Durham Women got some valuable match practice under their belt with two pre-season friendlies against The Blaze in Desert Springs.
Dani Hazell’s side got underway against The Blaze with a T20 clash as Emma Marlow sent the Nottinghamshire side into bat first.
Grace Thompson got Durham off to a dream start with two wickets in the opening three balls, reducing The Blaze to 2/2 on the way to her figures of 2-31.
Georgia Elwiss led The Blaze’s response with 83 from 56 balls sharing an 87-run partnership with Ella Claridge (35) before Sophia Turner applied the brakes as Durham fought back in the second half of the innings.
Turner claimed a haul of 4-19 whilst Katherine Fraser took one wicket as a great Durham bowling effort saw The Blaze post 152/7 after being 88/2 from 11 overs.
In reply The Blaze also claimed two early wickets as Lucy Higham struck twice in two balls to leave Durham eight for two.
Marlow and Emily Windsor shared 34 but when both were dismissed in back-to-back overs, it looked like an uphill task with the North East side 52/4 at the halfway point.
Bess Heath added some impetus with 32 from 18 but wickets continued to fall at the other end as Durham were reduced to 92/8, eventually falling 32 runs short as they finished on 120/9 with Thompson scoring an unbeaten 22.
In the 50-over fixture Durham were inserted into bat and found runs hard to come by with 29 runs coming from the powerplay.
Phoebe Turner top scored for Durham with a gritty 45 from 72 balls whilst Emily Windsor (24) and Charlotte Stubbs (28) both contributed as Durham made 194.
Lucy Higham was the pick of the bowlers for The Blaze taking 3-22, being backed up by two wickets apiece from Josie Groves, Grace Ballinger and Kirstie Gordon.
The Trent Bridge side shared an opening partnership of 105 before Katie Levick made the opening breakthrough dismissing Marie Kelly lbw for 39.
Stubbs struck two overs later having Sarah Bryce caught behind on 53 before Katherine Fraser claimed a consolation wicket as The Blaze passed Durham’s total with seven wickets to spare.