Oval Invincibles in Women’s Hundred 2023 | Complete Squad, Schedule, Players to Watch Out

The defending champions, Oval Invincibles, will take the field on 2nd August against the London Spirit at the home of cricket, Lord’s. They will look to register a hattrick of titles win, having won both the previous editions.

 

In the 2022 edition, they booked a direct ticket to the final finishing at the top of the points table with five wins from six matches. They played the eliminator in the 2021 edition. In both finals, the ace all-rounder from South Africa, Marizanne Kapp was the hero of the match. In the 2021 final, Kapp scored a blistering 26(14) and later dismantled the Southern Brave top order, and in no time Braves found themselves at 2-3. Kapp finished with 4-9, which is still the best figure in the tournament’s history.

The Oval Invincibles decided to retain their clutch all-rounder Marizanne Kapp, the teenage prodigy Alice Capsey, the keeper-batter Lauren Winfield Hill and the speedster Tash Farrant. In the drafts, their first two picks were both the winning captains, Suzie Bates and Dane van Niekerk. They used their right-to-match card to take the spinner Mady Villiers and also roped in Paige Scholfield.

They lost Shabnim Ismail in the draft, and to worsen their case, Tash Farrant picked a stress fracture of the lumbar spine. The onus will be on Marizanne Kapp to lead their pace attack. Their mix of domestic talents and experienced campaigners makes it exciting to watch them in the 2023 edition.

 

In the Charlotte Edwards Cup, the 27-year-old Cordelia Griffith had a decent outing and she amassed over 200 runs from just 6 matches. Mady Villiers picked 10 scalps from 7 matches at an average of 15.9, the off-spinner from Essex will surely be watched. Lauren Winfield-Hill played a major role in their title defense last year, with 219 runs at an average of 54. She represented Northern Diamond at the recent CE Cup where she scored 171 runs from 7 innings.

Paige Scholfield, the budding all-rounder was 2nd highest run-getter in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy with 303 runs in 8 innings and hit 10 sixes, most by any batter in the tournament, which shows her power-hitting abilities, and also picked 4 wickets.

Squad:

Marizanne Kapp, Alice Capsey, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Lizzie Scott, Suzie Bates, Dane van Niekerk, Mady Villiers, Paige Scholfield, Eva Gray, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Kira Chathli, Sophia Smale, Hannah Rainey, Cordelia Griffith, Claudie Cooper

Oval Invincibles Schedule for Women’s Hundred 2023:

DATE	OPPOSITION	VENUE	TIME (BST)
02-Aug-2023	London Spirit	Lords	15:00
06-Aug-2023	Welsh Fire	Kia Oval	14:30
09-Aug-2023	Manchester Originals	Kia Oval	15:00
11-Aug-2023	Northern Superchargers	Clean State Headingley	15:00
13-Aug-2023	Birmingham Phoenix	Edgbaston	14:30
15-Aug-2023	London Spirit	Kia Oval	15:00
19-Aug-2023	Southern Brave	Ageas Bowl	14:30
21-Aug-2023	Trent Rockets	Kia Oval	15:00

“We did well in the draft to pretty much keep the same squad, so really positive. We’ve added a couple of additions but the draft was a really good thing for levelling out the squads, I’m going to go Sophia Smale, who is a young left-arm spinner,” said the all-rounder Alice Capsey.

Sophia Smale

The player who picked 8 wickets in the last edition of The Hundred and picked wickets of big players like Healy, Wyatt, McGrath, and Devine, will surely be the one to watch out for. She picked three wickets in the Charlotte Edwards (CE) Cup and seven wickets in the RHF Trophy.

Eva Gray

The young 23-year-old pacer will have a lot of responsibility on her shoulder since there will be no Shabnim Ismail and Tash Farrant. In the 2022 edition, she picked 8 wickets from 7 matches at an economy of below 6 at an astonishing average of just 12.62. In the domestic season, she picked 12 wickets in as many matches across both the tournaments, the RHF trophy, and the CE Cup.