Sunrisers stun Sparks by fifties to Villiers, Scrivens and Carr
Sunrisers 228 for six (Carr 58, Villiers 56, Scrivens 51) beat Central Sparks 227 for 8 (Freeborn 107*) by 4 wickets
Grace Scrivens, Amara Carr and Mady Villiers all hit half-centuries as Sunrisers surprised Central Sparks to register back-to-back wins within the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for the primary time.
Teenager Scrivens, main the facet rather than the injured Dane van Niekerk, scored a gritty 51 and Carr struck 58 earlier than Villiers’ explosive knock of 56 from 46 balls all however wrapped up a four-wicket victory at Chelmsford.
Their efforts overshadowed a powerful maiden hundred by Abigail Freeborn, who batted by all however 9 deliveries of Sparks’ innings for an unbeaten 107 from 140 that enabled her facet to publish 227 for 8.
But it was not sufficient for the guests, who slip out of the play-off locations after Sunrisers – having did not win a single recreation within the event’s first two editions – chased down the goal with 5 overs to spare.
Sparks opted to bat after profitable the toss, but their begin was lower than perfect as Eva Gray opened up with a maiden and Kate Coppack bowled Bethan Ellis off her pads with no run on the board.
Freeborn was quickly into her stride, pummelling Coppack’s half-volley to the duvet fence and overtaking accomplice Eve Jones as she clipped Amu Surenkumar for an additional boundary to boost the guests’ 50 within the tenth over.
Smart operating helped to maintain the scoreboard ticking over, however spin duo Scrivens and Jodi Grewcock (2 for 36) gained some extent of management and it was the latter who broke the partnership of 99. The legspinner tempted Jones down the monitor for Carr to take off the bails and that stifled the scoring price, with shrewd bowling adjustments incomes Sunrisers additional success as Gray and Jo Gardner (2 for 21) collected wickets within the area of 5 deliveries.
With Katie George drilling Grewcock straight to cowl and Gardner’s flight deceiving Charis Pavely, Sparks slumped to 167 for six however Emily Arlott’s pugnacious 22 helped them clamber above 200.
Although Freeborn superior to a deserved century, Scrivens marshalled her assault cleverly and a death-overs cost by no means materialised, guaranteeing Sunrisers would chase simply above four-and-a-half per over.
However, correct powerplay bowling from Arlott (2 for 33) and Grace Potts meant the house facet initially struggled to achieve traction, with the ball crossing the rope simply as soon as earlier than Arlott had Ariana Dowse taken at gully within the eighth over.
Grewcock, having simply carved off-spinner Georgia Davis to the purpose boundary, departed lbw later within the over, however Carr and Scrivens dug in to nudge Sunrisers in the direction of the goal with a resolute partnership of 80.
The skipper progressed to her third half-century of the event earlier than falling leg earlier than to Hannah Baker and, regardless of that setback, Carr adopted swimsuit by clouting an Ellis full toss to the midwicket fence.
Villiers eagerly took up the baton after Scrivens’ departure, dispatching Davis (2 for 43) for successive boundaries and dominating the strike, with a single Baker over disappearing for 15 earlier than one other leg-side 4 off Arlott took her to a 40-ball half-century.
Sparks sensed a glimmer of hope after they prised out Carr and Villiers in successive overs with 25 nonetheless required, however Gardner and Surenkumar noticed their facet throughout the road.