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The Brave-W have taken an important win over the Hearts whilst the Aces put on a solid all-round performance.
Northern Brave vs Auckland Hearts:
Auckland won the toss and they decided to bowl first, a decision that gave them early success.
Caitlin Gurrey was the first to fall with Bree Illing getting the wicket for two runs.
Jess Watkin and Chamari Athapaththu were able to see Northern through the rest of the powerplay without losing another wicket.
Athapaththu took to Fran Jonas after the powerplay with 10 runs coming off her over.
Watkin however fell to Anna Browning for 15, as she got a wicket from her first ball of the game.
Sam Barriball and Athapaththu were able to carry on a high-scoring momentum, with Athapaththu being the more aggressive as she raced to 50 from 32 balls and had the milestone of getting her maiden T20 50 in the Super Smash.
She did however lose her wicket not long after for a solid 58 from 38 balls with Jonas getting her first wicket of the day.
Barriball was trying to up the run rate alongside Marina Lamplough but they both lost their wickets in quick succession.
Barriball was the first to go as she edged off to Izzy Gaze off Josie Penfold for 16 and then Lamplough was bowled by Browning for eight.
Nensi Patel did a good job of scoring as soon as she came to crease as the Brave were trying to put as many runs on the board as they could.
Unfortunately for her, she was run out by Gaze/Browning for eleven and then Carol Agafili came to the middle but could only last an over with Jonas getting her for three.
Marama Downes (2*) and Eimear Richardson (9*) saw the Northern Brave to a total of 133/7 from their 20 overs.
Auckland lost a couple of early wickets with Saachi Shahri (7) and Gaze (1) falling to Naidu and Athapaththu respectively.
Maddy Green and Prue Catton were able to resurrect the Auckland innings as they put on a 46-run stand for the third wicket to take Auckland past the 60-run mark when Catton was dismissed by Nensi Patel for a quick 28 from 23.
It looked like Auckland were taking the game away from Northern with Green and Brooke Halliday in the middle with 44 runs from 28 balls required.
When Gurrey ran Green out for 32 from 35 the momentum headed the way of Northern as they were able to capitalise and take regular wickets until the end of the game.
Skyde Bowden fell to Downes for three and then Agafili ran Halliday out for 20 to leave Auckland with 28 runs required for victory in the last over.
Browning was bowled by Downes in the last over for eight with Josie (2*) and Molly (5*) Penfold seeing Auckland to 114/8.
This gave the Northern Brave a 19-run win.
Northern Brave vs Auckland Aces:
Auckland had a strong start with the ball as they took four quick wickets inside the first seven overs with Lockie Ferguson taking the wickets of Henry Cooper (2), and Jeet Raval (6). Ben Lister bowled Scott Kuggeleijn for a duck whilst Robbie O’Donnell ran out Katene Clarke for 12.
Brett Hampton and Joe Carter were able to put on an important fifth wicket stand to get their side close to the 100-run mark with six overs to go.
When Sean Solia got the breakthrough of Hampton for 25 it left Northern five wickets down with 95 runs on the board.
This led to a sudden downfall in the Brave batting as they fell to 121 all out.
Peter Bocok was dismissed by Louis Delport with a sharp stumping by Cam Fletcher.
With Auckland picking up Joe Carter for 48 and then Freddy Walker (2) falling to Danru Ferns.
Ferguson was able to clean up the tail with the wickets of Kris Clarke (0) and Neil Wagner (1). Tim Pringle finished on 5*.
The Northern Brave made 121/10 from 19 overs.
Auckland got off to a fast with the first three overs going for 22 runs.
However, Northern was able to strike with George Worker falling for 14 as he tried to take on Kris Clarke but was caught in the deep.
Cole Briggs went in the next over for seven as he was bowled by Scott Kuggeleijn.
Robbie O’Donnell and Solia then went about their business, a match-winning 96-run stand to see their side to an 8-wicket win with over 3 overs left.
Solia finished on 67*, his fourth T20 50 and O’Donnell on 35*.
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