The Blaze vs Durham- Villiers fires Durham to victory

The 27-year-old England international claimed three for 21 with her off-spin as The Blaze were bowled out for 153, before striking 47 from 34 balls as Durham eased home with five balls to spare.

Her innings was ended by a stunning boundary catch by England’s Tammy Beaumont but her part in an opening stand of 83 with skipper Hollie Armitage, who went on to make an unbeaten 50 off 47 balls, gave Durham just the platform they needed to inflict a first defeat of the season on The Blaze, with Bess Heath also in the runs, hitting 36 from 18 balls.

Armitage said: “We let them get off to a bit of a flyer with the bat but we pulled it back really well and got regular wickets just at the right times after that, which stemmed their flow and restrict them to what we thought was a chaseable total.

“And then the way Mady set the tone for us in our batting powerplay was brilliant. She’s a fantastic striker of the ball and plays all round the ground, so she’s someone who is really hard to bowl at. And with the ball she is someone who can bowl in three phases of the game and who picks up key wickets, so she’s had a very good day out today.

“From my point of view it was nice to help contribute and we feel we’ve got lots of momentum going into Friday. We’ve talked within the group about the importance of winning away from home so to come here and win against a team like The Blaze who have been in form all season, we’ll take huge confidence from that.”