Sarah and Kathryn Bryce put on a rapid 132-run partnership as The Blaze hammered Essex by nine wickets to book safe passage through to the Metro Bank One Day Cup final.

Opening up, Sarah Bryce hit 70 not out from 52 balls, with 10 fours, while her sister Kathryn entered the fray at number three and added an unbeaten 67 off 46 deliveries, including 12 fours and a six.

It added up to see The Blaze cruise to a successful chase of 160 in just 19.1 overs, set after Kirstie Gordon’s 3/25 had seen Essex bowled out in 45.4 overs.

The visitors had begun calmly, reaching 50-1 in the 12th over of the day in spite of Cassidy McCarthy’s lbw removal of Bryony Gillgrass for 19, as captain Grace Scrivens underpinned their innings with 70.

However, once McCarthy, who was one of three bowlers to bag a brace, had struck again to have Jodi Grewcock caught by Lucy Higham at point for five, the visitors disintegrated.

From that position, they were reeling at 89-6 before halfway as Higham removed Sophia Smale lbw for 20 and Jo Gardner via a Grace Ballinger catch for one on her way to returning a miserly 2/28 from ten.

Gordon’s first victim was wicketkeeper Mollie Adams, lbw for three, before Kathryn Bryce snared the first of her two by bowling Liberty Heap.

A brief fightback between Scrivens and Sophie Munro, who added 41 for the seventh wicket, ended when the latter was run out by Tammy Beaumont for 10 after a colossal mix-up trying to come back for two.

From there, the end was nigh, as Gordon returned to have Esmae MacGregor caught and bowled for 13 before claiming the prize wicket of Scrivens, who was bowled from the 116th ball she faced.

Nine deliveries later, Kathryn Bryce wrapped proceedings up with four full overs unbowled as last batter Abtaha Maqsood was caught by McCarthy at wide long-on for three.

Chasing the modest total, Sarah Bryce got things underway with impetus by thrashing three fours in five deliveries in one MacGregor over, and even the loss of Beaumont failed to dent the progress.

With the Bryce sisters together, ten runs came off both the sixth and seventh overs, before the eighth yielded 11, meaning that The Blaze were in cruise control at 76-1 from ten.

Kathryn Bryce belted three consecutive fours off Maqsood in the 12th over as the hosts continued to motor, before another boundary off her bat from Grewcock’s spin brought up three figures.

Grewcock came in for particular punishment, with her three overs costing 29, but she was not alone, with Clara Thaker’s 0/13 from three being Essex’s only bowler who went at less than eight runs per over.

The result was scarcely in doubt by the 15-over mark, at which The Blaze were 114-1, before Grewcock’s final over went for 14 and a following one from Smale for 13.

That saw the hosts breeze past 150, with Sarah being first to her fifty in 42 balls before Kathryn followed in 38, prior to a final four from the latter off Smale putting the flourish on a convincing result.