Northern Superchargers progress to girls’s ultimate after rain douses Welsh Fire hopes

Welsh Fire 104 for two (Beaumont 37*, Higham 1-16) versus Northern Superchargers deserted – Superchargers progress to ultimate

Northern Superchargers have progressed to the ultimate of the ladies’s Hundred after their Eliminator with Welsh Fire was deserted throughout a torrential downpour on the Kia Oval.

Superchargers, who will play Southern Brave at Lord’s on Sunday, progressed by advantage of ending second within the group stage. It was a place they sealed by beating Fire on Tuesday in each groups’ final match of the group phases, taking Superchargers to 12 factors, one forward of their opponents.

The Eliminator had already been lowered to a 95-ball affair after rain pushed again the beginning by 45 minutes. And the agony for Fire, who completed backside within the first two editions, is that the robust progress they made to achieve 104 for two after 75 deliveries, having received the toss and opted to bat first, was finally for nothing.

In accordance with the enjoying situations, the gamers have been solely permitted to return to the sphere as soon as officers have been assured the storm had handed. However heavy rain set in, bringing the Fire innings to an in depth, earlier than the match was referred to as off at 4.41pm native time, half-hour earlier than the newest time Fire’s 25-ball second innings was permitted to start out.

“You never want the result to go into a final to be how it is today,” Hollie Armitage, Superchargers captain, stated. “But I think that shows why finishing second is so important, just like finishing first and going straight to the final. Obviously, it is a little bit bittersweet, but we’re happy to be on the side that’s going to Lord’s tomorrow.

“We’ve received six out of eight video games within the group stage and that is why the group phases are so essential. You’ve acquired to deal with each sport as a ultimate so you’ll be able to try to end on the high of the desk, which was clearly our ambition. But fortunately in the present day, by ending second, it may take us to the ultimate.”

Having finished bottom in both of the first two editions, Fire’s about-turn, in tandem with their men’s team, has been one of the stories of 2023. To have their tournament ended in such fashion was a tough pill to swallow.

“Devastated, completely devastated for the ladies,” Beaumont said. “The sport was going properly in the direction of what would have been a good whole and I’d have backed the ladies to defend something. It would have been simpler to take had we been completely thrashed or overwhelmed in an in depth one and really misplaced the sport.

“To go on previous results and table finishes is tough. Everyone is absolutely devastated. But that is cricket. You can’t book the weather. It’s been a pretty poor summer on the weather front, hasn’t it? Sport is cruel, isn’t it?

“Rules are guidelines, aren’t they? At the top of the day, if we would have received at Headingley on Tuesday and completed second we would not have been complaining.”

Asked if, like the final, the Eliminator should have a reserve day, Beaumont was phlegmatic. Though Fire ended up on the wrong side of the calculations here, she appreciates the nature of the Hundred, and indeed a point of difference with other franchise competitions around the world, is its compact schedule.

“They need The Hundred to be condensed and I believe that’s what units it other than some other competitors. Just eight video games and an Eliminator and ultimate – that’s what makes it good.

“You hear people saying the Big Bash is too long, the IPL being far too long, the games and the format. In terms of the women’s team, they’ve had the same overseas players throughout and that is what makes it good. [With reserve days] it would have to be another four days. That is pretty good – it has just stitched us up this time.”