Southern Vipers vs South East Stars at Newbury (Falkland CC Ground at Enborne Lodge, Wash Common) at 09h30 on 10 July 2024
Stars were reduced to one of their lowest ever scores, scoring less than 3 runs-per-over. Playing without front-line players on England call-up, Vipers fast-bowlers Freya Davies paired with Mary Taylor took three wickets during Stars’ power-play. Stepping-up in place of injured Rhianna Southby, stand-in wicket-keeper Megan Sturge took four catches on debut. Separately, spinner Ava Lee (England u-19s) took two wickets in four balls, the second dismissing Alice Davidson-Richards who’d played anchor for Stars with top-score. By comparison, defending champions Vipers made fewer misjudgments and remain top-of-table after chalking-up their seventh win from nine rounds-to-date; now two bonus points clear of their closest rivals.
*Stars’ innings: skipper Bryony Smith (England A) with Alice Davidson-Richards (England); Tash Farrant & Ryana Macdonald-Gay(England ‘A’), Alexa Stonehouse (former England u-19s) & Maddie Blinkhorn-Jones, *Without Alice Capsey (England call-up) *Without Paige Scholfield (England ‘A’) or Georgia Redmayne (Australia big bash); Emma Jones; *[Megan Sturge keeping wicket for Vipers for Rhianna Southby, injured]; *Tash Farrant was caught behind by Megan Sturge from Mary Taylor; *Bryony Smith was bowled by Freya Davies; *Alexa Stonehouse was caught by Abi Norgrove from Freya Davies; *Kalea Moore offered a ‘thick-edge’ and was caught by Megan Sturge from Freya Davies; *Bethan Miles went plumb ‘leg-before to Charli Knott; *Offering ‘backward-defence’, Aylish Cranstone was bowled by Charli Knott; *Two wickets fell during Ava Lee’s 28th over; *Firstly, Maddie Blinkhorn-Jones was caught by at ‘deep mid-wicket’ by Charlie Knott from Ava Lee; *Secondly, Alice Davidson-Richards was caught behind by keeper Megan Sturge; *Chloe Hill was ‘run-out’ from Ryana Macdonald-Gay’s return deflection onto the non-striker’s tumps via bowler Freya Davies’ hand; *Finally, Danielle Gregory was caught behind by Megan Sturge from Freya Davies; *Stars’ batting: Alice Davidson-Richards 35(58), Ryana Macdonald-Gay 19*not out(35), Chloe Hill 17(27), Bethan Miles 13(34), Bryony Smith 12(25); *Vipers’ bowling: Freya Davies 4/14, Charli Knott 2/19, Ava Lee 2/23, Mary Taylor 1/12;
*Vipers Innings: skipper Georgia Adams (England ‘A’) with Freya Davies (England) & plus Charli Knott (Australia big-bash); *Also with Ava Lee, Emily Windsor & Abi Norgrove (England u-19s) *debutante keeper Megan Sturge; *without Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Charlie Dean & Freya Kemp on England call-up, or Rhianna Southby (injured) [Chloe Hill keeping wicket for Stars]; *Ella McCaughan was bowled ‘through-the-gate’ by Kalea Moore; *Georgia Adams was caught at ‘deep-square’ by substitute fielder (Tilly Corteen-Coleman) from Bryony Smith; *Stepping forward too far, Emily Windsor was stumped by Chloe Hill, from Bryony Smith; *Charli Knott hit the winning ‘single’ and carried her bat; *Vipers’ batting: Charli Knott 57*not out(69), Georgia Adams 22(32), Ella McCaughan 10(18); *Stars’ bowling: Bryony Smith 2/26, Kalea Moore 1/19;
*Match result: Southern Vipers 121/3 (22.5/46 overs @5.2 runs-per-over) beat South East Stars 120/10 (40.3/46 overs @2.9 rpo) by seven wickets
*Scorecard courtesy of ECB @URL https://www.ecb.co.uk/rachael-heyhoe-flint-trophy/match-centre/104452#scorecard AppleMac users may need to scroll down on left margin to select a match
*Video highlights (MM), courtesy of ECB & Southern Vipers (via NV Play) @URL https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/?tab=c_matches#cff4ce921-ba67-43e4-8045-f15cb3ac842c
*Full match free-to-air courtesy of Southern Vipers (via NV Play) without commentary on YouTube<4h30m08s> @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX188FMMjyg&t=6s
*Updated fixtures and results @url http://4theloveofsport.co.uk/2024/05/12/updated-rachael-heyhoe-flint-trophy-fixtures-and-results/
