South East Stars vs Sunrisers at Leicester (Uptonsteel County Ground) on 21 September 2024
Billed as a ‘David vs Goliath’ contest, Stars have been beaten twice as this year’s runners-up at both 20 and 50 over tournaments. On the day, commentators commended skipper Grace Scrivens ‘for a sterling job,’ when winning their inaugural RHF trophy as ‘eternal regional champions,’ at the last opportunity before the domestic restructure of women’s cricket ahead of 2025. Sunrisers making a ‘brilliant start’ when batting and bowling. Earlier, when bowling, player-of-the-match POTM Kate Coppack (pictured) took a career-best 4-fer for Sunrisers (taking 4 wickets, conceding 27 runs.) Grace Scrivens’ partnership with top-scorer Cordelia Griffith who scored her 4th ‘fifty’ from the last five matches, placed Sunrisers in a match-winning position when rain-stopped-play.
Post-match presentations awarded player-of-the-year to Alice Davidson-Richards for scoring 650 runs with seven ‘fifties’ for Stars, averaging 46.4. Turning to social media, ECB announced a cumulative total of 12 million viewers watched women’s cricket on ‘YouTube’ channels, with at least 2 million people watching ‘livestream’ this season across all three formats of the game. Sunrisers had never before beaten Stars (facing 13 defeats – most recently during May & July); apart from last season’s pre-season game (April’23.) Commentators noted that Sunrisers performance this year has improved by winning more matches than for previous years. Interventions should not go unnoticed from ex Scots international Andy Tennant’s appointment as Sunrisers’ Head Coach and former Rep South Africa skipper Dane van Niekerk’s exemplary practical leadership. Commentators for ECB alternated between Michael McCann (Sports journalist) with guest player Sophie Luff (announced as Somerset women’s skipper 2025); and Sam Dalling (Sports journalist) with Fi Morris (formerly Lancashire Thunder); Weather was sunny, 15-20C.
*Stars’ innings: skippered by Bryony Smith, with Alice Davidson-Richards, Ryana MacDonald-Gay & Paige Scholfield (England), Alexa Stonehouse & Tilly Corteen-Coleman (u19’s), without Alice Capsey & Sophia Dunkley (England) or Priyanaz ‘Priya’ Chatterji (Scotland) [Amara Carr keeping wicket for Sunrisers]; *Two wickets fell during the second over: firstly Alexa Stonehouse was bowled by an ‘absolute jaffa’ from Kate Coppack; *Also, Paige Scholfield was bowled with her off-stump knocked back by Kate Coppack for a second-ball duck; *Bryony Smith was ‘run-out’ from ‘mid-wicket’ from Mady Villiers’ throw to the non-striker’s end, by Kate Coppack – cursed by commentators as ‘hoping for another wicket;’ *After 10 overs Power-play 47/3; *Missing a ‘pull-shot,’ Kira Chathli went ‘leg-before’ to Kate Coppack; *Approaching mid-way Aylish Cranstone was uncomfortably stumped by Amara Carr, from Jodi Grewcock – at which point drinks were taken; *After 25 overs (mid-way) 125/5; *Phoebe Franklin hit across-the-line, bowled by Kate Coppack’s third-to-last ball; *Ryana MacDonald-Gay was ‘run-out’ by Grace Scrivens’ stop and Eva Gray’s throw from ‘mid-wicket’ to keeper Amara Carr at the striker’s end – ‘by a wide margin;’ *Attempting ‘reverse-sweep,’ Kalea Moore went ‘leg-before’ to Jodi Grewcock; *’Huge moment’ when top-scorer Alice Davidson-Richards went ‘leg-before’ to Mady Villiers; *Finally, Tilly Corteen-Coleman was ‘run-out’ by Flo Miller’s throw to keeper Amara Carr; *Stars’ batting: Alice Davidson-Richards 93(105), Phoebe Franklin 33(47), Aylish Cranstone 30(39), Kira Chathli 17(27), Bryony Smith 11(10); *Sunrisers’ bowling: Kate Coppack 4/27, Jodi Grewcock 2/60, Mady Villiers 1/48;
*Sunrisers’ Innings skipper Grace Scrivens (England ‘A’), Jodi Grewcock (England u-19s), Mady Villiers (England), without Sophie Munro or Abtaha Maqsood (Scotland); [*Kira Chathli keeping wicket for Stars]; *Jo Gardner went ‘leg-before’ to Tilly Corteen-Coleman’s second ball; *After 10 overs Power-play 56/1 (vs47/3) *Scoring a match-winning ‘fifty,’ Cordelia Griffith was caught by Paige Scholfield, from Kalea Moore; *Jodi Grewcock was ‘caught-and-bowled’ by Kalea Moore; *Grace Scrivens played a skipper’s innings and carried her bat; *Rain stopped play after 25 overs on 121/3 (vs 125/5) beyond which point inclement weather decided the result using the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method; *Sunrisers’ batting: Cordelia Griffith 57(68), Grace Scrivens 39*not out((47), Alice ‘Lissy’ MacLeod 12*not out(22); *Stars’ bowling: Kalea Moore 2/29, Tilly Corteen-Coleman 1/18;
*Match result: Sunrisers 121/3 (@4.8 runs-per-over; DLS target 95 from 25/25 overs) beat South East Stars 212/10 (@4.5 runs-per-over; from 46.2/50 overs)
– DLS method; to win the Trophy by 27 runs
*Scorecard and video highlights courtesy of ECB & Sunrisers (via NV Play) @url https://www.ecb.co.uk/rachael-heyhoe-flint-trophy/match-centre/107036#scorecard & https://www.sunriserscricket.com/match-centre
*Full match free-to-air courtesy of Southern Vipers (NV Play) via YouTube <06h26m40s> @url https://www.youtube.com/live/pM_vZwRdHJs
