Tag: The Hundred

Welsh Fire Woes

A look back at the matches between Oval Invincibles and Welsh Fire yesterday, which pretty much ended the qualification hopes of both Welsh Fire men’s and women’s teams. Also a photo gallery.

The Hundred is beginning to reach the stage at which teams have an idea of their likelihood of progression. One team who are all but certain not to progress in the Women’s and very unlikely to progress in the Men’s are Welsh Fire. This post looks back at yesterday afternoon and evening when they were at The Oval facing Oval Invincibles.

THE WOMEN’S MATCH

Oval Invincibles batted first, and largely thanks to Alice Capsey (55 off 34 balls) and Marizanne Kapp (47 not out off 32) they tallied 150-5 from their 100 balls, a fine score in this format in most circumstances. Sophia Dunkley batted excellently for Fire, but support was conspicuous by its absence. Second top scorer in the end was Katie George with 16, and the match ended with two dismissals that could have been mistaken for action replays of each other, Shabnim Ismail and Katie Levick, numbers 10 and 11, each going caught by Meg Lanning off Sophia Smale. The Welsh left arm spinner with the aid of these gift wickets at the end took 3-13 from 17 balls (the wickets fell to the 96th and 97th balls of the innings). The margin was 39 runs, and Welsh Fire, half way through their group fixtures (there are eight rounds of group fixtures as each side plays each other side once, with the exception of ‘derby’ fixtures which are played twice, the quotes round ‘derby’ because some of them are blatantly no such thing – Welsh Fire’s ‘derby’ is against Southern Brave, based in Southampton, which as far as I am aware has never had any rivalries with Cardiff based teams before) are yet to accrue a point. With only the top three qualifying for finals day (second play third for the right to face the group winners in the final) an even record of four wins and four losses, the best Fire can now achieve, gives almost a 0% chance of qualifying, and Fire’s net RR, the one thing that might give them hope, is an abysmal -1.444.

THE MEN’S MATCH

Invincibles also batted first in this one. Tawanda Muyeye, born in Zimbabwe, but now England qualified, and likely to play for them, and Will Jacks opened up with a stand of 76 from 39 balls, 38 for Jacks, 33 for Muyeye. This turned out to be a mere prelude to a thunderous assault by Jordan Cox, only playing for Invincibles because of an injury to Ollie Pope. Cox scored 86 not out from 29 balls, hitting 10 sixes and three fours along the way. Invincibles ended with 226-4 from their 100 balls, comfortably a new record for the competition. For comparison purposes this score equates to 271 in a T20. The most bizarre feature of a generally sick looking Fire bowling card concerned left arm spin bowling all rounder Saif Zaib. He bowled five balls, taking 1-6, and that was it, while the 95 balls bowled by bowlers other than him were spanked for 220 runs between them. No one actually went as many as 50, but Ajeet Singh Dale had 1-46 from 15 balls, which suggests that his and Zaib’s share of the bowling duties were the wrong way round. Unsurprisingly Fire never looked like getting anywhere close to chasing this monumental total down. They, like the women’s side earlier, ended up not batting the full 100 balls, being out for 143 from the 93rd ball of their innings. They have one win from four matches, and a dreadful net run rate. If they win all their remaining games they might qualify, but the odds are not on their side.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

An Unexpectedly Close Finish

A look back at this morning’s Hundred match between the Trent Rockets and Southern Brave women/s teams and a photo gallery.

The early match in The Hundred today featured Trent Rockets women playing host to Southern Brave women. This post looks back at the match.

LEFT ARM SPINNERS DOMINANT

The reason that this match becoming a close one was so unexpected was that Brave totally dominated the early exchanges. Tilly Corteen-Coleman, helped by some brilliant wicket keeping from Rhianna Southby (two stumpings, both beyond the capacities of a batter/keeper as opposed to a true keeper) took 4-13 from her 20 balls, all bowled in the first half of the innings. As well as bowling superbly the left arm-spinner also held two catches. At low water mark Rockets were 55-8. At this point another left arm spinner entered the picture, Kirstie Gordon. She and Alana King put on 51 together for the ninth wicket. That meant that Brave were 106 all out, the tenth wicket going to the 100th ball of their innings. Gordon top scored with 32 off 24 balls, Rockets skipper Ash Gardner had contributed 25 earlier in the innings, and King managed 24, with no else in double figures.

