Essex Women v Lancashire Women, Metro Bank One-Day Cup

Skipper Scrivens (74 from 83) and Griffith (61 from 90) bettered their opening partnership of 95 against Yorkshire last time out with another vital contribution to lay the foundations for a resounding victory at Chelmsford. 

Lancashire needed a century partnership of their own to recover from a sluggish start, with opener Eve Jones (98 from 135) and skipper Ellie Threlkeld (51 from 69) adding 127 for the third wicket. 

That enabled them to post 251 for seven, with Sophie Munro and Scrivens taking two wickets apiece, but it was not enough and the in-form Jodi Grewcock hit 58 from 57 as Essex cruised home with three overs to spare.

Head Coach Chris Read said: “I thought the first hour and a half of the game was really hard and stacked in favour of the bowling side. After that, it turned into a really good pitch for white-ball cricket and we got into the game.

“The difference between the first hour or two and the rest of the game was quite stark and all credit to Essex for the way they used that new ball effectively and put us under pressure.

“On another day, a team could have got bowled out for 150 on that early on, so I thought the way Eve (Jones) and Ellie (Threlkeld) played to get us in the game was exceptional. 

“If we’d managed to build some pressure and chipped away a couple of wickets, the run-rate could have kept pushing up, but I thought Grace Scrivens played really nicely at the top and again Jodi Grewcock showed she’s a class act. 

“It’s been a strange start to the season, a bit topsy-turvy so far and there’s work to do, because this first block of 50-over games is 50 per cent of the competition – we’ve got two more games before the Blast starts and we need some good results there.”