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The Brave-W have kept their finals hopes alive with victory in Auckland while the Aces have grabbed the hosting rights for the final.
Auckland Hearts vs Northern Brave-W:
Auckland were able to have a solid start to their bowling innings after they were sent in by the Brave.
Molly Penfold struck in the first over with the wicket of Jess Watkin for six with Amie Hucker getting the catch.
They soon had the Brave two wickets down with Chamari Athapaththu finding herself back in the sheds with Fran Jonas getting her for six runs as well.
Caitlin Gurrey and Nensi Patel were able to bring Northern back into the game having been 18/2 after just two and a half overs.
They saw the Brave through the rest of the powerplay without losing another wicket and also past the 10-over mark, bringing up a 50-run stand in 43 balls.
However, Jonas and Anna Browning both took the wickets of Gurrey (28) and Patel (31) to have the Brave going from 76/2 to 78/4.
Marina Lamplough and Eimear Richardson were able to keep the Brave in the game as they built another solid middle-order partnership, but like with the partnership before Auckland kept getting wickets.
Northern lost Lamplough (25), Eve Wolland (2) and Carol Agafili (1) all falling in quick succession with Northern now seven down and only 113 on the board.
A strong finish by Holly Topp (12), Richardson (25) and Marama Downes (3*) got Northern to 145/9 from their 20 overs.
Auckland had a disastrous start to their batting innings with Saachi Shahri (1), Izzy Gaze (6), and Maddy Green (4) all departing inside the first five overs. Shahri and Gaze both fell to Downes and Green fell to Patel.
Brooke Halliday and Prue Catton both found themselves in the middle with Auckland in some trouble at 13/3.
They built a solid middle-order stand until Athapaththu broke through with Haliday falling for 13.
Browning and Catton were able to carry on the momentum that had been built earlier but they needed to kick on near the end as the required run rate was climbing massively.
Athapaththu then struck with her second wicket as Browning fell for 19. This did lead to the downfall of Hearts' innings as they fell from 96/4 to 106 all out.
Catton (53) and Molly Penfold (0) fell in consecutive balls to Downes and then Lamplough had Hucker (0) and Josie Penfold (3) to leave Auckland nine down.
Downes then wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Jonas for three to grab her fifth wicket of the game and the first-ever fiver for the Brave Women!
Auckland Aces vs Northern Brave-M:
George Worker and Sean Solia built a nice partnership to get the Aces off to a steady start. They put on 54 runs inside the first five overs before Solia went for 21 to Brett Hampton.
Worker was then walking back two overs following the powerplay for 33 with Matt Fisher getting him to edge off to Peter Bocock.
Cole Briggs and Robbie O’Donnell then carried on the work that had been set out by the openers with O’Donnell being the more aggressive of the two.
Northern broke through with Tim Pringle getting Briggs for 24 and then had O’Donnell for 47 in his next over.
Will O’Donnell (24*) and Cam Fletcher (24*) saw Auckland to 181/4 from their 20 overs.
Katene Clarke got the Brave off to a fast start as he and Henry Cooper got the Brave to 34 runs in the first five overs. Darnu Ferns getting the wicket.
Cooper was the first to fall for five. Clarke then went a couple of overs following the powerplay for 32 with Ryan Harrison getting his first Super Smash contract.
Northern’s middle order faulted as Jeet Raval (8), Hampton (2), and Flynn McGregor-Sumpter (9) fell with the score sitting at 70/5 with Louis Delport getting Raval and Hampton whilst Ben Lister got McGregor-Sumpter.
Peter Bocock and Scott Kuggeleijn went down the aggressive route as they hit five sixes between them during their 30-run stand. They fell in quick succession with Bocock out for 19 to Delport and Kuggeleijn out for 21 to Solia.
Kris Clarke (8) and Tim Pringle (3) both fell to Ferns to leave Brave nine down.
With a victory impossible for the Brave, Freddy Walker played some nice shots but he was bowled out on the second to last ball for 21 with Solia getting the wicket. Matt Fisher ended on 3*.
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