A CREDITABLE BOWLING EFFORT

It says much for the Trent Rockets bowlers that there were significant periods of the chase during which it felt like they might possibly defend this small score. It was the 95th ball of the innings, hit for four by Sophie Devine to reduce the ask to three off five balls that finally killed off the last hopes of a turnaround by the Rockets. Cassidy McCarthy accepted responsibility for bowling the last five balls of the match. Devine took a single off the first, the second was a dot, and Chloe Tryon hit the third for four to finally get Brave over the line. Maia Bouchier with 42 was top scorer, while Devine ended up on 41 not out. The margin was six wickets. Brave have now won four matches out of four, and the secret of their success is not hard to locate: their England seamer Lauren Bell is the leading wicket taker of the tournament so far, with Corteen-Coleman second on the list, and it is generally bowling resources that separate winners from also-rans. I could cite many examples from cricket’s long history to back this up, but will settle for reminding people of the history of RCB men in the IPL – for years they had devastating batting but comparatively second string bowling, and for all those years they never won the tournament, but in the most recent IPL they had for the first time assembled a properly balanced squad, and what you know, they won the thing. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Welsh Fire Gored by a Gaur

Yesterday afternoon the Welsh Fire and Manchester Originals women’s teams clashed in Cardiff. This post looks back at a command performance from the Manchester Originals bowlers.

THE GAUR CHARGE

Welsh Fire battled first, and Mahika Gaur opened the bowling for Manchester Originals. The Hundred allows bowlers to bowl as many as ten balls straight through before another bowler comes on (more usually five, but bowlers do sometimes bowl ten straight through). Gaur not only bowled the first ten balls straight through, she then came back after the minimum five balls off and bowled another ten straight through, thereby getting through her entire allocation within the Power Play (the first 25 balls of the innings). Gaur took 2-10 from those 20 balls (the five that she didn’t bowl were bowled by Sophie Ecclestone). Fire were 12-2 from those 25 balls, and already looking at a tough task. The rest of the bowlers were also highly impressive. England quickie Lauren Filer emerged with statistically the best figures of the innings, 3-8 from her full allocation of 20 balls, while Ecclestone had 2-11 from her full 20. Only Amelia Kerr 0-24 from 20 and Danielle Gregory with 0-7 from five went for over a run a ball. In the end Fire limped to 73-9 from their 100 balls, after which there was only ever going to be one result, which duly arrived with seven wickets and 19 balls to spare. The Manchester Originals bowlers were superb, but the Welsh Fire batters deserve some censure – of the 60 balls bowled by the trio of Gaur, Ecclestone and Filer, 41 (68.33% of the total) were dot balls, which is frankly ridiculous in this format. Mahika Gaur whose history making performance in becoming the first ever bowler to bowl 20 of the first 25 balls of a Hundred match was put the skids under the Fire was named Player of the Match. About the titles of both this post and the main body of it, the gaur is a species of Asian wild cattle, and the bulls in particular are known for being both immensely strong and very aggressive. Scorecard here, plus a jpg below.

PICTURE GALLERY

This comes from today at work, where I passed the halfway stage in my creation of day one of a two day stamp sale…

Southern Brave Thrash Northern Superchargers

A look back the match between the Southern Brave and Northern Superchargers women’s teams, a special ‘town centre and riverfront gallery’ and my regular photo gallery.

As West Norfolk roasts in 30+ degree heat (that in combination with it being a workday was why I did not post yesterday) today is a ‘double double header’ in The Hundred. The early match featured the Southern Brave and Northern Superchargers women in action, and this post looks back at that game.

