Emma Jones Seals The Blaze's Trophy Treble
Emma Jones cracked the final ball to the rope to complete The Blaze’s trophy treble, ripping up Hampshire’s script and silencing a home crowd that had already started to believe.
Needing two from the last delivery of a gripping One-Day Cup final at the Utilita Bowl, Jones stood over the moment. Daisy Gibb ran in, the field squeezed tight, nerves stretched. Jones rocked back and pulled, clean and true, past the leg-side boundary. Game over. Season crowned.
For much of the chase, The Blaze had looked in cruise control in pursuit of 252. Tammy Beaumont, all timing and authority, carved out a commanding 74, while Georgia Elwiss added a composed 64. Between them, they built the kind of platform that usually kills a final as a contest, ticking off the target and quietening Hampshire’s early energy.
The Blaze, already holders of the T20 Blast and County Cup, appeared to be strolling towards the clean sweep.
Turning Point
Then the game turned.
Hampshire’s spinners dragged it back with grit and guile. Amanda-Jade Wellington, the heartbeat of the attack, ripped through the middle order with figures of 3-36, her changes of pace and angles suddenly forcing doubt where there had been none. Bex Tyson backed her up with 2-46, and the innings, once serene, began to creak.
Four wickets tumbled for just 29 runs. The scoreboard, so comfortable for so long, tightened like a noose: 30 needed from the final three overs. The Blaze, who had spent the season bullying opponents, now had to think, to scrap, to hold their nerve in a way champions are always eventually asked to.
Jones' Response
Jones answered that question.
She played the situation, not the occasion. An unbeaten 34 from 25 balls, built on sharp running and ruthless targeting of anything loose, kept The Blaze in the hunt as the tension rose. Singles became precious, twos were chased hard, and every boundary felt like a release valve.
Hampshire, sensing redemption after last year’s final defeat to Lancashire on the same ground, threw everything at her. Fields were shuffled, bowlers rotated, conversations held at the top of marks. The Blaze would not go away.
By the time the final over began, the contest had shrunk to its purest form: bat versus ball, season on the line. Gibb almost dragged Hampshire over the line, but Jones refused to blink. One last ball, two to win, one shot to define a campaign.
She found it.
As the ball sped away to the fence and orange shirts flooded the outfield, Hampshire were left to process a second straight heartbreak in front of their own supporters. For The Blaze, the moment belonged to Jones, yet the statement belonged to the whole side: three competitions, three trophies, and a season that now sits in the record books with a final stroke of the bat.
