Southern Brave vs Trent Rockets at The Utilita Bowl (Southampton, East) on 10 August 2024
Prophetically, commentators believed that the defending champions could ‘cause an upset,’ playing on an ‘excellent pitch.’ Instead, Brave’s title-defence ‘crumbled at home’. As Dinesh Karthik put it afterwards, Rockets outplayed their hosts by a ‘complete performance’ with ‘bat, with ball, and also in-the-field’. Having any chance to qualify as one of the top-three teams, Rockets must win both remaining matches. Even then their qualification would depend on the ‘outcome of remaining games.’ Receiving ‘Meerkat match hero’ cap-and-medal from Eoin Morgan, skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt (pictured) made top-score (60 runs (from 37 balls)] and lauded her team for ‘good contributions all round.’ England u-19 star Alexa Stonehouse warranted special mention for her extraordinary performance, taking both Danni Wyatt and Maia Bouchier’s wickets for ducks. Commentators for SKY Sports, also via ‘YouTube’ social media (with explanatory text, please see below): Introduced by Lydia Greenway OBE (broadcaster & former England international) with guest players Heather Graham (Rockets) and Tilly Corteen-Coleman (Brave.) Also with Eoin Morgan CBE (broadcaster & former England international), Nasser Hussain OBE (broadcaster & former England international) Melanie ‘Mel’ Jones (broadcaster & former Australian international) and Dinesh Karthik (former India international.) Weather was reportedly breezy with a ‘blanket’ of cloud 20-24C.
*Rockets’ innings: skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt, with international players: Ashleigh ‘Ash’ Gardner, Heather Graham & Alana King (all Australia); *[Rhianna Southby keeping wicket for Brave]; *1st ball, non-striker Bryony Smith was ’run-out’ for a golden duck by ‘a wide margin’ from Maia Bouchier’s direct hit; *After 25 balls ‘power-play 29/1; *Nat Wraith came down-the-wicket, and was bowled by Lauren Cheatle, who had both ‘wicket-taking potential’ as well as ‘good economy;’ *Strategic time-out was taken after 45 balls on 57/2; Grace Scrivens went ‘leg-before’ to Chloe Tryon; *Ash Gardner was caught by Freya Kemp, from Georgia Adams; *Lauren Bell took three wickets during her ‘death over;’ *Firstly Heather Graham was bowled; Next ball, Alana King was bowled for a golden duck; *Thirdly, after striking two ‘fours’, Katie George was bowled by Lauren Bell’s final ball; *Top scorer Nat Sciver-Brunt remained undefeated at the non-striker’s end; *Rockets batting: Nat Sciver-Brunt 60*not out(37), Grace Scrivens 36(24), Ashleigh ‘Ash’ Gardner 18(12), Heather Graham 15(10), Nat Wraith 12(12); *Brave’s bowling: Lauren Bell 3/36, Lauren Cheatle 1/13, Chloe Tryon 1/19, Georgia Adams 1/27;
*Brave’s innings *skipper Georgia Adams with international players Lauren Cheatle (Australia), Also with Chloe Tryon (Rep. South Africa) & Smriti Mandhana (India) replacing Charli Knott (Aus); *[Nat Wraith keeping wicket for Rockets]; *Second ball, Danni Wyatt ‘had to go’ for a golden duck, edged behind to the the keeper (as mentioned above); *Two balls later, Maia Bouchier went for a second-ball duck, when clean-bowled by Alexa Stonehouse; *With two batters departing for ducks, 24/2 (vs 29/1) after 25 balls ‘power-play’; *’Big blow’ when Smriti Mandhana’s partnership with Georgia Adams was broken: the skipper ‘run-out’ at the striker’s end by keeper Nat Wraith receiving from Katie George; *Smriti Mandhana was caught at ‘deep square’ by Grace Scrivens from Heather Graham; *Strategic time-out was taken after 70 balls on 82/4; *Cursed by commentators for having ‘power, talent’ and a lot to do,’ Freya Kemp was short-lived, bowled by Ash Gardner’s yorker with bails flying; *Strategic-time-out was called on 82/4 with an unlikely 74 runs needed from 30 balls remaining; *Commentators explained that remaining batters now needed to take ‘high-risk’ options to win; *Naomi Dattani was ‘run-out’ by Alana King’s underarm throw described as a ‘very good piece of work,’ directly hitting leg-stump; *Chloe Tryon closed undefeated, just short of ‘fifty’ with top-score cameo that included 4 ‘fours’ and 2 ‘sixes;’ *Brave’s batting: Chloe Tryon 47*not out(13), Smriti Mandhana 42(27), Georgia Adams 27(29); *Rockets’ bowling: Alexa Stonehouse 2/10, Ashleigh ‘Ash’ Gardner 1/16, Heather Graham 1/25 ;
*Match result: Trent Rockets 155/7 (1.5 runs-per-ball, from 100/100) beat Southern Brave 131/6 (1.3 r-p-b, target 156 from 100/100) by 24 runs
*Full match courtesy of SKY Sports Cricket for ‘The Hundred’ (Women) free-to-air via YouTube [03h28m30s] @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7ID7V4LMIU
*Fixtures @url https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/3801564/the-hundred-2024-fixtures
*Results with link to match centre for edited highlights courtesy of The Hundred (Women) @url https://www.thehundred.com/results?year=2024
