Surrey beat Bears to become T20 Blast champions

Grace Harris struck an unbeaten 63 to guide Surrey to the trophy

Overseas star Grace Harris delivered a sparkling 63 from 33 balls to lead Surrey to a five-wicket victory in the final of the inaugural Women's T20 Blast at The Oval.

The Australian all-rounder grabbed a nervy run chase by the scruff of the neck to guide favourites Surrey over the line after the Bears posted 153-9 in their 20 overs.

Southwark-born wicketkeeper batter Kira Chathli hit the winning runs with 20 balls to spare as Surrey secured the trophy in front of their home fans.

Earlier in the day, the Bears had reached the final by beating The Blaze in the semi-final eliminator with Issy Wong making 59 and taking 4-14.

The Bears were impressive in the semi-final eliminator before coming up short in the final

The Bears batted first in the final with Wong again top-scoring for her side with 31 before being bowled by Alexa Stonehouse.

Laura Harris, the sister of Surrey's Grace, struck a typically ferocious 25 from 11 but the Bears struggled to build partnerships.

Phoebe Franklin was the pick of the Surrey attack with 2-16, while two run outs helped to further restrict the Bears to 153-9 in 20 overs.

Surrey suffered early blows in their reply when Danni Wyatt-Hodge holed out to Em Arlott in the deep and Bryony Smith fell to the last ball in the powerplay.

They were further rocked when Nat Wraith stumped Alice Capsey off Hannah Baker to leave them 42-3.

Sophia Dunkley got Surrey back on course with three boundaries from Millie Taylor's opening over and a six off Baker in the next.

When Dunkley was out to a smart piece of work behind the stumps from Wraith, Grace Harris took up the baton to play the match-defining innings, charging to her half-century at a strike rate of 200 and seeing her side home to claim the trophy.

Despite losing the final, the Bears could take great heart from a day in which they comfortably beat The Blaze to reach the final, successfully defending a total of 163 to win by 20 runs.

Wong was the star of the show but there was also an excellent performance from leg-spinner Millie Taylor who took 3-20 to turn the game in the Bears' favour when The Blaze had looked on course to make a date with Surrey.