Welsh Fire vs Birmingham Phoenix at Cardiff (Sophia Gardens) on 10 August 2024
Phoenix chalked-up a ‘major win,’ away to top-of-table Fire. Between innings commentators sounded confident that Fire would win after Hayley Matthews took a 3-fer (3/32.) Once Hayley Matthews had departed with her bat, Fire’s run chase began to falter. Four wickets fell for four runs as the match result was determined by the last ten balls. Receiving POTM ‘Meerkat match hero’ cap-and-medal as the top-scorer from the winning team, Sterre Kalis (pictured) [who top-scored with 55 runs (from 44 balls)] paid tribute to Phoenix’s bowlers who ‘did a good job’ defending their score, adding that she was ‘happy with the opportunities’ at Phoenix that the Women’s Hundred had given. Commentators for SKY Sports, also via ‘YouTube’ social media (for explanatory text, please see below) were Lydia Greenway OBE (broadcaster & former England international), Robert ‘Crofty’ Croft MBE (Welsh cricketer, former England international), and Natalie Germanos (broadcaster & actress from Rep. South Africa TV.) Also with Simon Doull (NZ broadcaster & former NZ international), Dominic Cork (Head Coach at Derbyshire Falcons & former England international) and Dinesh Karthik (commentator and former India international.) Weather: early rain, with drying outfield. Sunny once play got underway, with mainly blue sky, 20C.
*Phoenix’s innings: *skipper Ellyse Perry (Australia), with other international players Sterre Kalis (NL), Sophie Devine (New Zealand) & Richa Ghosh replacing Suzie Bates NZ; *Without Issy Wong; *[Sarah Bryce keeping wicket for Fire]; *Sophie Devine was caught at ‘deep-mid-wicket’ by Phoebe Franklin, from Hayley Matthews; *Low ‘power-play’ score 17/0 after 25 balls as seam bowlers: Shabnim Ismail & Freya Davies became unplayable; *Mid-way score (for 50 balls) 59/1; *Next ball, Ellyse Perry was caught at ‘long-on’ by Shabnim Ismail, from Georgia Davis; *Six balls later confirmed by ball-tracking review, Amy Jones went ‘leg-before’ to Hayley Matthews; *Two balls after scoring ’six’ from Hayley Matthews, Richa Ghosh was stumped by Sarah Bryce, when advancing-down-the pitch to Hayley Matthews; *Top-scorer Sterre Kalis who made ‘fifty’ was bowled by Jess Jonassen’s yorker to ‘leg-stump;’ *Two wickets fell during Freya Davies’ death over;’ *Firstly, Seren Smale went ‘leg-before’ upon review, with ball-tracking to middle-and-leg; *Secondly, Emily ‘Em Arlott’ was caught by Hayley Matthews; *Phoenix’s batting: Sterre Kalis 55(44), Sophie Devine 24(20), Emily ‘Em Arlott’ 17(13), Richa Ghosh 12(14); *Fire’s bowling: Hayley Matthews 3/32, Freya Davies 2/17, Georgia Davis 1/17, Jess Jonassen 1/27;
*Fire’s innings: *skipper Tammy Beaumont with international players Hayley Matthews (WIndies); Jess Jonassen (Australia); *[Amy Jones keeping wicket for Phoenix]; *Tammy Beaumont snicked-an-edge to keeper Amy Jones, ‘done for line-and-length’ from Charis Pavely; *After 25 balls power-play 32/1 (vs17/0); *Ellyse Perry was on a ‘hat-trick,’ firstly when Sophia Dunkley was also caught by keeper Amy Jones, from Ellyse Perry; *Next ball, Sarah Bryce chopped-on to her stumps for a golden duck; *Level-pegging by mid-way (50 balls) 52/3 (vs 59/1); *Upon review, Jess Jonassen went ‘leg-before’ to Hannah Baker; *As mentioned above, four wickets fell for four runs (when 106/4 suddenly became 110/8); *Firstly, Georgia Elwiss was caught at ‘mid-off’ by Ellyse Perry from Katie Levick; Three balls later Hayley Matthews ‘who’d played beautifully’ was caught at ‘extra cover’ by Richa Ghosh from Katie Levick; *Another four balls later, Beth Langston was caught at ‘short-third’ by Ellyse Perry, from Emily ‘Em’ Arlott; *Finally, Freya Davis went for a carbon-copy dismissal, caught by Ellyse Perry; *Fire’s batting: Hayley Matthews 35(38), Jess Jonassen 28(22), Sophia Dunkley 18(18), Georgia Elwiss 10(6); *Phoenix’s bowling: Ellyse Perry 2/9, Katie Levick 2/21; Emily ‘Em Arlott’ 2/26;
*Match result: Birmingham Phoenix 121/7 (1.2 runs-per-ball, from 100/100) beat Welsh Fire 112/8 (1.1 r-p-b, target 122 from 100/100) by 9 runs
*Full match courtesy of SKY Sports Cricket for ‘The Hundred’ (Women) free-to-air via YouTube [03h38m30s] @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwUHdfeULCU
*Results with link to match centre for edited highlights courtesy of The Hundred (Women) @url https://www.thehundred.com/results?year=2024
*Fixtures @url https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/3801564/the-hundred-2024-fixtures
