Fifties for Marie Kelly and Kathryn Bryce were unable to prevent The Blaze from suffering a 70-run defeat against Yorkshire at Headingley.

Kelly made 56 and Bryce hit 55, with the pair adding 126 for the second wicket, but the visitors were spun out as twin twirlers Jess Jonassen and Claudie Cooper returned a combined 7/49.

It added up to see The Blaze bowled out for 210 to fall short of their hosts’ 280-9, set in spite of Grace Ballinger, Georgia Elwiss, and Kirstie Gordon all claiming two wickets apiece.

Opener Lauren Winfield-Hill top-scored for Yorkshire with 90, while Jonassen added 67, and it was their showings that saw the hosts dampen The Blaze’s early efforts.

Either side of Kirstie Gordon claiming the only wicket of the first 35 overs by pinning Ines Blackwell lbw for 17, Jonassen and Winfield-Hill helped the hosts reach 191-1.

However, The Blaze regrouped strongly to dominate the latter stages of the Yorkshire innings, claiming eight wickets over the final 14 overs at a cost of just 89 runs.

The introduction of Elwiss was key to that, as she unlocked the second-wicket stand, worth 122 at that point, by trapping Jonassen lbw.

Ballinger then bowled Winfield-Hill just three balls later, and Gordon claimed her second scalp three overs after that in the same fashion when Maddie Ward chopped on for five.

Sterre Kalis proved a thorn in The Blaze’s side late on with a 42-ball 61, but the wickets did keep coming at the other end, with three more over the next eight overs.

Ami Campbell was bowled by Ballinger for two, Erin Thomas holed out to Orla Prendergast off Kathryn Bryce for nine, and Charley Phillips bowled Beth Langston for a golden duck.

In the final over, Kalis was denied a red-inker when she hit Elwiss to Prendergast at point, before Cooper was run out by Sarah Bryce attempting to scamper a single from the final ball.

The Blaze’s chase got off to a nightmare start as England international opener Tammy Beaumont was lbw to Rachel Slater in the first over, before Kelly and Bryce swiftly regrouped.

Between their coming-together and Bryce’s dismissal at the start of the 20th over, the pair struck a combined 17 boundaries and at one point pushed the rate past eight per over.

Having registered their century partnership in 92 balls and with both keeping up with each other’s scoring, they each went to fifty in quick succession.

Kelly did so first, in 62 balls with six fours and a six, thanks to a pulled single off Ines Blackwell, before Bryce joined her from 39 deliveries by hitting Langston for her tenth four.

However, the stutter began when both fell in the space of three balls during Jonassen’s second over, and two more went down in successive overs after that to leave The Blaze 132-5.

It was a position the visitors never recovered from, and try as they might, Emma Jones and Sarah Bryce were unable to kick on, with the score 157-7 after both had departed.

A resistant 11.3 overs between Gordon and Ballinger saw a further 48 runs added for the ninth wicket to at least restore some order as the total pushed past 200.

With Gordon’s dismissal for 24 in the 41st over, however, the end was nigh, and it came when Ballinger was caught for 29 to confirm the hosts’ win.