Lauren Winfield-Hill finds form as the SunRisers Leeds strolled into Sunday’s final with ease. Defeating the Southern Brave by five wickets.
Just by looking at the scorecard, it wouldn’t have been difficult to deduce that this was a high-pressure, nervy encounter with both sides vying for a place in Sunday’s final. The Southern Brave have been runners-up 3 times in this competition. Both sides finished on 20 points, with the SunRisers Leeds finishing second courtesy of a superior Net Run Rate.
Having completed a successful chase against the SunRisers Leeds early on in the group stage and with the knowledge that her opposition have struggled for form with the bat so far this season, the Sunrisers captain Dani Gibson stuck the Southern Brave into bat.
The Brave made a steady but cautious start to their innings, reaching 40 without loss after 30 deliveries. Having overturned an LBW decision, Lizelle Lee was then stumped for 32, beaten in the flight by Hannah Baker.
Laura Wolvaart has been the Southern Brave’s best batter in the competition with 221 runs; however, she had yet to pass fifty, and that trend would continue when, trying to lift the run rate, she was bowled by the experienced Kate Cross.
The Southern Brave struggle with the bat
The Brave’s batting line-up then showed their fragility while the SunRisers’ bowling depth proved useful. Deepti Sharma, coming on as the SunRisers’ seventh bowling option, was gifted a wicket when Bouchier was caught by Annabel Sutherland, who ran in from long-on.
If the Southern Brave were going to post a par or above-par total, they needed their captain Sophie Mollineaux and Charlie Knott to do some damage in the second half of the innings. The latter batted beautifully; a particularly eye-catching inside-out shot over cover took her to 25.
However, she wouldn’t add to that score as the SunRisers Leeds tightened their grip on the match; the Brave, 89-4 and going at just above a run a ball, were in trouble. The SunRisers bowlers had been superb, offering very little width.
Hannah Baker, who had been enjoying a good tournament, was particularly good, taking 2 for 13 in her 20 balls.
The bowlers were backed up throughout the innings by their fielders, Cassidy McCarthy with a brilliant stop at third man, denying Jodie Grewcock a certain boundary.
The Brave desperately needed an explosive finish to give their bowlers a total to defend, but they couldn’t find it; Annabel Sutherland was on a hat-trick courtesy of two slogs from Grewcock and Naomi Dattani. Sutherland perhaps should have had it, but a difficult chance was shelled at mid-wicket.
The Brave ultimately ended on a below-par 114 for 6, having struggled to impose any dominance throughout the innings.
The Brave get early wickets
To have any hope of defending that total, the Brave needed early wickets, particularly that of Phoebe Litchfield, the competition’s top run-scorer with 289 runs.
The Brave’s quick bowlers did some damage inside the opening powerplay. Bryony Smith continued her struggles, the first to fall, caught behind off Lauren Bell’s bowling for two from eight deliveries.
The big wicket of Litchfield came next, bowled by Izzy Wong. With keeper Lizelle Lee standing up to the stumps and the Australian starved of strike, she was cramped for room and bowled.
However, defending such a low total was always going to prove challenging. Annabel Sutherland, the other inform Australian looked as though she may take her Leeds side most of the way to victory, but she was dismissed for 17 trying to go over mid-on. Giving Sarah Glenn her seventh wicket of the competition, below par for her standards.
Winfield-Hill finds form
At the halfway point, the Sunrisers required 55 runs from 50 balls. With a lot of batting depth at their disposal, it always felt like the Sunrisers were in the ascendancy. Winfield-Hill, who had struggled so far this season, scoring just 96 runs, looked to be the one to anchor the innings.
In an effort to remove the number three, the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 18 scalps at the age of 18, Tilly Corteen-Coleman was brought back into the attack, but Hill and Deepti Sharma played her sensibly, choosing to milk her for singles.
The partnership was broken with the game all but won, as Izzy Wong dismissed Winfield Hill for 37, her second wicket of the game. She was then on a hat-trick as captain Dani Gibson was dismissed off the first ball.
However, a 21-run partnership between Deepti Sharma, who finished on 28, and Jess Jonassen meant the Sunrisers eased into Sunday’s final, where they will face the Trent Rockets.
