Today’s Friday Flashback takes us to Edgbaston, in 2024, where youngster Bryony Gillgrass announced herself onto the big stage with a stunning individual performance that led her side to a famous win in the Vitality Women’s County Championship.
Worcestershire Women’s Rapids batter, Bryony Gillgrass, scored a magnificent 151 as her side launched their ECB Women’s County Championship 50-over competition with a 235-run success over local rivals Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
Gillgrass came to the wicket with Worcestershire 44-3 after being put into bat and helped power her side to 322 all out, in a remarkable solo effort that underpinned the Rapid’s victory.
Facing 129 balls, the teenage starlet struck eight sixes and 12 fours, reaching 151 with 96 of her runs coming in boundaries.
Rapids opener Gabrielle Basketter had got the innings off to a positive start with a run-a-ball 25, before the loss of Clare Boycott and Hannah Hardwick threatened to stall the Worcestershire progress.
Gillgrass shared partnerships of 51 with Charis Pavely (20), 103 with Ellie Anderson (16) and 76 with lower-order batter Imogen Hill (33), as her batting partners continued to chip in whilst the youngster wreaked havoc at the other end.
Her memorable knock was brought to an end when she was eighth out, with a strike-rate of 117 that had seen her single-handedly change the course of the match, leaving the field to a standing ovation from her team-mates, with the score reading 321-8.
When Warwickshire began their innings, they quickly ran into trouble against the new ball bowling pair of Amy Maund and Ellie Anderson, who put the skids under the hosts from the outset.
Maund, who had taken four wickets in an over against the Bears in the previous season’s West Midlands Regional Cup, made two breakthroughs while Pavely helped herself to one.
Warwickshire were reduced to 19-4 after Hardwick claimed a run out, by which point the visitors were already strengthening their grip on the contest.
Pavely and Flora Bertwistle (2-11) maintained the pressure against the middle order with two wickets apiece, before Phoebe Brett entered the fray cleaned up the tail as Warwickshire were bowled out for 87 in 25.2 overs.
On what transpired to be a memorable day for those in Worcestershire colours, it was a well-timed glimpse into the future, with young Bryony going on to become a mainstay of the Rapids side the following summer.