BOWLERS DOMINANT

Southern Brave bowled first at a ground that is generally low scoring, and they bowled magnificently. Apart from Hollie Armitage who scored 36 off 28 balls there was nothing approaching a major contribution. Annabel Sutherland was second top scorer, but she would be the last person to take any great pride in 20 off 20 balls. Probably the second best performer for the Superchargers was their number nine Lucy Higham, who managed 13 from eight balls. Only two Brave bowlers, Lauren Bell with 1-25 from 20 and Chloe Tryon with 0-14 from 10 went for more than a run a ball. Kiwi veteran Sophie Devine took 3-15 from her 20 balls, and at the other end of the experience spectrum 17 year old Tilly Corteen-Coleman was again impressive, with 1-17 from her 20 balls.

AN EXCELLENT CHASE

Maia Bouchier struggled to 5 off 15 balls, but by the time she was out Danni Wyatt-Hodge was already going well, and Laura Wolvaardt was soon looking equally impressive. When Wyatt-Hodge was stumped by Bess Heath off Katherine Fraser for 43 it was 83-2 from 68 balls. Sophie Devine now came in, and added an unbeaten 15 from eight balls to her efforts with the ball and in the field. It was Wolvaardt who scored the winning run, taking her own score to 33 not out from 29 balls. As well as eight wickets Southern Brave had 17 balls in hand when they completed the victory. Only left arm medium pacer Grace Ballinger with 10 balls for nine runs had gone at less than one a ball for the Superchargers. Full scorecard here. I am currently listening to the match between the Welsh Fire and Manchester Originals women’s teams. Fire are struggling at 21-2 from 30 balls. Mahika Gaur has already bowled her allocation of 20 balls, taking 2-10, with 14 of the 20 balls dots. Remarkably she bowled 10 straight through to start the innings, then after five balls off as mandated for this competition she bowled ten more straight through, thus doing all her bowling in the Power Play. She is 19 years old, bowls left arm medium fast, is exceptionally tall (her nickname is ‘two metre Mahika’), and played international cricket for the United Arab Emirates at the age of 12! She is now part of the England set up.

PHOTO GALLERY INTRO – KING’S LYNN TOWN AND RIVERFRONT

Before my main gallery I have a special gallery made up of pictures exclusively from the Great Ouse and the town centre…

This tidal clock can be seen on one of the towers of King’s Lynn Minster, and I have not seen its like anywhere else.
Among the boats at the pontoon jetty were two that were completely new to me, this one…
…and this one, largely obscured because it was on the outside of the jetty and a lot of boats were moored there.
Some pictures of the Bank House where I will be stewarding on heritage open day.
The King’s Lynn mariners circle. which is on Purfleet Quay…
…with close ups of each of the eight panels dedicated to specific mariners. Not also the feature image, assembled from these pictures.
The Custom House, generally considered to be the centre of King’s Lynn…
…the giant tree at the junction of High Street and New Conduit Street, which I heretically consider the centre of King’s Lynn – this is geographically more central than the Custom House, and I personally consider a tree as a town centre marker to be an improvement on a building, even a super-iconic one.
The new library/ community hub coming on apace.
Three shots focussed on the tiling (all recycled and environmentally friendly), overlapping in ‘tortoiseshell’ fashion.

THE REGULAR PHOTOS

My usual sign off…

The art and the artist – a spider surveying the world from the centre of her latest creation.

A Nailbiter in Manchester

A look back at this afternoon’s match between the Manchester Originals and London Spirt women’s teams, and a photo gallery.

Today’s round of The Hundred featured Manchester Originals playing host to London Spirit. Allegedly for next year the Manchester franchise will be the Manchester Super Giants, with the owners of IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants having bought the name change. The women’s match happened first as is standard in this tournament, and this post looks back at it.

THE ORIGINALS INNINGS

The Originals started slowly, and lost two early wickets as well. Kathryn Bryce was caught behind off Tara Norris, and then Amelia Kerr fell victim to some terrible judgement from Beth Mooney. The previous delivery had been a no ball, so this one was a ‘free hit’ ball, off which the only way one can be out is run out. Mooney went for a second with Kerr running to the danger end. The call was bad enough that although Eva Gray’s return was not world beating Kerr was barely even in the frame when the bails were taken off. Mooney now batted well, with Seren Smale playing the support role. However, just as Originals were thinking in terms of recovery Mooney was out, caught by Norris off Charlie Dean to make it 45-3. Scoring now virtually ceased, and although only one had been added to the score eight balls had elapsed since the Mooney dismissal when Smale was bowled by Sarah Glenn for 5 off 12 balls. Deandra Dottin top scored with 36, while Fi Morris and Alice Monaghan supported her. A final total of 122-6 looked inadequate.

