Sunrisers vs Western Storm on 31 May 2023 (14h30) at Northampton (The County Ground)
Western Storm have a wafer-thin chance to qualify for finals day, convincingly beating Sunrisers. England candidate & Storm vice-captain Danielle Gibson (pictured) top-scored, hitting 65 (from 46 balls) in a 3rd-wicket century stand of 115 runs with former England batter Fran Wilson – who made an unbeaten ‘fifty.’ Storm’s target was set when Danielle Gibson took a ‘fabulous’ return catch from Amara Carr, to chalk-up her second wicket from Sunrisers’ last ball. After the match, Danielle Gibson told reporters Storm wanted to ‘finish well’ not only by ‘playing to strengths’; but also ‘to entertain.’ Commentator was Guy Swindells (Broadcaster & Sports journalist.) Video highlights from ECB online (NV Play) from Sunrisers Cricket TV on YouTube. Weather was cool and cloudy.
Sunrisers Innings: *Skipper Kelly Castle *[Natasha Wraith keeping wicket for Storm] *England’s u-19 skipper Grace Scrivens. *International player Dane v.Niekerk (ex Republic of South Africa); *Scotland’s Abtaha Maqsood. *’Early breakthrough’ for Storm, when Claire Nicholas changed to bowling round-the-wicket. *Mady Villiers 8 runs (from 5 balls) bales were sent flying, when ‘missing a swing.’ *Score ‘picked-up’ when Dane v.Niekerk 20(19) struck 4 consecutive ‘fours’ from Lauren Filer. *After a ‘dot’ ball, v.Niekerk snicked an edge to keeper Natasha Wraith, from Lauren Filer. *After 6 overs’ PowerPlay, Sunrisers were 48/2, reaching 84/2 by mid-way (10 overs.) *Commentator’s gaff when ‘Alice Macleod’ played down the wrong line. *Instead, Alex Griffiths 15(15) was seen to be stumped by keeper Natasha Wraith from Chloe Skelton. *Alice Macleod 34(28) was caught at ‘point’ (13 balls later) by Orla Prendergast from Danielle Gibson. *Next over, Grace Scrivens was caught at ‘extra cover’ by Sophie Luff’ from Chloe Skelton. *Sunrisers were 114/5 after 16.4 overs (100 balls with 20 remaining.) *Jo Gardner top-scored adding 48 runs when partnered by Amara Carr 12(14). *Danielle Gibson took a ‘fabulous’ caught-and-bowled from Sunrisers last ball, leaving Jo Gardner 37*not out. *Sunrisers chalked-up their top-score in this year’s competition.
Storm’s Innings: *Skipper Sophie Luff [Amara Carr keeping wicket for Sunrisers] with England’s Naimh Holland (u-19s) & ex-England’s Fran Wilson. *Ireland International Orla Prendergast retained ‘for a few more weeks.’ Without England skipper Heather Knight.*Opener Natasha Wraith was easily caught by Jo Gardner at ‘mid-on,’ from Mady Villiers’ 5th ball. *10 balls later Orla Prendergast was ‘run out’ from an ‘unfortunate’ case of bad luck. *Danielle Gibson’s return shot hit Grace Scrivens’ body, and ricocheted to dislodge bales at the bowler’s end. *With Orla Prendergast as ‘out,’ seen standing just outside her crease, Umpires ruled ‘out.’ *After 6 overs’ PowerPlay, scores were level-pegging 50/2 (vs 48/2); and stayed neck-and-neck 82/2 (vs 84/2) by mid-way (10 overs.) *During their century partnership Danielle Gibson and Fran Wilson plundered 31 runs from just 2 overs, during which Jo Gardner was launched by Danielle Gibson for the only ’six’ of the match. *Attempting to launch Kelly Castle for a second ’six,’ Gibson was caught inside the boundary by Flo Miller. *Storm were 136/3 (vs 114/5) after 16.4 overs. *Separately, when Sophie Luff hit ‘four’ to bring scores level, followed by scoring the winning ’single.’ For post-script, Sophie Luff may have recalled her own disbelief last year, when Sunrisers failed to realise that scores had drawn level. *Bizarrely, on that occasion, Sunrisers’ premature celebration conceded four overthrows, handing last year’s victory to Storm.
Match summary Sunrisers posted a defendable score of 149, with Jo Gardner making top-score. When Storm replied, Orla Prendergast was ‘run out’ by an unfortunate dismissal, left stranded when Danielle Gibson’s return shot bounced off the bowler’s body and dislodged the bales at the bowler’s end. Otherwise, the match was finely balanced until mid-way. Thereafter, the match was dominated by Fran Wilson partnered by Danielle Gibson. Their batting partnership banked 115 runs for Storm’s third-wicket. Once Danielle Gibson was out, with insufficient power to clear the boundary fielder, skipper Luff had little to do hit the 150 target and chalk-up Storm’s second win from five matches played-to-date. Storm match summary at URL https://westernstorm.co.uk/news/dani-and-fran-star-in-outstanding-win/
Match result: Western Storm Women 150/3 (target 150 from 20 overs) beat Sunrisers Women 149/6 by 7 wickets with 10 balls remaining.
*Sunrisers batting: 149/6 (from 20/20 overs @7.45 runs-per-over): Jo Gardner 37*not out (29), Alice Macleod 34(28), Dane van Niekerk 20(19), Cordelia Griffith 15(15), Amara Carr 12(14); Western Storm bowling: Chloe Skelton 2/19, Danielle Gibson 2/27, Clare Nicholas 1/16, Lauren Filer 1/31; Fow: 1-9, 2-37, 3-85, 4-97, 5-101, 6-149.
*Storm batting: 150/3 (from 18.2/20 overs @8.18 runs-per-over): Danielle Gibson 62(46), Fran Wilson 58*not out(42), Sophie Luff 13*not out(12); Sunrisers bowling: Mady Villiers 1/20, Kelly Castle 1/24; Fow: 1-2, 2-16, 3-131.
*Scorecard with video highlights, courtesy of ECB via NV Play on YouTube at URL: https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#cdc38bf13-4f50-4dde-b543-741109226324_me08cf0a3-976c-4850-a415-4eeb9262997c_~scorecard & at URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/scorecard/ECKE1000515
*Full match video (starting from17m25s/02h59m55s) courtesy of Sunrisers Cricket on YouTube at URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XpA3Z1KlEM&t=35s
*Latest England and Wales Cricket Board tables at URL: https://www.ecb.co.uk/matches/womens-t20/table
