Northern Superchargers soared to the highest of The Hundred desk with a commanding victory over Birmingham Phoenix at a sun-drenched Headingley.
A 3rd win in 4 matches for Hollie Armitage’s staff was constructed round a miserly efficiency from their sluggish bowlers, Lucy Higham and Linsey Smith, who every picked up two wickets to stem the Phoenix’s circulate.
Their intervention was completely timed, after the guests had begun brightly. On 44-1 from 30 balls with Emma Lamb and Marie Kelly going properly, the Phoenix misplaced 5 wickets in 20 deliveries, with captain Ellyse Perry’s farcical run out – Annabel Sutherland diverting a straight drive from Kelly onto the stumps on the non-striker’s finish – summing up the Phoenix’s misfortune.
From 59-6, Em Arlott and Sterre Kalis rebuilt the innings impressively, placing on an unbeaten 57, the very best stand for the seventh wicket within the historical past of The Hundred’s girls’s competitors.
On a stupendous batting monitor, it nonetheless felt beneath par. The Superchargers openers, Davina Perrin and Alice Davidson-Richards, have been each dropped early on – Perrin earlier than she had scored when Hannah Baker palmed a pull shot over the rope for six – and their stand of 27 ensured that the house facet have been all the time forward of the sport.
Australian famous person Phoebe Litchfield, having began this 12 months’s match quietly, roared again into type with a shocking assault in opposition to Baker particularly, drilling the spinner for a trio of consecutive boundaries to settle any considerations within the dwelling dugout.
Together with her compatriot Sutherland on the different finish, the pair cruised to the end line with just one alarm when Litchfield, on 48, was dropped at deep extra-cover by Baker.
Litchfield introduced up her second half-century within the competitors from simply 25 balls, because the Superchargers’ abroad stars wrapped issues up with 26 balls to spare.
Litchfield, who was named the Match Hero, mentioned: “That was good fun out there. Every time we play here at Headingley we know it’ll be a good pitch and you saw that even when Davina and ADR came out, and then especially Bellesey [Sutherland] at the end there.”
Litchfield was additionally stuffed with reward for the Superchargers’ spinners, Smith and Higham.
She added: “They hit their lengths and kept the stumps in play and forced the Birmingham batters to try something else, and we backed them up in the field. Our two little spinners have done wonders for us for a few years now and they showed it again today.
“We have had this group collectively for 3 years now, it hasn’t modified a lot, and the vibes are good. We had a fairly common recreation final trip, however we tried to park that and got here out with a optimistic mindset.”
How do matches work?
- 100 balls a facet, the staff with essentially the most runs wins. It is so simple as that.
- 5 bowlers can bowl as much as 20 balls in an innings, together with 5 or 10 in a row.
- The normal six-ball overs seen in different types of cricket will not be utilized in The Hundred, with 10 balls bowled earlier than a change of ends.
- The powerplay is for the primary 25 balls of an innings, with solely two fielders allowed outdoors the 30-yard circle.
- A 25-ball-a-side recreation is the minimal size that may be performed within the occasion of moist climate.
What’s subsequent?
The Hundred continues with a double-header on Saturday. Trent Rockets host Southern Courageous, with the ladies’s match beginning at 11am and the boys’s contest following at 2:30pm.
Oval Invincibles host Welsh Fireplace at The Oval with the ladies’s match beginning at 2.30pm, and the boys’s fixture following at 6pm. All 4 matches will probably be accessible to look at reside on Sky Sports activities!
Each groups enjoying on Friday return to motion on Sunday, with one other double-header seeing Northern Superchargers play away to Manchester Originals, with Birmingham Phoenix internet hosting London Spirit.
Watch each match throughout the ladies’s and males’s competitions reside on Sky Sports activities from August 5-31.