THE LONDON SPIRIT INNINGS

For much of the chase Spirit looked to be falling short. They were given a chance when Deandra Dottin had a nightmare sequence, first a n0-ball hit four four, for a total of six runs, and then another six off the free hit ball. Suddenly Spirit were on terms. Grace Harris, who had struck those blows off Dottin reached a 32 ball half century off the 92nd ball of the innings. However, she had taken a single to get there and was thus at the wrong end. There were nine needed from eight balls at this point. Then Issy Wong was pinned LBW, and referred it upstairs, burning her side’s review when it was shown to be plumb. The 94th ball of the innings did for Dean in the same fashion. Sarah Glenn edged the hat trick ball past the keeper for four and that was five needed off five balls. The veteran Dottin was entrusted with the bowling at this crucial juncture. Two runs came off the 96th ball, and for the first time runs required were lower than balls left – three off four balls. The 97th ball was a yorker which Glenn could do no more than dig out for a dot ball. However the leg spinner then rose to the occasion on the 98th ball (the antepenultimate scheduled ball of the match), driving it through the off side for four to finally get London Spirit over the line. A quirk of the Originals deployment of their bowlers was that leg spinner Dani Gregory had 1-4 from five balls – she bowled one superb set and then was not used again. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Young Talent Comes to the Fore

A look at two outstanding performances by youngsters today in The Hundred (women’s) and a photo gallery.

Today, like yesterday has been a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred – one morning/ afternoon double header and one afternoon/ evening double header – the evening match between the Trent Rockets and Northern Superchargers men’s teams gets underway at 6PM. I have followed my usual policy on such days where there is an overlap of listening to the morning match, then listening to both matches of the second double header, which means I listen to two women’s and one men’s match. This post looks at the two women’s games that happened today.

CORTEEN-COLEMAN PUTS SKIDS UNDER PHOENIX

Southern Brave had tallied a respectable but not outstanding 139-8 from their 100 balls. Danni Wyatt-Hodge led the way with 59, while there were also useful contributions from Kiwi veteran Sophie Devine and silky South African Laura Wolvaardt. Young left arm wrist spinner Millie Taylor continued what is becoming a very memorable season for her by taking 1-25 from her 20 balls.

Birmingham Phoenix had got to 19 without loss from the first ten balls of the reply when Southern Brave turned to 17 year old left arm orthodox spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman. In the space of three balls she changed the complexion of the match, bowling Emma Lamb for 9 with her first ball, and then two balls later dismissing Marie Kelly the same way, for a duck. When Lauren Bell got rid of the surviving opener, Georgia Voll, with the 18th ball of the innings the Phoenix was well and truly in the ashes, and unlike in the legend this one was not going to revive. Ellyse Perry, Amy Jones and especially Sterre Kalis kept things alive for them, but they were never other than behind the rate, and when Kalis finally fell, to the third last ball of the match, caught by Corteen-Coleman off Bell for 44 (34) it was 124-9, 16 needed off three balls. None of those runs were scored, Hannah Baker surviving one ball before being castled by the next, the penultimate scheduled ball of the match. Sophie Devine was named player of the match for her 27 and 2-28, though personally I would have given it to Corteen-Coleman whose two early wickets put the skids under the Phoenix chase, and whose catch to dismiss Kalis effectively sealed things for Southern Brave. Scorecard here.

PERRIN PULVERISES THE ROCKETS

The focus for me now switched to Nottingham, where Trent Rockets were playing host to Northern Superchargers. Rockets began appallingly, losing three wickets almost before they were started. Their skipper, Ashleigh Gardner, led a fightback, scoring 61 off 32 balls, but they could do no better than 128-8.

