‘Oval Invincibles Women’ v ‘London Spirit’ at the Kia Oval on 14 August
Receiving the ‘Match Hero’ cap-and-medal, Georgia Adams said she ‘didn’t need to manufacture anything’ for her match winning partnership with Marizanne Kapp. Commentators described Adams as ‘the rock at the top,’ finding her form at the right time, as she finished as top scorer for the winning team (37 not out)
The Hundred’s’ 28th match was broadcast live (commentators included Charles Dagnall, Simon Doull, Daren Sammy and Nasser Hussain with guest Niall O’Brien) from SKY Sports TV; also cricket social media (Saurabh Somani & Hemant Brar for EPSN-cric-info.) Before the match, ‘Invincibles’ played Marizanne Kapp for Dannielle Gregory. ‘Spirit’: made two changes, playing Freya Davies and South African Chloe Tryon. The winning team expected to be catapulted into second place, for a place in the qualifier
*‘Invincibles’ pace bowling attack of South Africans Shabnim Ismail (77mph) and Marizanne Kapp (74mph) who restricted ‘Spirit’ to 22/1 (compared to 24/1) during the power-play; losing opener Naomi Dattani to Shabnim Ismail’s 2nd ball. Ismail was said to be the fastest bowler in the women’s tournament
*Apart from Tammy Beaumont (42 from 34) and skipper Heather Knight (34 from 29) only Deepti Sharma (11*) made double figures; compared to ‘Invincibles’ whose batters all reached double figures
*At half-way, Tammy Beaumont was 25 (from 20) and skipper Heather Knight was 32 (from 25)
*’Spirit’s’ Beaumont – Knight partnership took ‘Spirit’ past their 50 milestone after 42 balls; their 50-run partnership after 46 balls; ‘Spirits’ posting 62 runs on the scoreboard by the half-way point: neck-and-neck with ‘Invincibles’ who later reached 57/1 by half-way
*There followed a collapse of 8 wickets that fell for 23 runs with an absence of ‘fours’ from ‘Spirit’s’ last 39 balls *’Spirit’s’ score (103) was said to be ‘below par,’ including two ‘golden ducks’ and three ‘run outs’
*Between innings, Marizanne Kapp told commentators that she was happy with her performance, having been recovering from injury since the opening match
*Kapp added that in her absence, ‘Invincibles’ were ‘amazing to watch’ and had ‘done well’
*’Invincibles’ were level-pegging with ‘Spirit’ until the 75-ball mark, but lost fewer wickets (85/2 vs 85/4)
*’Big occasion’ nerves may have hit ‘Spirit’s’ Danielle Gibson, whose bowling conceded 6 ‘wides’ during one single over
*With 19 runs needed from 25 balls, Georgia Adams struck 2 ‘fours’ from Freya Davies.
*Commentators described ‘a convincing win’ as Marizanne Kapp struck 2 ‘fours’ from Charlie Dean: the first to ‘tie;’ the second to win
*Concluding, ‘Spirit’ reportedly set ‘Invincibles’ ‘too small a target’ and were ‘outplayed in perfect conditions’
Result: ‘Oval Invincibles -W’ 107-2; beat ‘London Spirit -W’ 103-9; by 8 wickets and with 13 balls remaining.
‘London Spirit -W’ (LS-W) 103/9 (20 ov, 1.03 run-per-ball);Tammy Beaumont 42 runs (from 34 balls), Heather Knight 34(29), Deepti Sharma 11*(14); ‘Invincibles’ bowling: Marizanne Kapp 2/12, Alice Capsey 2/15, Shabnim Ismail 1/15, Tash Farrant 1/23; Fow: 1-4, 2-80, 3-84, 4-85, 5-88, 6-98, 7-100, 8-101, 9-103
‘Oval Invincibles -W’ (OI-W) 107-2 (87 balls,1.22rpb); Georgia Adams 37* runs (from 34 balls), Marizanne Kapp 23*(20), Fran Wilson 22(21), Dane van Niekerk 12(13); ‘Spirit’ bowling Charlie Dean 1/24, Sophie Munro 1/28; Fow 1-19, 2-63
Scorecard at: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/the-hundred-women-s-competition-2021-1252659/oval-invincibles-women-vs-london-spirit-women-28th-match-1252727/full-scorecard
Footnote: ‘Invincibles’ (9 points) move up to second place on the leader-board, behind finalists ‘Southern Brave’
