Kia Super League Witnessed another edge of the seat thriller with lots of twists and dramas. In the end, it was Southern Vipers who won by 3 runs against Yorkshire Diamonds at Southampton on Wednesday.
Top performers
1) Danielle Wyatt: The T20 Specialist after the century against Surrey Stars looked high in confidence with the bat. She scored 59 runs in just 30 balls with 7 boundaries and 3 sixes.
2) Leigh Kasperek: The Kiwis spinner had a great match with the ball as she picked up 4 wickets by giving just 16 runs.
Summary:
Winning the toss, Vipers captain opted to bat on a slow surface at Rosebowl. Opening partners Veteran Suzie Bates and t20 specialist Wyatt had a mind-blowing start with 60 runs for no loss in the Power play. Then came the first twist in the game, Bates got out scoring 9, as the maximum contribution was done by Wyatt. Seeing the power-play score everyone was expecting a huge total. The story which came out was completely different. One side Wyatt played well and she was not supported much by partners. The off-spinner from NZ, Kasperek took 4 crucial wickets at a crucial junction. This made Vipers end the inning at 127 for 9.
Small totals are always not easy to chase. Chasing the target of 128. Alyssa Healy opened the inning for Diamonds with Skipper Winfield. Healy was out in a mix up for 11by Wyatt, following them everyone failed except Rodrigues and Hollie. She looked in good touch, she played almost a match-winning innings of 32. At one stage it looked like an easy chase, but after the power play, people kept on throwing away wickets except for our Jemimah. Finally, It was around 23 runs required off 24 balls, which looked easy then came another twist that is an experience.
Experienced Bates got the wicket of Rodrigues with a deadly yorker. With her getting out no other batters could cope up the pressure and a couple of wickets were down soon and in the final over it was 7 required off 6 balls. Suzie Bates used all her experience, bowled an amazing over and defended it successfully by giving just 3 runs.
On the whole, Southern Vipers are sitting strongly in the second place, most probably would play finals day. On the other hand, Diamonds are trying best to qualify for finals day.
Brief score: Vipers 127 for 9 (Wyatt 59, Kasperek 4 for 16) defeated Diamonds ( Rodrigues 32, Bates 2 for 27) by 3 runs.