Loe, Bates Star for Sparks; Volts Get First Win of Super Smash Season

Both Otago sides have picked up Super Smash victories with the Volts getting a first win of the T20 season. 

Otago Sparks vs Auckland Hearts:

The Sparks got off to a terrible start with the bat as Bella James (0) and Olivia Gain (1) fell within the first four overs to leave Otago at 14/2.

The home team were finding it tough to score for the first three overs but with Suzie Bates starting to get into her work Otago was able to pick up the pace at the end and following the powerplay. 

Maddy Green struck with a run out of Felicity Robertson in the ninth over for 22, but Bates responded to this by hitting the next two balls for four and taking Molly Penfold for 13 from the over.

Polly Inglis and Bates kept attacking the Auckland pace bowlers and this allowed them to go hard and push for more runs. Inglis was caught in the fourteenth over for 24 from 20 with Skye Bowden getting the wicket. 

Caitlin Blakely and Bates kept putting pressure on the Otago bowlers and the last 6 overs of the innings went for 51 runs as Bates showed her aggressive nature on her way to 84* and Blakely finished on 15*. Otago finished on a total of 151/4. Anna Browning (1/20), Fran Jonas (1/22), and Skye Bowden (1/26) took the wickets for the Aucklanders.

Otago got into the Auckland wickets early with Browning departing in the first over for four. 

Green and opener Saachi Shahri went on the attack early with the third over going for 13 runs off Emma Black’s bowling and the fourth over going for 18 runs off Linsey Smith’s bowling. Green was the main aggressor as she raced to 20 from only ten balls. 

She then hit a further four from Emma Black’s next over before Molly Loe was introduced into the attack and struck with the big wicket of Maddy Green for 26 from 15.

Smith then had Izzy Gaze stumped next over for two and the Hearts found themselves sitting at 62/3 at the end of the eighth over. 

Loe kept her bowling tight only going for five runs from her first two overs and then she struck twice in two balls in her third over with the dangerous Shahri going for 37 from 22 and Josie Penfold out next ball for a golden duck.

PJ Watkins had a wicket maiden in the next over with Bowden falling to leave the Hearts in trouble at 76/6. To make it even worse for them, the last recognised batter, Prue Catton was out to Loe for 7. 

Amie Hucker was run out in the fifteenth over for 1 and then Jonas out in the seventeenth for four. 

Molly Penfold was the last batter out for a run-a-ball 15 (her highest Super Smash score). 

Auckland finished on 104/10 from 17.4 overs which gave Otago a 47-run win.

Otago Volts vs Auckland Aces:

Auckland got off to a fast start with the bat with Sean Solia and Martin Guptill opening up for them. 

Andrew Hazeldine went for seven runs in the first over before Solia went all out attacking in the second, taking Jacob Duffy for 17 runs.

Hazledine then struck in the third over to have Guptill out for 7 before Travis Muller had Solia out for 20 in the following over to leave the Aces at 43/2 after four overs.

They conceded a further 12 runs in the powerplay and it looked like Cole Briggs and Robbie O’Donnell would be in for big scores. Ben Lockrose however had other plans as he had Briggs bowled for fifteen and then Duffy had Cam Fletcher in the next over for one. 

The two O’Donnell brothers, Robbie and Will, knew that they would need to stay in to push the Aces up to a solid total.

Just as they were playing well in the middle together and finding boundaries, Will O’Donnell was out to Jake Gibson for 14. 

Robbie O’Donnell and Ryan Harrison played well together too with a 24-run partnership in just under three overs until O’Donnell was out for 35, leaving his side six down with only 121 runs on the board.

Harrison added a quick 18 from 10 and along with Danru Ferns (12), and Ben Lister (18*) they were able to see the Aces up to 151/9 from 20 overs. Gibson and Muller both took three wickets each.

With a target of 152, the Volts got off to a terrible start with Gibson falling in the first over for a two-ball duck. The Otago supporters would’ve been getting worried after the result against Wellington.

Dean Foxcroft and Hamish Rutherford then put on a solid 42 run standing in 3.5 overs to drag the Volts got 45/2 when Rutherford fell for 32 from 18.

Max Chu (1) and Dale Phillips both fell in the space of two balls and the Volts were in trouble at 47/4. 

It would be up to youngster Llew Johnson and the captain Dean Foxcroft had the big task ahead of them of lifting the Volts out of trouble. They did just this combining for a 57-run stand and the 50-run stand coming in 40 balls. 

With Johnson falling when the score was 104/5 for 21 and Foxcroft going eight runs later for 51 from 39 it left the Volts’ lower order with the tricky task of making 39 runs in the last 5.5 overs.

Lockrose could do very little as he added 6 from 5 with Ferns getting the wicket and the Aces sitting in pole position for a win.

Ollie White and Travis Muller however had other ideas as they combined for a match-winning 23-run stand with White’s 22* from 20 and Muller’s 17* from 10 getting them home with two balls to spare.