The Women’s Hundred trophy is heading north
The Northern Superchargers completed a super weekend in London as they etched their name on the Hundred for the first time, beating a Southern Brave side that have conquered all before them this season. They finally put right their disappointment of finishing runners-up to the same opposition two years ago, with a seven wicket victory and 12 balls to spare.
It is fair to say that the Superchargers have some world-class players in their side, but this weekend it was an all-round effort. Davina Perrin, with 101 against London Spirit yesterday, showed that their young emerging players are able to execute their skills with power, finesse and fun.
It was the bowlers that set up their win today. Having won the toss, Hollie Armitage, the Superchargers captain, chose to bowl first. With a seam attack including a superstar in Annabel Sutherland, alongside a Kate Cross determined to show she can turn up on the big occasion, it was going to be hard work for batters at an overcast Lord’s.
It was Grace Ballinger, the left-arm seamer who has had an inconsistent season with injury, that took the new ball and bowled through the first end, conceding just six runs. Four of them came from the sixth ball of the innings as Maia Bouchier looked to loosen the shackles.
With the powerplay slow going for Brave, they hit their first six of the game from the 20th ball as Bouchier pinged Sutherland over the deep square-leg boundary. A change of ends followed next ball, but Danni Wyatt-Hodge was in the mood to match Bouchier’s six count, smashing Cross straight back over the long-on boundary. However, Cross was not out of the game just yet. Two balls later Bouchier mistimed a shot through cover and Armitage took the catch.
The sight of Laura Wolvaardt usually fills bowlers with dread, as the South African has the habit of taking games away from you. Cross wasn’t concerned, and she bowled a wicked in-swinger that collided with the top of Wolvaardt’s leg stump.
Sophie Devine has seen it all in her career, and and she safely negotiated the hat-trick ball. With Freya Kemp, a batter in form, it shouldn’t have been a worry for Brave, and while these two were batting, the balance started to even.
A total of 130 was what the Braves would need to have a realistic chance, and at 90 for three after 73 balls, there was every chance of that happening if one or both batters could stay there. Devine, on 23 from 27 balls, felt the need to start matching her younger teammate’s strike rate. When Lucy Higham bowled a wide one that Devine couldn’t resist, she drilled it to Phoebe Litchfield at deep extra cover.
Kemp followed seven balls later, for an enterprising 26 from 16 balls, top-edging to midwicket as Sutherland hurried her with pace. It would need a lower order, who haven’t had to bat too often in pressure situations this season, to get the Brave up to a defendable total, and a late blast of 17 from 11 balls from Mady Villiers got them to 115 for six.
Perrin wouldn’t repeat her antics of the previous day, but her 17 from 16 balls ensured that the Superchargers didn’t get stuck chasing a modest total. The Brave are a side that haven’t lost all season, and were never going to count themselves out of it just yet, as they knew early wickets would add pressure.
It was Devine, the old campaigner, that would make the breakthrough, getting the young pretender Perrin, as the opener could only loop a catch to Bouchier at mid-on. Alice Davidson-Richards, who had one of the best views of Perrin’s innings yesterday, was content to watch Litchfield do something similar today. That was before an unlucky deflection off the wicketkeeper Rhianna Southby rebounded back onto the stumps with Davidson-Richards out for seven runs.
It felt like only rain would stop Litchfield from putting in a match-winning innings. The Australian was her usual inventive self, with reverse sweeps and coming down the track to smash Villiers for a straight six. The players had to come off for 12 minutes as a heavy shower swept across the ground and allowed Brave to regroup. It was shortly after they came back on that Litchfield swept once too often, giving Lauren Bell a simple catch for 26 from 13 balls.
It was left to the Superchargers’ other two Aussies to take them to the brink of victory. Sutherland was content to play the anchor role, nudging it around, while Nicola Carey attacked the boundaries. It was a combination that would help take the women’s Hundred trophy north for the first time, with an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 60, as Sutherland delivered the knockout blow with a six over long-on.