Davina Perrin, an 18 year old opening batter, proceeded to make an inadequate total look positively risible, as she climbed into the Rockets bowlers. Alice Davidson-Richards provided early support, and then when she was out Phoebe Litchfield, the 22 year old Australian, produced a splendid cameo, scoring 22 off just 10 balls. Annabel Sutherland, generally regarded as the best current all rounder in the women’s game, and player of the tournament in2024, now came to the crease, and it fell to her in the end to make the winning hit, a four that took her to 18 not out off 11. Perrin had scored 72 not out from 40 balls, with 12 fours. This supercharged performance gave Superchargers the win by eight wickets, with 21 balls to spare. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A beetle on my left forearm this morning (three pics)
Some butterflies in my back garden – three red admirals and one European Peacock.
A comma butterfly on an ivy flowerhead from my post-lunch walk
from the same walk, a small pale green insect with wings so diaphanous as to virtually transparent temporarily on my left arm.
Another visitor to the garden, a hummingbird hawkmoth I think (three pics).

Spirit Win The Hundred (Women’s)

A look back at the final of The Hundred (women’s), plus mention of a great finish to the Eliminator in the Hundred (men’s), and a brief mention of the One Day Cup semi-finals and a photo gallery.

The final of the Hundred (women’s) has just ended, and it has been an absolute cracker. The men’s final starts at 6PM, and last night saw a great finish in their Eliminator match – it went to a super five, with Southern Brave managing to win. Birmingham Phoenix should have won in open play – Akeal Hosein bowled a no-ball to start the final five balls, and it went for six as well, which left Phoenix needing three off five balls. Phoenix failed to finish it from there, then scored only seven from their five balls in the Super Five, and finished the snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory by trusting Adam Milne to bowl their five balls, when they had Mousley who had recently won them a game by conceding just three from the last 10 balls available to do so.

THE WELSH FIRE INNINGS

Welsh Fire had won the league stage of the tournament and their reward for doing so was to progress straight to today’s final. London Spirit faced Oval Invincibles in the Eliminator yesterday (see here for details), and won that match. Spirit won the toss and chose to field first. Fire struggled with the bat, but Aussie all rounder Jess Jonassen gave them some hope with 54 off 41 balls, which helped them reached 115-8. A small total, but not an absolutely hopeless one. Sarah Glenn had 2-17 from her 20 balls, Deepti Sharma 1-23 and Eva Gray 2-23.

THE LONDON SPIRT CHASE

The 12th ball of the innings, bowled by Shabnim Ismail, the fastest bowler for any side in this tournament, secured the prize scalp of Meg Lanning for just 4. Cordelia Griffith got to 10 before Georgia Davis got one to take the edge of her bat and Sarah Bryce took a smart catch behind the stumps. Georgia Redmayne and Heather Knight looked in control of proceedings until Ismail intervened again, bowling Knight for 24 (18). That was 56-3 after 56 balls, 60 still needed off 44 balls. Dani Gregory now arrived at the crease, and she played the crucial innings – 22 off just nine deliveries, before Ismail clean bowled her to make it three wickets in the innings. Sharma, for my money the Player of the Tournament, now joined Redmayne with 28 needed off 29 balls. 16 of those runs had been accrued by the time Freya Davis trapped Redmayne LBW for 34 (32). A frenetic innings by Abi Freeborn ended when she ran herself out, setting off for a single in which Deepti Sharma had no interest and which was never on. Four were needed on three balls, with Sharma on strike and Matthews bowling. Sharma launched a straight drive, which as it happened went all the way for six, and London Spirit had secured the trophy. Sharma, 16* (16) had taken her aggregate for the tournament to 212, which was also her average for the tournament as she had been dismissed only once.

ELSEWHERE

The semi-finals of the One Day Cup are taking place today. Glamorgan look like they are getting the better of Warwickshire, while Somerset are likely to beat Leicestershire, although the latter are making a good fight of it in response to a Somerset total of 334-4. Lewis Goldsworthy, a native of Cornwall, scored 115* off 86 balls for Somerset. James Rew with 71 off 57 balls was the next biggest contributor, and openers Andrew Umeed and George Thomas deserve credit for giving their side a very solid start, on which the more explosive likes of Goldsworthy and Rew cashed in.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My periodic reminder that clicking on a photograph will enable you to see it and others at a larger size. My usual sign off…

This one shows not just a caterpillar, but what those caterpillars do the leaves of this plant.

