Holland flattens Essex before rain has final say

Somerset's bid for victory against strugglers Essex was thwarted by the rain at Chelmsford.

Niamh Holland led the visitors' run-fest with 76, including eight fours in 76 balls after they were put in while Jess Hazell hit 60 in 56 balls as they raised 312 for 6 off the 49.2 overs possible.

The total was the sixth-highest in the competition this season, the top five scores having been made at Beckenham.

It was a sobering day for Essex's bowlers, who, with the exception of Sophia Smale (2 for 56), strayed in both line and length. However, the rain which drove the players off four balls before the end of the Somerset innings refused to abate, meaning the hosts had no opportunity to take on the huge chase.

Holland, making a belated debut in the competition because of a back injury sustained playing in Australia over the winter, would prove the mainstay of the visitors' effort, one four crunched back over the bowler's head and a sweep among six boundaries as she moved to 50 in 54 balls.

The 20-year-old right-hander celebrated with a powerful cut backward of square and there was another boundary over mid-wicket before her first mistake proved costly, skewing one from Kate Coppack to Jodie Grewcock behind point.

Holland's solidity allowed others to play around her. Odgers produced two delightful pick-up shots over mid-wicket, before being dropped in that region by Lissy Macleod on 29, but it wasn't a costly miss, the opener skying one soon after to Amara Carr behind the stumps.

Somerset's leading scorer Sophie Luff dispatched a head-high full toss from Maddie Penna to the fence at long leg before creaming the resulting free-hit through the covers in a breezy 27 ended by Smale, stumped by Carr.

Fran Wilson belted a full toss from Jo Gardner back over the bowler's head in her cameo performance, though Gardner had the last laugh when Wilson bunted back a caught and bowled.

Hazell and Alex Griffiths (29) ran hard to keep the scoreboard moving in their fifth-wicket stand of 57, Hazell reaching 50 from 52 balls with only three fours and Amanda-Jade Wellington and Chloe Skelton cashed in late on before the rain came.