The season started with the Sunrisers handing the Vipers a massive defeat of a whopping 126 runs. Grace Scrivens, Jodi Grewcock, and Mady Villiers scored 65+ runs to post an unassailable total of 288. Maia Bouchier did try to offer some resistance but couldn’t quite get help from the other end. Abtaha Maqsood picked a fifer to dismiss Southern Vipers for a total of 162.
The tournament witnessed its first century of the edition in just the second match, with Paige Schofield scoring it against the Thunder. Schofield’s thunderous knock of 111* powered the South East Stars to a massive total of 334. Freya Davies’ 3-fer helped South East Stars to restrict the Thunder to a score of 203.
Paige Schofield repeated her heroics once again 9 days later, as she notched up her second century of the season against Western Storm. Schofield’s knock helped South East Stars to post a total of 297. In reply, the Western Storm had no reply to South East Stars’ Alice Capsey, as she picked a 6-fer from just 7.5 overs as the Western Storm got dismissed for a paltry score of 89.
Nadine de Klerk produced a jaffa against Northern Diamonds, as she picked a total of 7 wickets in 9.1 overs. Nadine just conceded 33 runs, while also bowling a total of 3 maidens. Nadine’s spell helped the Blaze restrict the Northern Diamonds to a paltry score of 62. While chasing, the Blaze were made to scuffle a bit, as they lost a total of 6 wickets while scoring such a low score. Chloe Tryon picked up a total of 4 wickets in the second innings.
A total of 2 matches were tied in this edition, and quite funnily the Thunder were part of both those matches. Their first tied match is against the Southern Vipers. Vipers posted a total of 262 thanks to Abi Norgrove, Emily Windsor, and Linsey Smith’s knock of 40+ scores. In reply, it looked certain that Thunder’s captain Eleanor Threkeld would take her team home, but she was dismissed when her team needed 31 runs off 14 balls. Tara Norris scored a brilliant 51 off just 27, she looked destined to pull off this chase which looked a bit difficult task after the dismissal of their captain. In the last over, they required 16 runs, Tara Norris hit a six and a four, but couldn’t finish off the chase.
The Rachael Hayhoe Flint Trophy 2023 final is here! 🔥
The Blaze emerged victorious in a rain-affected contest against South East Stars, securing their place in the championship clash against Southern Vipers 🏆#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/N0Gk0xdGg7
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) September 22, 2023
We saw a total of 13 centuries scored in the tournament from a total of 58 matches, whereas with the ball in hand, 30 times a player took more than 4 times.
Laura Winfield-Hill is the current top-scorer of the tournament, as she has amassed a total of 663 runs at an average of 51 and a strike rate of 95.80. She has certainly distanced herself from others, as the next best is still 156 runs behind her. Georgia Adams is in the second position as she has scored a total of 507 runs at an average of 50.7 and a strike rate of 84.21. Adams will still have an outside chance of becoming the top scorer if she scores more than 156 runs in the finals.
Georgia Davies is the leading wicket-taker as she has struck for a total of 27 times at an economy rate of 4. Georgia Davies will certainly finish as the top wicket-taker as there is no one from the teams that are playing in the finals who could challenge her.
The finals of the tournament will be played on 24 September in Northampton, with Southern Vipers and the Blaze being the two teams competing for the throne.
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