Ruthless Southern Brave make it five in a row
Led by skipper Sophie Molineux’s 3-7, Southern Brave registered their fifth successive win of the season, and extended their lead at the top of the table. The visitors limited London Spirit to 114 for 8, and then chased down the total with seven balls to spare, at Lord’s, on Saturday.
Electing to bowl, Molineux struck early, dismissing Amy Jones and Marie Kelly cheaply. Grace Harris struck three boundaries and had the company of Marizanne Kapp for a while, before she fell to Sarah Glenn, who soon had Sterre Kalis trapped legbefore.
Reduced to 44 for 4, Kapp steadied the innings in the company of Nadine de Klerk, as the two South Africans stitched a 27-run stand. However, while de Klerk hit a few lusty blows towards the end, Brave bowlers kept chipping away with wickets, with Tilly Corteen-Coleman also bagging a brace.
For a while, Brave looked to make a contest out of it, with Lizelle Lee departing for a duck and Laura Wolvaardt struggling to get going. Kapp returned for another set towards the middle phase and struck two blows, sending back Wolvaardt and Jemimah Rodrigues in quick succession, keeping the visitors in check at 62 for 3 off 53 balls.
However, Bouchier who had stayed firm through the early troubles, combined with Molineux to bail the side out. The two added 52 runs off 33 balls to take the game away from Spirit. Harris, in particular, bore the brunt of their attack in this phase.
With victory in sight, both the batters departed in quick succession, but the result became a mere formality by then.
Ellyse Perry stroked an unbeaten 46-ball 68 as Birmingham Phoenix registered their maiden win of the season, beating Welsh Fire by 7 wickets in a thrilling finish at Edgbaston. Perry was ably supported by Alice Capsey who scored a brisk 29-ball 51 and added an 86-run stand off 54 balls to help Phoenix chase down Fire’s total of 144 for 3 off the penultimate ball of the contest.
Put in to bat, Georgia Voll blazed away to a 55-ball 78, beginning with an attack off Linsey Smith in the second set. Lauren Filer and Fatima Sana kept a lid on the scoring for three sets before Voll and Ella McCoughan took down Alana King and Smith.
While the spinners were at the receiving end of the attack early on in the spells, the duo kept quite a lid on later on. Tasked with bowling the last couple of sets, King and Smith came in the line of fire again with Sophie Devine clubbing a six off each
Phoenix’s start wasn’t as enterprising in the chase as they lost Davina Perrin in the first set, and Tammy Beaumont fell to Georgia Wareham in the 28th ball. With a challenging required rate to keep up to, Capsey and Perry started to cut loose early, with both of them combining to crack three boundaries in a set against Wareham.
There was no letting away for the other bowlers either as Em Arlott, Sophie Smale, Niamh Holland, Voll and Heather Graham all were put away. Capsey fell to Voll soon after bringing up her half-century, but Perry ensured that she stayed on till the end. Needing 10 to win off the last three balls, she slogged Graham for a six over deep mid wicket and then crunched a boundary through deep backward point to help the side over the line for the first time this season.
Brief Scores: Welsh Fire 144/3 in 100 balls (Georgia Voll 78, Sophie Devine 35*; Alice Capsey 2-24) lost to Birmingham Phoenix 145/3 in 99 balls (Ellyse Perry 68*, Alice Capsey 51; Georgia Voll 1-9) by 7 wickets
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