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Wellington Blaze vs Otago Sparks:
The Otago Sparks have shown their power as a potential side to watch heading into the back half of the season following their seven wicket win over the Blaze.
It was a 73 run stand for the third wicket between Olivia Gain (34) and Caitlin Blakely (52) that powered the Otago chase of 110 after the loss of two early wickets.
Bella James (3) and Suzie Bates (14) fell early for the Sparks. On return from a rest period, it was Sophie Devine that struck when she had James out in the third over.
Jess Kerr backed up Devine’s wicket with Bates falling to a caught and bowled the following over.
Earlier it was the heroics of the Kerr sisters that led the way with the bat for the Blaze as they posted 109 from their 20 overs.
The home side struggled to get going early on as they lost both Rebecca Burns (2) and Sophie Devine (0) inside the powerplay to find themselves sitting at 21/2 after six overs.
Tight pressure from both Kirstie Gordon (2/13 from four) and Eden Carson (1/22 from four) led the middle overs of the Blaze’s batting innings whilst Anna Browning (0/10 from two) chipped in with a couple of tight overs.
Both Kerr sisters played the bowlers at their merits but struggled to get going and this put pressure on Melie who fell to Hayley Jensen for 41 in the 16th over.
Caitlin King and Jess McFadyen both couldn’t add to the total as they fell in the following over with the Blaze sitting at 85/5 with three overs to go.
Jess brought up her third half century of the Super Smash season from 46 balls but three run outs didn’t help the Blaze’s cause.
Otago would go on to take a seven wicket victory with Blakely hitting the winning boundary to bring up her second Super Smash half century and record her highest score.
The victory by the Sparks leaves them at the top of the Super Smash table with 20 points, eight ahead of the Blaze in second but with the Wellingtonians having two games in hand.
Wellington Firebirds vs Otago Volts:
The home side won the toss and sent the Volts to bat on a worn surface.
It didn’t take long for another quickfire partnership between Dale Phillips and Jamal Todd to be drummed up at the top scoring 36 off 3.3 overs until Todd played a lofted cut straight to Troy Johnson.
Dale Phillips didn’t stop hitting in his partnership with Llew Johnson either with him scoring 43 off 25 getting caught in the deep with the Volts having an aggressive start being 72/2 after 7.1 overs.
It only took another two over for Johnson to go LBW scoring 19 off 19 with Foxcroft trying a stupid run getting run out for 4 off 3 being sent back by Carter.
Leo Carter didn’t score much quicker either being sent home after his off stump capitulated off a full ball from Logan van Beek, he went for 14 off 17 with the Volts being 118/5 after Max Chu revived the inning.
Chu went very similarly to Todd being caught out at deep point scoring a crucial 37 off 23 for the away side. Captain Luke Georgeson couldn’t add much either going for 11 off 16 with Lockrose (13) and Hazeldine (7) ending off the inning. The Volts total was bought to 164/7 after 20 looking poor compared to their flying start.
Their poor finish to the batting inning didn’t matter much taking Robinson (5), Kelly (4), Blundell (5), and Johnson (3) within the first 5 overs being 28/4.
Abbas stabilised scoring just over a run and a ball 20 while Bracewell went for 5 big booms and 4 4’s in his quickfire 61 off 31. This brought the Firebirds into prime position being 124/6 after 14 overs looking in prime position to win the match.
Tashkoff scored his just under run a ball 22 too slowly with van Beek, Youngusband, and Sears unable to deliver at the tail. The Volts remained top of the table scoring 149/10 in their 18.4 overs.
Otago plays the Northern Brave in Dunedin on Thursday. Wellington’s next match the two sides face again in Dunedin this time on Saturday.
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