The Blaze 160-4, tied with Bears Women 160-8.
The Blaze and Bears Women shared the points after opening their Vitality Blast Women's season, playing out a thrilling tie at Trent Bridge as the game went down to the very last ball.
Kathryn Bryce finished with a fine 60 not out, and shared a brilliant partnership with Georgia Elwiss (52) as The Blaze threatened to chase down the Bears total - but were forced to settle for a tie as Issy Wong held her nerve in the final over.
Bears captain Georgia Davis won the toss and elected to bat as the sun eventually beat down over a festive Trent Bridge, as The Blaze presented Josie Groves with her 50th cap, a fine achievement for the young leg-spinner to celebrate.
Bears made a flying start, scoring 17 off the first two overs, before a fabulous run-out from Maddy Green halted their momentum as Abbey Freeborn (8) departed. Grace Ballinger then struck to remove the powerful Davina Perrin (12) - and the Bears were suddenly two wickets down four overs into the game.
Finishing the powerplay 45-2, Bears looked to have recovered, but The Blaze reacted swiftly to bring about more wickets. Dangerous all-rounder Issy Wong (16) was well taken at extra cover off Georgia Elwiss, before Sterre Kalis was bowled by Kirstie Gordon attempting to sweep in the very next over.
At 61-4, Bears needed a partnership, and found one in Charis Pavely and Katie George. The fifth-wicket pair added 75 from 55 balls, with Pavely in particular getting aggressive, hitting five fours and a six before Kirstie Gordon bowled her on 46.
Australian import Laura Harris' stay at the crease was short lived, caught off Georgia Elwiss, before Kathryn Bryce disturbed the stumps one more time to remove Amu Surenkumar as Bears set a target of 160-8 for The Blaze to chase.
Marie Kelly and Georgia Elwiss opened for The Blaze, and started brightly until Kelly was bowled in the third over on 11. The Blaze completed the powerplay without further loss as Kathryn Bryce and Georgia Elwiss set the platform nicely at 1-43 from six overs, playing steadily but with enough intent to keep the target in sight.
The experienced second-wicket pair began to accelerate, and reached the halfway mark of the innings with the total 1-71, with Elwiss in particular upping the tempo, reaching her fifty from 36 balls.
The pair reached their three figure partnership, but Elwiss was then bowled by Pavely, finishing on a pivotal 52. Joined in the middle by sister Sarah, Kathryn Bryce completed her fifty from 44 balls. Sarah struck two boundaries in quick succession, and suddenly The Blaze needed 26 from the final three overs, sitting at 135-2.
With Kathryn set, Sarah continued to go on offence, and both sisters found the boundary in the next two overs as the equation boiled down to nine off the last over.
Wong conceded a single with the first ball, before Sarah Bryce managed to pick off the second ball over mid-wicket to leave The Blaze needing four off four. This became two from two, before Sarah Bryce tragically fell, caught at mid-off as Maddy Green came to the crease needing two to win off the final ball.
Green made contact, and The Blaze scampered through for the game tying single, but were unable to push back for two as the match ended in a stalemate.
Kathryn Bryce, while ultimately slightly frustrated not to finish things off, says the team can still take positives out of the performance heading into tomorrow's fixture with Lancashire.
"Being out there in the middle but not being able to get us over the line, obviously pretty disappointing, but when we reflect on it I think there will be some pretty great things to take out of it for when we go again.
"There's not much time to think about a lot of things, with a game and going again tomorrow, but Georgia played fantastically and Sarah when she came in at the end, kind of gave us the opportunity to attack.
"We were put under pressure at different times as well, we had those good partnerships, and getting up to 160 even if we couldn't get over the line, we still put a good total on the board."
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