The Blaze 118 for 0 (Beaumont 54*, Bryce 53*) beat Durham 117 for 8 (Graham 30, Gordon 3-21) by 10 wickets

The pair shared the tournament’s highest opening partnership, with Beaumont finishing 54 not out from 39 balls and Bryce 53 not out from 41 to seal their side’s victory with 40 balls unused.

Maintaining the trend of the day, Gordon opted to chase after winning the toss, a decision immediately justified by Ballinger’s superb opening over which cost a solitary run and removed Durham captain Hollie Armitage without scoring.

Mady Villiers gained two lives – a difficult chance to point, where the leaping Lucy Higham did well to get a hand to the ball and a routine one that Gordon fumbled before making amends by capturing her wicket in the next over.

Graham – a member of The Blaze’s victorious T20 side two years ago – threatened to spark a fightback, but she perished attempting to cut Kathryn Bryce as the bowling side cemented control.

Having dropped Mia Rogers off her own bowling, Gordon responded again by taking the next opportunity to dismiss her as Durham sank to 73 for 5 before Grace Thompson and Emily Windsor joined forces to give their side some hope.

The pair added 40 from 30, only for spinner Charli Knott (2 for 25) to prise out both batters in the final over and ensure The Blaze would be chasing less than a run per ball for the trophy.

Beaumont and Sarah Bryce kept their side comfortably ahead of that required rate from the off, batting with composure and finding the boundary with frequency as Lauren Filer’s three powerplay overs went for 29.

The last of those contained a trio of cover-driven fours by Beaumont, with the partnership passing 50 in the sixth over before Bryce got on top of Katie Levick, flaying the spinner twice over the infield to the fence.

The only outstanding issue was which batter would be first to a half-century and it was Beaumont who won that race, reaching the landmark from 34 deliveries with a sweep for two off Levick.

Bryce took five more balls to get there, striking Filer for successive boundaries over point before Beaumont steered Villiers for the winning run in the next over to spark jubilation in The Blaze camp.