Australian stars Mitchell Marsh and Phoebe Litchfield both hit half centuries to guide their teams to big wins in the Hundred
Mitchell Marsh’s half-century and three wickets from Brydon Carse helped Sunrisers Leeds take a big step towards the Hundred eliminator with a crushing 71-run victory over Welsh Fire.
Australia T20 captain Marsh hit eight boundaries, including three sixes, in a 34-ball 50 as he shared an opening partnership of 89 with Ryan Rickelton at Headingley.
South African Rickelton made 40 off 22 deliveries for the second-placed Sunrisers, while Harry Brook, captain Zak Crawley and Dan Lawrence contributed 23, 34 and 29 respectively in a total of 4-201.
Australian opener Matt Short top-scored for Fire with 43 before being caught by Brook as Carse, who finished with figures of 3-24, claimed his second wicket after removing Phil Salt for 13.
England’s new-again Test captain Joe Root added 31 from 22 balls before Nathan Ellis dismissed Root and Rachin Ravindra in three balls to rubber stamp the victory as a demoralised Fire side crawled to 6-130 and their hopes of a top-three finish suffered a major setback.
At Lord’s in the later match, Adam Zampa was again left on the sidelines for London Spirit as they beat Birmingham Phoenix by seven wickets in a battle between the competition’s two bottom-placed sides.
Phoenix saw Aussie opener Mitch Owen depart for six but 73 for Joe Clarke, off 42 balls with five sixes, and an unbeaten 51 off 28 from Sean Dickson saw the visitors reach 4-162. Zampa’s replacement, England leggie Mason Crane, took 1-26 in his full alotment.
Jonny Bairstow gave Spirit a start by hitting a six and a four before being bowled third ball, while skipper Liam Livingstone’s 66 off 30 balls and an unbeaten 55 off 31 for South Africa’s Dewald Brevis saw the home side canter to the win with a18 balls spare.
Litchfield shines again in Leeds win
In the women’s section, another Australia star Phoebe Litchfield hit a half-century as Sunrisers Leeds kept alive their semi-final hopes with a comfortable six-wicket win which eliminated Welsh Fire.
In a must-win game for both sides, Fire were fortunate to reach 8-121 after being put into bat at Headingley as top scorer Freya Kemp was dropped three times during an unbeaten 72 off 45 balls.
Australia’s Annabel Sutherland fumbled a straightforward catch at mid-off to reprieve Kemp on just six and later squandered another major opportunity at long-off.
Sunrisers allrounder Deepti Sharma took 3-13 and would have claimed four wickets had Kemp not been dropped again on 62, this time by Cassidy McCarthy at deep cover.
The chase got off to a bad start when Bryony Smith was dismissed for a duck from the third ball, before Litchfield contributed 55 off 25 deliveries, including six fours and three sixes.
Sutherland partly redeemed her poor performance in the field with 28 off 18 before a four from Jess Jonassen secured victory with 26 balls remaining.
In the second match of the women’s competition, Aussie leg-spinner Alana King was outstanding with 2-18 but her Birmingham Phoenix slumped to a 32-run defeat to London Spirit at Lord’s in a battle between two already eliminated sides.
After Phoenix skipper Ellyse Perry won the toss and opted to bowl they enjoyed immediate reward as Grace Harris made a duck – her fourth single-digit score in seven innings – but Marizanne Kapp’s unbeatean 57 off 28 balls helped the London outfit to 4-140, the South Africa star hitting four successive sixes off Alice Capsey.
Kapp was pivotal with the ball as well, taking an early wicket and allowing just 10 runs in her 15 balls. Charlie Dean picked up three wickets, including Perry for six, as Phoenix managed 8-108.