London Spirit into the Final

A look at The Hundred (women’s) Eliminator match, a correction/ clarification relating to yesterday’s post and a photo gallery.

This post is largely about the Eliminator match in The Hundred (women’s) – the equivalent in the men’s starts in an hour from now. However I inadvertently misstated how the One Day Cup works in yesterday’s post. The ‘quarter-finals’ that took place yesterday were in fact the only such matches, not the first two of four, since the winners of each of the two groups qualify direct for the semi-final, while second in one group play off against third in the other for the right to join them.in the semis. Warwickshire did win the match I covered yesterday, with Kai Smith, who had just completed his hundred by the time I finished that post ending with 130*, almost triple his previous best as a professional cricketer.

THE INVINCIBLES INNINGS

London Spirit won the toss and chose to field first. Apart from Lauren Winfield-Hill (17 off 10) and Laura Harris (16 off 7) no one scored with any freedom at any stage. Alice Capsey took 33 balls to score her 30, and Marizanne Kapp’s 26 came at exactly a run a ball. Tara Norris bowled the first five balls of the match, and yielded only five runs, but was not called on again. Danielle Gibson was expensive, conceding 38 from her 15 balls but also claiming two wickets. It was the other four bowlers who really did the damage: Charlie Dean 3-24 off 20 balls, Eva Gray 2-13 off 20 balls, Sarah Glenn 2-15 off 20 and Deepti Sharma 0-17 off 20. Oval Invincibles were thus restricted to 113-9.

THE SPIRIT CHASE

The only way a total as small as Invincibles had on the board even might be defended was by taking early wickets. 35 were already on the board by the time Meg Lanning was first out, caught by Winfield-Hill off Kapp. Cordelia Griffith, in at number three, went cheaply, stumped by Winfield-Hill off Amanda-Jade Wellington. However Georgia Redmayne is one of the best uncapped players around (she is uncapped simply because as rivals for her position she has Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney, the first named of whom is also Australia’s current captain) and she was now joined by England skipper Heather Knight. There were nine balls as well as eight wickets to spare when Redmayne hit the four that both completed her 50. She had played the anchor role to perfection, and Knight had provided the extra impetus, her 36* coming in just 23 balls. Marizanne Kapp had 1-19 from her 20 balls, Amanda-Jade Wellington 1-21 also from a full allocation. London Spirit will therefore face Welsh Fire in tomorrow’s final.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Fire Qualify

A look back at the early match in the Hundred (women’s) – Southern Brave v Welsh Fire. Also a large photo gallery – a few from yesterday, the rest from this morning before the cricket started.

Today is a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred. In the early game Welsh Fire travelled to Southampton to take on Southern Brave. Brave were bottom of the table, with little to play for. Fire could guarantee qualification with a win and a big win would give them a major chance of qualifying directly for the final by finishing top (second and third place play off in a so-called ‘eliminator’ for the right to join them).

THE BRAVE INNINGS

Fire won the toss and decided to bowl. Brave have fared terribly with the bat all through this competition, and this one was no different. Wickets crashed from the start, and it looked like being a very short match indeed when Brave were 47-7. However Chloe Tryon was still there, and finally found some support, from wicket keeper Rhianna Southby. The eighth wicket partnership yielded 52, and Tryon completed a fine 50. However, once the big stand was broken the rest of the innings was quickly wrapped up, and Brave had only 103 to defend. Hayley Matthews with 4-14 was the pick of the bowlers, with Jess Jonassen 3-21, Freya Davies 2-14 and Shabnim Ismail 1-16 all also picking up wickets.

