Sunrisers Leeds 116 for five (Winfield-Hill 37, Deepti 28*, Wong 3-21) beat Southern Courageous 114 for 7 (Lee 32, Baker 2-13) by 5 wickets
Winfield-Hill’s house comforts
However Winfield-Hill – who known as The Oval house within the first 5 seasons of the Hundred – anchored the chase expertly with a run-a-ball 37. She began slowly earlier than operating down and launching Molineux simply over Lauren Bell’s head at mid-off, and took the equation from 30 off 29 to 22 off 27 with consecutive boundaries off Tilly Corteen-Coleman.
She couldn’t get Sunrisers over the road, dropping her leg stump to Wong, and Dani Gibson fell first-ball seeking to haul Wong throughout the road. However Jonassen survived the hat-trick ball, watched Deepti strike two leg-side boundaries, after which belted the profitable boundary by means of the off aspect to take them house.
Deepti solely batted twice within the group stage, however vindicated the choice to advertise her to No. 5 in a knockout recreation. “I used to be retaining it quite simple,” she mentioned, earlier than paying tribute to the crew’s surroundings beneath head coach Adi Birrell. “I like the way in which they’re creating the surroundings, particularly with Adi,” she added. “He is all the time humorous, and would not put strain on us.”
Not Courageous sufficient
Courageous arrived at The Oval on a three-match dropping streak after beginning the season with 5 consecutive wins, and it confirmed of their method with the bat. They’ve solely reached 130 as soon as this season, and misplaced the dependable Jemimah Rodrigues to a hamstring damage in direction of the top of the group phases.
Lizelle Lee made a quick begin, efficiently overturning an lbw resolution off Jonassen and hitting the one six of the innings off Kate Cross as she reached 27 off 20 within the powerplay. However she was well stumped by Winfield-Hill when she dragged her again foot out of her crease, and was the one Courageous batter to attain a strike charge above 120 (min. 5 balls).
When Laura Wolvaardt and Maia Bouchier fell in fast succession, Molineux and Charli Knott batted like gamers who knew there was valuable little batting to comply with. They added 33 in 29 balls for the fourth wicket, and even three late front-foot no-balls couldn’t assist them rise up to 120.
Sutherland took two in two on the loss of life when she had Jodi Grewcock caught at deep midwicket and Naomi Dattani miscuing to brief superb leg, however Gibson couldn’t cling onto a troublesome probability at deep midwicket off the hat-trick ball.
Baker’s dozen
Baker received two ODI caps when England fielded a second-string aspect in Eire in late 2024, however may quickly come into competition for a first-choice squad. She has outperformed Glenn, the opposite principal English legspinner, within the Hundred, and is Sunrisers’ second-highest wicket-taker main into Sunday’s ultimate.
She was excellent within the Eliminator, retaining the stumps in play all through and conceding solely 13 runs – fittingly, a baker’s dozen – from her 20 balls. She had Lee stumped early in her spell and held her nerve when Knott jumped throughout her stumps on the sweep, sticking to a really straight line to knock again off stump.
Maintaining it tight
Lee has struggled behind the stumps all season, and the distinction between her and the wonderful Winfield-Hill was emblematic of the 2 groups’ precision. Sunrisers conceded solely three extras – all front-foot no-balls – in comparison with Courageous’s 18, which included eight wides and two units of 4 byes.
Matt Curler is a senior correspondent at Cricinfo. @mroller98
