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| Manchester Originals 118-4 (100 balls): Morris 50 (39), Wolvaardt 46 (39); Shrubsole 2-33 |
| Southern Brave 121-2 (72 balls): Wyatt 60 (32), Bouchier 47* (25); Bryce 1-20 |
| Southern Brave win by eight wickets |
| Scorecard. Table |
Southern Brave cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Manchester Originals at Old Trafford to reach their third successive Hundred final.
Brave have finished top of the women’s table and will be joined by either Northern Superchargers or Welsh Fire, who will play in the eliminator.
England opener Danni Wyatt hit 56 from 30 balls as Brave easily chased down 119 with 28 balls remaining.
Maia Bouchier finished unbeaten on 47 from 25 balls as Brave ended on 121-2.
Fi Morris top-scored with 50 in Originals’ 118-4, while Laura Wolvaardt scored 46, but Brave’s bowlers kept the run-rate under control throughout.
Brave lost both the previous two finals to Oval Invincibles, who have finished fifth this season.
The eliminator takes place at The Oval on Saturday 26 August, with the final at Lord’s the following day.
What else do you need to know?
- Brave captain Anya Shrubsole took 2-33 in her penultimate game as a professional cricketer. Can she lead her team to the title in her final game before retirement on Sunday?
- Brave spinner Georgia Adams has taken 16 wickets in eight games and is likely to finish as the leading wicket-taker in the group stages, with Birmingham Phoenix’s Katie Levick on 10 the closest bowler to her with a game left to play.
- Morris and Wolvaardt put on 88 together for the second wicket but the rest of the Originals line-up could not build on the platform they set, adding only 23 runs in the last 23 balls.
- Wyatt and Bouchier shared a second-wicket stand of 93 in just 45 balls.
- After Wyatt was dropped on 33 by Kathryn Bryce, with the ball trickling away for four, the England batter hit two fours and a six in the next four balls to bring up her second fifty of this year’s competition.
- Manchester Originals captain and England spinner Sophie Ecclestone injured her right shoulder in the warm-up and was taken to hospital for further scans and assessment.
‘Third time lucky, let’s go’ – what they said
Match Hero, Southern Brave batter Danni Wyatt on BBC Two: “I didn’t feel that good until near the end. I was helped by Maia Bouchier, she’s been phenomenal all season. Hopefully we can keep it up going into the final.”
Southern Brave captain Anya Shrubsole: “Really pleased to be heading straight to Lord’s. Lauren Bell was exceptional and Georgia Adams keeps doing what she does. I thought it was going to be nervy watching that chase but it was actually lovely to watch.
Southern Brave batter Maia Bouchier: “We’ve had a really good stretch in this competition. We have really class batters coming in, someone like Georgia Adams finishing off and Freya Kemp as well. We’re given that opportunity and it’s great to win the game.”
On whether Brave will win the final: “Yes, 100%. Third time lucky, let’s go!”
Manchester Originals stand-in captain Ellie Threlkeld: “Obviously Soph [Ecclestone] is a huge part of our team as a captain and a player so that was a huge loss.
“We all hope she’s alright. The girls reacted really well to that and we played really well with the bat in the first half on a tough pitch.
“We didn’t bowl to well in the second innings. Credit to Danni Wyatt and Maia Bouchier for how they batted, incredible.”
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