at the halfway stage of the game, after restricting the Bears to just 133 for 9 from their 20 overs. An impressive powerplay saw the side's young pace duo take four wickets, Alexa Stonehouse eventually ending with figures of 4 for 29 and Ryana MacDonald-Gay reaping similar rewards with 2 for 25. Legspinner Dani Gregory also impressed with 3 for 20 from her four-over allocation.

The Bears had to rebuild from 67 for 6 at the halfway stage of their innings following an effective bowling performance from a young Surrey attack. There were late contributions of 25 off 19 from Meg Austin, and a fifty-run partnership between Amu Surenkumar (26 from 31) and Georgia Davis (23 from 23). However, even after a late flourish off the bat of Millie Taylor, the Bears produced what looked an under-par total.

Surrey started their chase well through captain Bryony Smith at the top of the order, as she made a quick-fire 16 from 10 before being bowled by an in-swinging Hannah Rainey delivery in the second over. It was a similar story for fellow opener Kira Chathli, bowled by Charis Pavely shortly after hitting the first six of the game.

The Bears' bowling attack did well to restrict an experienced Surrey batting line-up to 70for 6 from the opening 10 overs, three runs behin their own score at the same stage of their innings.

In a dramatic end to proceedings, after a 58-run partnership between Kalea Moore and MacDonald-Gay, Taylor caught Moore for 35 (31) off the bowling of Bears captain Davis, and the Three Feathers required just 14 to win from 13 balls.

However, Surrey overcame the late threat as Stonehouse hit a boundary off the bowling of Pavely with two balls to go to take them through to the final. Spinner Hannah Baker was the pick of the Warwickshire bowling attack, taking 3for 25 from four overs.

Surrey will face the winner of the second semi-final, between fellow Tier 1 sides The Blaze and Lancashire. With it, they gain the opportunity to become the inaugural champions of the Vitality T20 Women's County Cup, an "FA Cup-style" tournament created to allow all three tiers of the domestic women's game to come up against one another.