Image caption, The Blaze raced to victory in the final with more than six overs to spare ByGlenn SpellerBBC Sport England Published 4 hours ago Tammy Beaumont starred as The Blaze produced a dominant display to claim their first Women's T20 Blast title, thrashing Durham by 10 wickets at The Oval.
The 35-year-old who retired from international cricket with England earlier this summer, made 54 as she shared an unbroken opening partnership of 118 with Sarah Bryce who scored her first half-century of the tournament, finishing unbeaten on 53.
Having disposed of Surrey in the day's opening semi-final, Kirstie Gordon's side were always in control against a Durham team who had scored a surprise victory over Hampshire Hawks in the last four.
The Blaze's battery of slower bowlers.
Australian all-rounder Heather Graham backed-up her 35 against Hampshire with 30 from 23 balls but her dismissal looked crucial and, despite useful knocks of 20 from both Grace Thompson and Emily Windsor a total of 117-8 proved well below par.
Tournament top wicket-taker Charli Knott claimed 2-25 with Gordon taking 3-21, although they were poorly supported in the field with five catches going to ground, albeit they did not prove costly.
With little room for error, Lauren Filer promptly served up two wides from her opening three deliveries of the reply and neither Beaumont or Bryce offered a sniff of a chance as they strolled to victory.
The Blaze showed all their experience to canter to a brace of comfortable victories in the sweltering south London conditions.
Knott is making a name for herself in the shorter format of the game and finished the day with six victims.
The 23-year-old was named the player of the tournament with 404 runs to go alongside her 27 wickets.
The Blaze were well led by skipper Gordon who used all her skills to take three Durham wickets while maintaining the pressure on opponents with some astute captaincy and was helped by swing bowler Ballinger with four wickets on the day.
Beaumont showed her appetite for the game remains as healthy as ever with 29 against Surrey followed by the day's top individual score containing seven fours.
Such was The Blaze's superiority across their two matches another England international, Georgia Elwiss did not face a single ball while Scotland's Kathryn Bryce was not required to add to her 34 scored in the semi-final.
The Nottingham-based side made short work of both their matches and on this evidence will surely be the team to beat next year.
Lack of runs exposes Durham Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Heather Graham scored 65 runs on Finals Day for Durham Durham's lack of batting depth proved costly in a hugely one-sided final.
The Blaze.
The Blaze at least helped give them something to defend.
Those efforts were isolated and nowhere near enough to challenge the powerhouse at the disposal of The Blaze with their bowlers given a thankless task in trying to defend 117.
But after winning only five of their 14 games last season, Durham have made huge strides as a team and will hope to build on this performance next season.
