Thirteen matches have been crammed in from Sunday to Sunday, finishing with three played in intense heat against the backdrop of a historic test win at Headingley.
Last weekend’s hero was Danni Wyatt, who hit the first ton (110) of the competition to help Vipers trounce an ever more depressed Stars outfit.
Her feat was matched this Sunday by Indian star, Jemimah Rodrigues (112*), who helped Yorkshire Diamonds pull off one of the great upsets of the series. Vipers put up 184-4, by some distance the biggest total of the season, thanks to a more evenly spread set of innings (Bates 47, Wyatt 42, Beaumont 33, Bouchier 22*, Wellington 23*). Rodrigues received much less support than Wyatt, only Healy (22) and Armitage (20) staying with her for a length of time. The Diamonds needed every ball of their allotted overs to complete the task – a great game of cricket, and probably the White Roses’ outstanding performance in a KSL game.
Scores:
Vipers 184-4
Diamonds 185-6
Stars v Storm
On a baking day at Guildford the gulf in confidence between the two sides was evident from early on. Western Storm looked like a side that expected to win every game put in front of them,
They batted first: the opening over included a 6 by Rachel Priest, a misfield, a stumping appeal not answered and a leg-bye. Priest went on to strike five more sixes in an innings of commanding power.
Such is their confidence that they weren’t the least put out when Dane van Niekerk deceived last year’s top batter Smriti Mandhana, to be stumped by Sarah Taylor for 2. England’s captain simply took over and the total rose skyward. Priest went for 89 off 55; Knight made 51, and Fran Wilson added a few more at the end in quick time to post a daunting total.
Stars are a dispirited lot at the end of the season. They have seen their chance of retaining their title disappear in a series of underpowered performances.
When Lizelle Lee, the hero of last year’s finals day, went to the third ball, heads were in danger of drooping. Sarah Taylor (34) and Nat Sciver (25) added useful but not decisive runs. The Storm bowling was the most consistently accurate I’ve seen all season. Only Sonia Odedra went for above 6.66, but crucially she took 4-25.
Stars looked totally crestfallen as they completed their innings for under a hundred.
Indeed the biggest cheer of the afternoon was reserved for news from Headingley.
Scores:
Storm 171-4
Stars 94
If Stars cut a sorry figure these days, bear a thought for Lancashire Thunder, who continued their winless run into the last weekend of the normal season. Faced with a Loughborough Lightning side fully restored in vigour, they were seen off in the gracious surrounds of Trent Bridge far too easily.
None of their three overseas players, Tahlia McGrath, Sune Luus and Harmanpreet Kaur, have managed to play a decisive role for their side this summer. Kaur has made two 50s and four 30s, but none of these offerings has turned a game for her side.
Today the two Gs, Sarah Glenn and Jenny Gunn, between them took six wickets for 39, to leave their batters facing a total well within their compass.
Once more, Amy Jones stole the limelight, striking 66* off 52 (8×4, 1×6) to see her side home by a massive eight wickets.
Scores:
Thunder 122
Lightning 123-2
Visitors’ voices were heard at Guildford bemoaning the likely break-up of the Western Storm franchise. Very understandable when they’re looking at an unbroken run of nine victories. Were similar voices (in Lancastrian accents) heard at Trent Bridge?
The KSL Table, with one round of matches still to play in midweek:
|
Team |
W |
L |
T |
N/R |
Points | |
|
Western Storm |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
39 |
|
|
Loughborough Lightning |
6 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
27 |
|
|
Southern Vipers |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
22 |
|
|
Yorkshire Diamonds |
4 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
|
|
Surrey Stars |
2 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
11 | |
|
Lancashire Thunder |
0 |
8 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
On Stars v Storm, 1) full credit should go to modest New Zealand star Rachel Priest (89) who was out, three runs short of a century partnership with Storm and England captain Heather Knight. Two years ago, Priest was the KSL leading run scorer. 2) Having banked her half-century, Knight (51) departed with the score on 164-3 during the nineteenth over.
3) Stars run chase never really got going when South Africa’s entertaining pair Lizelle Lee and Dane v.Niekerk were both removed with only 18 runs on the board. 4) England pairing Natalie Sciver and Sarah Taylor (who’d earlier taken a knock keeping wicket to Sciver’s bowling) added 44 runs for the third wicket. 5) Clearly Storm are hot favourites for Sunday.