Trent Rockets vs Southern Brave at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on 1 August (15h00)
Fireworks announced the first match of this season’s Women’s ‘The Hundred.’ Opening Day win for Southern Brave, with match-winning performances with the bat by Smriti Mandhana’s ‘fifty’ with 2 ‘sixes;’ and teen debutante seamer Mary Taylor taking most wickets (3/18.) The match reached its climax when Rockets needed to score 32 runs from ‘The Hundred’ debutante fast-bowler Maitlan Brown (pictured) with just five balls remaining. Previously, Brave were runners-up (twice) to ‘Invincibles,’ against whom they played a ‘friendly’ match last weekend at Arundel Castle. Match highlights courtesy of Sky Sports (please see below.) Sky Sports commentators included Isa Guha and Nasser Hussain. Weather at Trent Bridge was cool for August, described as ‘dry,’ ‘breezy’ with passing ‘dark clouds.’
SB-W Innings Skipper Anya Shrubsole (Lizelle Lee keeping wicket for Rockets) *Internationals: Smriti Mandhana (India), Maitlan Brown (Australia WBBL); Chloe Tryon (RSA) *Without Lauren Bell. *After 25 balls ‘Power-play,’ Brave were 43/0.*Maia Bouchier 31(18) was caught from a top edge at ‘short third’ by Alexa Stonehouse, from Alana King (1/24) *Left-hander Smriti Mandhana 55(36) was caught at ‘square-leg’ by Jo Gardner, from Bryony Smith (2/34) *Freya Kemp 3(6) was ‘beautifully’ bowled by Naomi Dattani (1/30) *Georgia Adams 1(2) went aerial and was caught by Nat Sciver-Brunt running from ‘mid-to-long-off,’ from the first ball of Kirstie Gordon’s (1/17) ‘death set-of-five’ (‘Gordon’ gaffed by social media as ‘Jordan’) *Four balls later, Maitlan Brown 2(2) was ‘run out’ by Joanne ‘Jo’ Gardner on review, throwing from ‘square’ to keeper Lizelle Lee who’d broken wicket with the final ball leaving Chloe Tyron ‘not out.’ *Smriti Mandhana made top score with ‘fifty’ & Rockets’ best bowler was Bryony Smith 2/34.
TR-W Innings Skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt (Rhianna Southby keeping wicket for Brave) *Internationals: Harmanpreet Kaur (India), Alana King (Australia), Lizelle Lee (Rep. South Africa)*Without Grace Potts. *Bryony Smith went for a first-ball duck in ‘absolute chaos,’ sent back half-way by Lizelle Lee and run-out by former Stars team-mates Kalea Moore and keeper Rhianna Southby. *Naomi Dattani 8(10) sent a dolly to ’square-leg,’ caught by Freya Kemp from Mary Taylor – Dattani and Kemp involved in each other’s dismissals. *Lizelle Lee 11(14) steepled a top-edge from Mary Taylor’s slower ball and a ‘simple catch’ was taken at ‘point,’ by Maitlan Brown. *Harmanpreet Kaur 22(17) steepled was caught short of ‘extra cover’ by Rhianna Southby running leg-side, from Georgia Adams. *Fran Wilson 4(6) was comfortably caught at ‘long-on’ by Maia Bouchier, from Georgia Adams (2/25.) *Nat Sciver-Brunt lobbed a return dolly, caught-and-bowled by Anya Shrubsole (1/23.) *Joanne ’Jo’ Gardner made a carbon-copy of an earlier dismissal, sending a dolly to ’square-leg,’ that was caught by Freya Kemp from Mary Taylor’s (3/18) ‘slower ball.’ *Nat-Sciver-Brunt made top-score one-short-of-‘fifty.’ *Brave’s best bowler was teen debutante Mary Taylor.
Match summary: ‘Opening Day win’ for Southern Brave. Smriti Mandhana scored a match-winning fifty.’ Rockets bowled 30 balls using 3 seamers without joy, but took 3 wickets from spin followed by 1 from seam. Brave posted a ‘healthy’ score – said to be the highest for ‘The Hundred’ women at Trent Bridge. Rockets suffered ‘first-ball-chaos,’ Bryony Smith sacrificed for a run ‘that wasn’t there.’ 4 more wickets fell to mis-timed shots from slower balls. As mentioned above, the match reached its climax when Rockets needed a degree of optimism to score 32 runs from their final five balls.
Match result: Southern Brave Women 157/6 beat Trent Rockets Women 130/7
*Brave batting 157/6: (100 balls @1.57 runs-per-ball) Smriti Mandhana 55(36), Maia Bouchier 31(18), Danni Wyatt 27(27), Chloe Tryon 23*not out;(10); Rockets bowling: Bryony Smith 2/34, Kirstie Gordon 1/17, Alana King 1/24, Naomi Dattani 1/30; Fow 1-65, 2-128, 3-128, 4-139, 5-150, 6-157. *Rockets batting: 130/7: (100 balls @1.3 runs-per-ball; target 158 from 100 balls) Natalie ‘Nat’ Sciver-Brunt 49(31), Harmanpreet Kaur 22(17), Katherine Sciver-Brunt 11*not out (9), Lizelle Lee 11(14), Joanne ‘Jo’ Gardner 10(8); Brave bowling: Mary Taylor 3/18, Georgia Adams 2/25, Anya Shrubsole 1/23; Fow 1-1, 2-12, 3-21, 4-66, 5-77, 6-103, 7-120.
Scorecard & Statistics courtesy of BBC Sport @URL: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/scorecard/ECKE1000717
Match highlights courtesy of Sky Sports @URL https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/cricket/12931978/southern-brave-beat-trent-rockets-by-27-runs-the-hundred-highlights
