Southern Vipers vs South East Stars at Brighton & Hove (The 1st Central County Ground, Hove) on 19 June 2024 at 11h30
Southern derby between local rivals who are two of the four pre-qualified teams booked to play on finals day. Vipers, as the home team were motivated by chants of ‘Vipers’ from a clangorous home crowd of 3000 from 70 hinterland schools, who cheered 11 ‘fours’ and 3 ’sixes’ scored by England’s Maia Bouchier – pictured on right [93 runs (from 95 Balls)] toward her career-best t20 innings. Commentator’s curse struck immediately after making that announcement. Next ball, Maia Bouchier went ‘leg-before’ to Bryony Smith’s ‘full straight delivery. Vipers went on to post a defendable score on their home ground with spinners Charlie Dean (England) and Linsey Smith (England ‘A’) both taking 3-fers. Playing without Sophia Dunkley, Stars went down to their second defeat of the season. Only Stars skipper Bryony Smith showed any spirited resistance, with other batters departing for single figures, needing a quick exit as spectators were afterwards allowed on to the pitch. Notching their second highest score in the competition with superior net-run-rate earned Vipers a bonus point. Vipers look set to finish their group stage in third place between Stars and Sparks, rewarded by an unexpected rematch with Stars on up-coming ‘finals day’ at Derby in the semi-final when 2nd plays 3rd. Commentator Kevan ‘Kev’ James (Radio Solent) who was joined on commentary with Charlotte Taylor (Vipers player), for BBC Sport: on ‘5Live SportsXtra.’ Weather: early grey cloud cover gave way to a bright and sunny day 20C.
*Vipers’ innings: skipper Georgia Adams & Linsey Smith (England ‘A’) with Maia Bouchier, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Freya Kemp & Danni Wyatt (England); Mary Taylor (England u-19s) *Also with Charli Knott (Australia Big-bash); [*Chloe Hill keeping wicket for Stars]; *Danni Wyatt was caught ‘cheaply’ at ‘deep -mid-on’ by Paige Scholfield, from Tash Farrant; After six overs ‘power-play,’ 50/1; *Next over, Charli Knott was bowled beneath her bat with bails sent flying by Tilly Corteen-Coleman’s 9th ball; *Mid-way (10 overs) 83/2; *Playing her t20 best score, Maia Bouchier went ‘leg-before’ to Bryony Smith’s ‘full straight delivery, as mentioned above’ *Georgia Adams thick-edged to ’backward point,’ caught by Maddy Blinkhorn-Jones from Tash Farrant, coming around-the-wicket; *Finally, Charlie Dean was ‘run-out’ by Alice-Davidson-Richards throw to Bryony Smith at the non-striker’s end; *Vipers’ batting: Maia Bouchier 93(95), Georgia Adams 39(30), Freya Kemp 30*not out(14), Charlie Dean 10(7); Stars’ bowling: Tash Farrant 2/34, Bryony Smith 1/19, Tilly Corteen-Coleman 1/20;
*Stars’ innings skipper Bryony Smith, with Tash Farrant, Paige Scholfield (England ‘A’); Alice-Davidson-Richards (England); *Alexa Stonehouse & Tilly Corteen-Coleman (England u-19s); Emma Jones & Maddy Blinkhorn-Jones; *Also with Danielle ‘Dani’ Gregory & Kalea Moore; *Without Alice Capsey, Aylish Cranstone, Sophia Dunkley, Phoebe Franklin, Ryana MacDonald-Gay or Georgia Redmayne (Aus. Big bash) [*Rhianna Southby keeping wicket for Vipers]; *Overdue a big score, Bryony Smith made top-score with a quick-fire 22 (from 9 balls) until stumped at the crease by Rhianna Southby; *Missing a ‘square-cut’ next over, Paige Scholfield went ‘leg-before’ to Charlie Dean; *Linsey Smith took two wickets during the 6th over; *Firstly, Tash Farrant was caught at ‘deep-mid-on’ by Maia Bouchier; *Five balls later Kalea Moore steepled a catch to ‘cow corner, caught by Georgia Adams; After six overs ‘power-play,’ 38/4 (vs 50/1); *Charlie Dean was on a hat-trick after bowling Alice-Davidson-Richards through-the-gate’; *Next ball, Emma Jones was bowled with bails flying, for a golden duck; *Mid-way (10 overs) 46/6 (vs 83/2); *Three balls later, after hitting Charli Knott for ’six,’ Alexa Stonehouse was spectacularly caught by keeper Rhianna Southby, followed by a rolling somersault, from Charli Knott; *Next over, attempting a ‘reverse sweep,’ Chloe Hill went ‘leg-before’ to Georgia Adams; *Penultimate over, Maddie Blinkhorn-Jones stepped forward to Freya Davies, stumped by keeper Rhianna Southby standing close to the stumps; *Finally, Dani Gregory went ’leg-before’ to Charli Knott; *Stars’ batting: only batter to reach double-figures was Bryony Smith 22(9); Vipers bowling: Charlie Dean 3/5, Linsey Smith 3/12, Charli Knott 2/15, Georgia Adams 1/6, Freya Davies 1/26;
*Match result: Southern Vipers 179/5 (8.9 runs-per-over from 17.5/20 ov.) 5 points, beat South East Stars 66/10 (4.7 rpo from 14/20 ov. target 180 from 20 ov.) by 113 runs with 36 balls remaining
*Scorecard courtesy of ECB @url: https://www.ecb.co.uk/charlotte-edwards-cup/match-centre/104409#scorecard AppleMac users may need to scroll down on left margin to select a match
*Video highlights (x47) courtesy of Southern Vipers, powered by NV Play @url https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#vb5542336-a905-4ec8-9f4d-0f44bb5adbf6
*Edited free-to-air courtesy of Southern Vipers (via NV Play) on YouTube<08m34s>@url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh1bsspnNu0
*Full match free-to-air courtesy of Southern Vipers (via NV Play) on YouTube<02h47m40s>@url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaSPw2_IjFs&t=6145s
*Finals day at Derby @url https://derbyshireccc.ticketco.events/uk/en/e/charlotte_edwards_cup_finals_day
*Footnote: actual match photo
