Northern Supercharges v Welsh Fire Women 100

Neil Whitaker reports

JEMIMAH Rodrigues carried her bat  for an unbeaten 92 from 47 balls as the Northern Supercharges beat the Welsh Fire by six wickets with 15 balls to spare.

Rodrigues said: “I feel like England is my second home, and I’m thinking of buying a new house here in Yorkshire!   I was with them (Yorkshire Diamonds) in 2019. It’s nice to come back. 

I tried to keep it simple. Whoever stayed the calmest would win. It’s never easy when wickets fall and you’re chasing. One of them was my mistake (run out of Laura Wolvaardt), so I had to take responsibility. 

The crowd (5,026) here was phenomenal. Thank you to everyone who came out to support women’s cricket.”

Chasing 131 to win the Supercharges we’re struggling at 19 for four and their target looked out of their reach.  The Northern Supercharges lost their first with the second ball of their chase  when Lauren Winfield-Hill chipped  Bryony Smith to Georgie Hennessy at mid off.   Next to go after adding one to the score was Laura Wolvaardt who turned Hayley  Matthews  off her legs and set off for a single but was sent back by Rodrigues and was run out.

Hollie Armitage was bowled by Piepa   Cleary and at seven for three the crowd were set for an early finish.   But worse was to follow for the Supercharges.  Matthews switched ends to the Kirkstall Lane end and conceded a couple of boundaries when Bess  Heath hit her for a couple of boundaries.  She tried for another but found Katie George on the mid wicket boundary. 

Rodrigues needed some support and she found it when Alice Davidson-Richards joined her and the pair added 112 to see the Supercharges home but see was the silent partner, hitting an unbeaten 23.

Rodrigues lofted Matthews over Hennessy at mid off for a boundary and cut the next ball to the third man boundary as she reached her fifty.  She was only batter to find the boundary easier to come by, she late cut Cleary to the third man boundary and even later cut the next ball.  She even bisected Cleary to the deep mid wicket and long off for another boundary as the  required run rate got lower.  With the runs required below the runs required she clipped Griffiths off her legs to the mid wicket boundary.

After winning the toss Northern Supercharges put the Welsh Fire into bat and were  soon behind the eight ball.  At the half way stage the Welsh Fire reached 70 for three but in the final 50 balls they struggled and only added 51 and that proved vital.

West Indian  Matthews top scored for the Welsh Fire with 30.  She kept finding the boundary as she backed away and gave the ball some long handle.  Her innings included a thick edge wide off the keeper and a bottom edge.  Her knock ended when she went down the wicket to Davidson-Richards had a big swing, missed the ball and was bowled for 30.

The Supercharges Lindsey Smith put down Bryony Smith on two off her own bowling, she hit 17 off the next set of five balls from Phobe  Graham through long on and tried repeating the shot off Katie Levick’s first ball but found Wolvardt on the long on boundary. Levick got her second wicket when she bowled Lissy Macleod around her legs.

In their powerplay the Welsh Fire scored 36 for two while the Northern Supercharges made 24 for four.

Matthews said: “Losing Is never easy. But, at the same time, you have to appreciate how Jemimah batted. She played a really, really good innings, and we couldn’t really do much.

Maybe we could have improved the lines we bowled and a couple of misfields. At the same time, you have to give credit to the way she batted. Getting early wickets was important, but at the same time we didn’t want to get complacent.  We just have to take the positives into our next game.”

Scorecard