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The Northern Brave (W) and Central Stags have both taken solid victories in Nelson in today's Super Smash action.
Central Hinds vs Northern Brave (W):
The Northern Brave (W) took a massive victory over the Central Hinds in Nelson today off the back of an all-round performance with the bat and the ball.
Sri Lankan international Chamari Athapaththu once again showed her power with the ball and the bat, picking up 4/16 from her four overs and then making 45 off 31 balls.
Northern’s spin dominance showed throughout the innings with 13.4 of the 18.4 overs being bowled by the four spinners. Alongside Athapaththu’s haul, two wickets went to Jess Watkin and Amanda-Jade Wellington each.
Hollie Armitage, the Hinds international signing led from the top once again with the bat as she made her way to a second Super Smash half-century, coming from 36 balls.
There were only two partnerships of note for the Hinds with Armitage and Rosemary Mair putting on 24 for the sixth wicket whilst Armitage and Flora Devonshire put on 23 for the fourth wicket.
Central’s middle order couldn’t build any substantial support to Armitage and that was likely the biggest issue with the bat for them today, and an area they will be looking to work on heading into their next game against the Blaze.
Watkin and Athapaththu got the Brave off to a flier in chase of 113 for victory. They raced out to 69/0 by the end of the powerplay with both Devonshire and Mair going for back to back overs of 18.
The Brave didn’t keep down their high scoring rate either, finding themselves sitting at 86/0 after eight overs.
Ocean Bartlett did manage one wicket for the hosts with Athapaththu finding Mair in the deep.
Caitlin Gurrey (19*) and Watkin (51*) ensured to get the Brave to victory inside 13 overs.They picked up a nine wicket win to climb to third in the table.
Central Stags vs Northern Brave (M):
The Central Stags picked up a comfortable victory over the Brave with captain Tom Bruce leading the way with 64* whilst Jayden Lennox followed up with a three wicket haul.
Facing early pressure with a low run rate the Stags side knew that they had the firepower to put a big total on the board which was illustrated through the 76 run stand between Bruce and Dane Cleaver (41).
It allowed the big hitting Josh Clarkson to come in and up the run rate alongside Bruce with Neil Wagner (0/39 from three) and Freddy Walker (0/42 from four) taking some tap.
Northern Brave debutant, Rohit Gulati impressed with the ball taking 3/20 from his four over spell. He picked up two early wickets with Curtis Heaphy (19) and Jack Boyle (17) falling along with the wicket to break Cleaver and Bruce’s stand.
Some late hitting by Will Clark (13) got the Stags to 195 from their 20 overs.
Early wickets were key for the Stags and they had the big wicket of Katene Clarke who was run out by Blair Tickner without facing a ball in the first over.
Ben Pomare (25) and Robbie O’Donnell (24) both showed their T20 skills with some quick scoring shots to boost the visitors run scoring rate and Brett Randell picked up Joe Carter for one.
The run rate of the Brave was strong, but sitting at 61/5 in the eighth over was not as strong with Angus Schaw having dismissed the big hitting Brett Hampton for three.
Apart from a wee contribution of 31 by the captain, Jeet Raval, it was never going to be enough for Northern who went on to lose by 64 runs.
It could have been an even bigger victory for the hosts after Lennox (3/14), Schaw (1/16), and Boyle (1/18) ripped through the middle order, but a 28 run last wicket stand between Walker (16) and Matt Fisher (8*) saw Northern to 131.
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