THE FIRE CHASE

Tammy Beaumont soon showed that there was little wrong with the pitch, finding her best form right from the start. With 34 on the board Sophia Dunkley fell to a fine catch by Danni Wyatt off Lauren Bell for 7. That proved to be Brave’s only bowling success, as Hayley Matthews followed her superb bowling with a fine innings. Beaumont passed 50 off 31 ball, bringing up the landmark with her ninth four. It fell to Matthews to make the winning hit, with 26 balls to spare as well as nine wickets. Matthews’ all round contribution quite rightly secured her player of the match. For the record Oval Invincibles are currently in a very strong position against Trent Rockets and may even win by a big enough margin to leapfrog Fire on net RR. Full scorecard of the early game here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A Game of Two Halves for Bryce

An account of yesterday’s match between Manchester Originals and Northern Superchargers yesterday and a photo gallery.

Yesterday’s second match in the Hundred ‘double double header’ was Manchester Originals against Northern Superchargers. In the Women’s match the Originals were already out of the tournament, but wanted to go down with guns blazing.

THE ORIGINALS INNINGS

The Originals won the toss and decided to bat. Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney gave the innings a fine start, scoring 60 together before Wolvaardt was out to the 47th ball of the innings for 26 (21). Mooney went on to play a truly magnificent knock, and her second wicket partner was Kathryn Bryce. They added 67 together in 43 balls, of which Bryce’s share was 13 (21). With ten balls to go in the innings Originals skipper Sophie Ecclestone instructed Bryce to retire and went out to bat herself in the hope of giving the total a final boost. Ecclestone faced five of the last ten balls and scored 6 runs. Mooney was closing on three figures, and found herself facing the last ball of the innings on 98*. She got the ball away and she and Ecclestone went all out for the two, but a direct hit throw ran Ecclestone out, leaving Originals with a final score of 151-3, and Mooney 99*. A crowd of over 12,000 gave Mooney a richly deserved standing ovation for her innings. The only wicket taker was left arm spinner Linsey Smith, who also conceded 32 from her 20 balls. Bryce was recorded as ‘retired out’, and hers was the first such tactical retirement in the Hundred (women’s). Some will consider it controversial, but for me it was perfectly legitimate, and I also note that Ecclestone did not ask anyone else to go into bat in that circumstance – she did so herself.

THE SUPERCHARGERS REPLY

Both openers for Superchargers were out cheaply. First to go was Davina Perrin, caught by Bryce off Kim Garth for 7 (9) to make it 13-1. That brought Phoebe Litchfield to the crease and she was in form from the get go. Hollie Armitage was second out, caught by Wolvaardt off Bryce for 9 which made it 45-2. Litchfield and new batter Annabel Sutherland looked capable of turning things round, but Garth produced a superb ball to bowl Litchfield for 45 and make it 86-3 after 64 balls. The moment that effectively sealed Superchargers fate came on the 80th ball of the innings, when Bryce had Sutherland caught by Eve Jones for 26 to make it 102-4. 50 needed of 20 balls, and the most likely person to score at that kind of rate just dismissed was the equation. Georgia Wareham and Bess Heath did their best, scoring 22 together off balls 81-90, which meant the ask was 28 of the final 10 balls. Off the 91st ball of the innings Heath essayed a reverse sweep against Ecclestone and succeeded only in finding the hands of Dani Gregory to 124-5. That brought Alice Davidson-Richards to the crease, and the next four balls yielded eight runs, meaning that 20 were needed off the last five balls. Ecclestone now decided that rather than give the Superchargers the chance to exploit the extra pace of Lauren Filer she would entrust those five balls to Bryce’s medium pace. Off ball 96 Davidson-Richards edged through to Mooney and that was 132-6. Kate Cross was stumped off ball 97 for a first baller, which meant that Bryce had a hat trick, having taken a wicket with the last ball of her previous set of five balls, and now with the first two of this set. Superchargers 132-7, needing 20 off three balls. Lucy Higham got a single off the 98th ball of the innings, and Georgia Wareham gave Bryce her fifth scalp of the innings, being caught by Fi Morris for 25 (18). That was 134-8 with one ball to go, and Linsey Smith managed a single, meaning that the final margin was 17 runs. Bryce’s final figures were 20 balls, of which 11 were dots, 13 runs conceded and five wickets taken – quite some way to make up for being tactically retired with the bat. Mooney who had followed her 99* with a blemish free keeping performance was named Player of the Match. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…