LS-W *Skipper Heather Knight. *[Rhianna Southby keeping wicket for ‘Brave’] *Internationals Richa Ghosh (India), Grace Harris (Australia WBBL), Amelia Kerr (NZ), & Tara Norris (US.) *England’s Heather Knight, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Dani Gibson; England ‘A’ Lauren Filer. Also England U19’s skipper Grace Scrivens. *Grace Harris 1(4) was clean-bowled middle-stump, with bails sent flying by Lauren Bell (1/24.) *After 21 balls Power-play, ‘Spirit’ were 30/1. *Heather Knight & Dani Gibson’s 2nd wicket partnership bagged ‘Spirit’ 45 runs. *Dani Gibson 28(20) who’d hit 5 ‘fours,’ deflected Georgia Adams’ (49mph) off-spin and ‘played-on.’ *Amelia Kerr 6(9) was short-lived ‘ballooning’ to ‘mid-off’ and caught by Smriti Mandhana from Georgia Adams. *Strategic-time-out was called after 55 balls, Spirit on 68/3. *Richa Ghosh 1(7) was ‘well-caught’ by Maia Bouchier, running-in from ‘long-on’ (Nursery end), also from Georgia Adams. *Best batter was Heather Knight 44(27) who played a skipper’s innings, until caught at ‘deep-square’ by Kalea Moore, from Georgia Adams (4/11.) *Grace Scrivens was 10*not out (11); *Niamh Holland was 9*not out (7) *’Brave’s’ best bowler was Georgia Adams 4fer (4/11.)
SB-W *Skipper/coach Anya Shrubsole announced an unchanged side. *[Richa Ghosh keeping wicket for ‘Spirit’] *Internationals Smriti Mandhana (India), Maitlan Brown (Australia WBBL) & Chloe Tryon (Rep. South Africa.) *England’s Danni Wyatt, Maia Bouchier & Freya Kemp. *Commentator’s curse struck immediately when Brave’s ‘leading run-scorer’ departed without troubling the scorers – with a ‘big boost’ to the home-side. Smriti Mandhana found Dani Gibson unplayable, surviving a ‘leg-before’ appeal but was caught next ball deep of ‘backward-square’ by Amelia Kerr, for a 3rd ball ‘duck.’ *After 21 balls ‘Power-play,’ scores were level: 31/1 (vs 30/1) *Danni Wyatt 12(9) was caught at ‘mid-on’ by Tara Norris from leg-spinner Sarah Glenn (47mph.) *Slight ‘wobble’ when 2 wickets fell in 3 balls, at which point ‘Brave’ needed 31 runs from the last 25 balls. *Georgia Adams 6(13) was caught at ‘long-on’ by Grace Harris from Sarah Glenn. *2 balls later, Freya Kemp 0(2) went for a 2nd ball ‘duck’, from an unusual dismissal, also from Sarah Glenn (3/15). *Freya Kemp was given ‘out’ by umpire noticing that keeper had trapped the ball ‘pouched-up above’ her shoulder. *Chloe Tryon 4(4) was caught by Dani Gibson with an entertaining backward somersault ‘in the deep,’ from Charlie Dean (1/12.) *Maia Bouchier who played a ‘high class’ innings as ‘Brave’s’ best batter scoring 63*not out(42); partnered at the ‘death’ by Maitlan Brown 15*not out(9) who hit the winning ‘four.’ Best ‘Spirit’ bowler was Sarah Glenn 3/15.*
Match summary After 3 back-to-back wins and 1 loss from 4 rounds, ‘Southern Brave’ top the Women’s leader-board. As the ‘toss’ was rain-delayed for an hour, the match was reduced to 85 balls per team. Heather Knight played a skipper’s innings for ‘Spirit’ – her team said to be ‘a bit rusty’ with their first two matches washed-out. As mentioned above, Georgia Adams (4-fer) went top of the bowler’s leader-board, with a tally-to-date of 10 wickets-to-date. Scores were level-pegging for most of the match, played with a ball that needed frequent toweling; and a ball-slowing outfield. POTM Meerkat Match Hero Maia Bouchier stepped-up with her ‘high class’ fifty, with ‘Brave’s’ world-class openers ‘failing to fire.’ Maia Bouchier added that she was delighted when Maitlan Brown struck three consecutive ‘fours’ (just before Maia Bouchier struck the winning ‘four.’) After the match, Maia Bouchier spoke to SKY Sports @URL https://www.skysports.com/the-hundred/video/36891/12936231/maia-bouchier-my-strength-is-hitting-boundaries
Match result: Southern Brave Women 108/5 beat London Spirit Women 104/5 by five wickets and with 3 balls remaining
*Spirit’s batting: 104/5: (85/85 balls @1.2 runs-per-ball); Heather Knight 44(27), Danielle ‘Dani’ Gibson 28(20), Grace Scrivens 10*not out (11); *Brave’s bowling: Georgia Adams 4/11, Lauren Bell 1/24; Fow 1-2, 2-47, 3-67, 4-69, 5-88.
*Brave’s batting 108/5: (82/85 balls @1.3 runs-per-ball, target 105 from 85 balls); Maia Bouchier 63*not out(42), Danni Wyatt 12(9) Maitlan Brown 15*not out(9); *Spirit’s bowling: Sarah Glenn 3/15, Charlie Dean 1/12, Danielle ‘Dani’ Gibson 1/19; Fow 1-0, 2-38, 3-73, 4-73, 5-79.
*Scorecard courtesy of BBC Sport @URL: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/scorecard/ECKE1000727
*Match highlights (5m03s) courtesy of Sky Sports @URL https://www.skysports.com/the-hundred/video/36891/12936235/highlights-southern-brave-dismiss-london-spirit-by-five-wickets
