Emma Jones carved her name into The Blaze’s history with one clean swing of the bat, drilling the final ball to the rope to seal a dramatic One-Day Cup triumph and complete a remarkable domestic treble.
Needing two from the last delivery at the Utilita Bowl, with Hampshire’s fielders crowding in and the noise rising on home turf, Jones held her nerve. Daisy Gibb ran in, missed her length, and Jones pounced – a decisive pull to the boundary that shattered Hampshire’s hopes and ignited wild Blaze celebrations.
It was a finish worthy of the season they have put together. The Blaze arrived on the south coast already carrying the T20 Blast and County Cup trophies, and for long stretches of this chase of 252 they looked every inch the dominant side in the country.
Tammy Beaumont set the tone with a typically assured 74, anchoring the reply with crisp drives and calm rotation of the strike. Georgia Elwiss matched her composure with 64, the pair steering The Blaze into what looked like a routine procession towards the line.
At one stage, they were cantering. Hampshire’s total of 252 suddenly felt light, the home crowd subdued as Beaumont and Elwiss picked gaps and milked the seamers. The Blaze’s dugout relaxed. A treble, it seemed, was a matter of time.
Then the game turned.
Hampshire’s spinners dragged the contest back with sheer craft and stubborn belief. Amanda-Jade Wellington ripped through the middle order, her 3-36 tightening the screws just as The Blaze had one hand on the trophy. Bex Tyson backed her up with 2-46, finding just enough grip and drift to force errors.
Four wickets tumbled for 29 runs. The scoreboard, once serene, suddenly told a different story: 30 needed from the final three overs. The Blaze, so assured for most of the chase, were wobbling. Hampshire’s supporters found their voice again. The pressure, for the first time, sat squarely on the treble chasers.
Jones walked into that storm and batted as if it were a quiet net session.
She picked off the gaps, refused to panic, and turned the strike over with cold-blooded clarity. Her unbeaten 34 from 25 balls was not about brute force; it was about reading the moment, choosing the right bowlers to attack, and refusing to let the game drift away.
Every boundary she found tightened the noose on Hampshire. Every scampered two chipped away at the equation. What had been a tense, nervy finish for The Blaze became, ball by ball, Jones’s stage.
Still, Hampshire clung on. Gibb took the ball for the final over with The Blaze close but not safe, and the home side one good delivery away from flipping the script. It came down to that last ball, two needed, field up, hearts in mouths.
Jones ended the argument with one swing.
For Hampshire, it was another brutal chapter on home soil. Defeated in the 2025 final by Lancashire at the same ground, they again watched visiting players lift silverware in their own backyard, this time after coming so close to forcing an upset against the season’s outstanding side.
For The Blaze, the shot that pierced the leg-side boundary did more than win a final. It completed a clean sweep of the domestic trophies and underlined their status as the team everyone else must now chase.
