Bryce sisters power The Blaze to eight wins in a row (2024)

Kathryn Bryce continued her prolific Charlotte Edwards Cup form with an unbeaten 57 from 37 balls as The Blaze racked up an eighth straight success, coasting past Sunrisers at Lord's.

Bryce, the tournament's leading run-scorer, registered her fourth half-century in six games, sharing a third-wicket partnership of exactly 100 with her younger sister Sarah, who struck 54 not out from 35.

The Scotland international pair maintained their side's 100 per cent record in the group stage, steering them to a comfortable victory with 29 deliveries still unused.

Earlier, home captain Grace Scrivens top-scored with 42 from 38 as Sunrisers posted 137 for seven, but the result all but mathematically ends their slim hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Scrivens was soon up and running after Sunrisers had been put in, cracking two boundaries from Grace Ballinger's opening over - one wrong-footing the fielder thanks to a deflection off the bat of non-striker Mady Villiers.

Having swept Sarah Glenn for four, Villiers was lbw attempting to give the spinner's next ball the same treatment, but Lissy MacLeod maintained her side's momentum, hitting over the infield to good effect in a brisk 16 from 11.

Once MacLeod was bowled, beaten for flight by Gordon (two for 32), Sunrisers became bogged down during the middle overs - even more so after losing Scrivens to Marie Kelly's direct hit from mid-off.

Jo Gardner (22 from 26) and Jodi Grewco*ck (22 from 18) did their best to rebuild with a partnership of 35 from 31 before Heather Graham (two for 22) reasserted the visitors' dominance with two wickets in three deliveries.

Despite gleaning eight from Graham's final over, Sunrisers' total looked short of par - although their hopes gained a significant boost when Grewco*ck turned the first ball of The Blaze's reply to send Tammy Beaumont on her way for a duck.

The visitors would have been under more pressure if Gardner, running in from mid-on, had held on to Kelly's miscued drive off Kate Coppack, but the opener capitalised on that let-off to clear the ropes twice in the next over.

Kelly's good fortune soon ran out when she speared Eva Gray to cover, but Sarah Bryce joined forces with her sibling in a measured partnership that ensured The Blaze were always ahead of the asking rate.

The elder Bryce dispatched Nicola Hanco*ck's first two deliveries to the fence and brought up her half-century from 33 deliveries with another boundary, reverse-sweeping Villiers neatly beyond point.

Sarah seized the initiative as The Blaze eased towards their target, hammering Gray for two sixes in as many balls and going on to post her first 50 of the tournament before applying the finishing touch with a square-cut boundary off Amu Surenkumar.