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Oval, London: The stage is set for Sunday! Sunrisers Leeds and Manchester Super Giants will face Trent Rockets in the Hundred women’s and men’s finals respectively at Lord’s, as Southern Brave women and Sunrisers Leeds men’s campaign were brought to an end in the eliminator at the KIA Oval on Friday, August 14. A sub par batting performance from Brave gave way to an easy chase for Sunrisers women, however the men failed to join them as they fell 20 runs short to an all-round dominant Manchester.
A fresh green track which faced zero minutes in this season of the Hundred was on offer for the eliminator, and Dani Gibson unsurprisingly wasted no time to put her Sunrisers side to bowl first. Lizelle Lee initially made it look like a bad call, firing in the powerplay to give Brave a solid opening.
On track for a high total, Hannah Baker brought in the much needed disruption as Lauren Winfield-Hill stumped Lee off Baker’s leg spin on 32. The bowling advantages kicked in after the breakthrough and the sharp movement slowed Brave down. Laura Wolvaardt and Maia Bouchier fell in quick succession, and skipper Sophie Molineux and Charli Knott had to go into survival to salvage a defendable total.
The Australian pair crawled towards the 100 mark, a far cry from the start Lee provided. Brave stumbled a little bit heading into the final 20 deliveries courtesy of some solid field work and catching by Leeds. It was their bowling in fact that let them down, as Deepti Sharma and Annabel Sutherland leaked three no balls in the final ten, leading to Southern Brave finishing their innings on 114/7.
Southern Brave needed to strike early and they did so successfully, dismissing both openers Bryony Smith and season’s top scorer Phoebe Litchfield within the powerplay. In a tight spot, Sunrisers had to consolidate and Winflied-Hill and Sutherland did so to perfection. After 41 runs between each other, Molineux caught out Sutherland to break the partnership off Sarah Glenn’s bowling to try and shift the momentum back to Brave.
Sharma was peculiarly moved up the batting order, a gamble that didn’t need to pay off as the target was roughly run-a-ball. Even so, it still did, as the pair notched up yet another healthy partnership, cruising along until Issy Wong bowled WInfield-Hill for 37. Wong followed that with an LBW of Gibson on the very next ball, and trouble all of sudden began brewing for Leeds.
At the end of the day, Southern Brave’s efforts with the ball were in vain due to their lack of effort with the bat, as a set Sharma saw through the chase despite the hiccup for Sunrisers with 11 balls and five wickets to spare, as the defending champions reached the final yet again.
Zak Crawley did the same as his female counterpart and chose to field first for Leeds. Brydon Carse provided Sunrisers a dream start, dismissing Tim Seifert, who scored 80* against them just three days prior, who slapped the ball to Nathan Ellis at deep point. Carse and co kept the pressure on through the powerplay, where Jos Buttler picked his moments to attack.
Buttler unfortunately found an outside edge that zipped to Carse standing at short third. But once he fell, the Super Giants unleashed havoc. Paul Walter, who was playing just his fourth match this season, continued his unprecedented and terrifying form with the bat, annihilating Leeds’ rotating pacers. Him and Heinrich Klaasen breathed new life, slogging away as the track became tastier for batters
Klaasen inevitably swung one towards long-on, walking back on 63, scored off just 26 balls, displaying the story of the second half of the Manchester innings. Walter kept the sixes going, but the Super Giants were officially on the come down after that 114 run partnership for the third wicket.
They eventually managed 186/4, with Walter getting run out on the final ball on 80, monstrously averaging 75 at a strike rate of 181.45 following his late appearance for the Manchester outfit
Mitch Marsh knew the assignment and went in no holds barred in the chase. The approach became his undoing, as he slogged Josh Tongue mighty high, landing into Sonny Baker’s hands at mid wicket within the first ten deliveries. Tongue got Crawley LBW just shortly after, and Sunrisers were put on the backfoot early on due to their own eagerness. Captain Crawley used Sunriser’s sole review in attempt to reverse his LBW call, a decision that would come back to bite his team
With the chase wobbling at 17/2, Harry Brook and Ryan Rickelton gave Sunrisers genuine hope. The pair counter-attacked superbly, stitching together a 81-run partnership that dragged Leeds back into contention. Brook in particular looked in complete control, racing to 49 from 31 balls and repeatedly finding the boundary, but his innings would end in controversy
Brook stepped out, missing the slog against Baker who appealed as the ball struck his pads, and the finger was raised, leaving Brook to have to walk back disappointingly as Crawley wasted the Sunrisers review earlier. On later replay, it was revealed the pad impact was outside the line, meaning Brook would have survived if the referral were available.
Nevertheless, Sunrisers Leeds kept fighting, but were looking hapless as their batting ran thin. Rickelton, despite receiving limited strike, marched on reaching a brilliant 54 from 34, but without a solid batting partner and strategy, the required rate proved too steep. Tongue then returned to finish the job, taking 4/26 as Manchester held Sunrisers to 166/7, sealing a 20-run victory and their place in Sunday’s final.
What they said
Jess Jonassen, Sunrisers Leeds W: (On playing Trent Rockets in the final) “They’re an incredible side. They’ve got some great depth and they’re really well-rounded both with bat and ball and I think it’s like most cricket matches, kind of early wickets when we’re bowling and partnerships when we’re batting.”
“It’s kind of whoever shows up entirely on the day and backs their skills and believes in doing the simple stuff over and over again and doing it very well generally comes out on top.”
(On Deepti Sharma’s batting) “I’m super happy for the innings she played today. It was really important, really vital. We knew that we kind of needed a left-hander and we wanted to keep Gibbo’s (Dani Gibson) and my potential power kind of for a little bit later in the innings when we still had, I think, just over 50 balls left in the innings then and we knew that Deepti’s someone that’s a real partnership batter and then she can really take the game on as well when the ball’s in her area and she did that perfectly today.”
Liam Patterson-White, Sunrisers Leeds M: “I think at half-way, we believed that we could chase that down. Obviously, it was quite a good wicket, really quick outfield. Obviously, it’s a great place to bat under lights as well.”
“It skips off the wicket a bit better than the first innings. So, I thought we were in a really good position. We potentially thought they were maybe 10 or 15 short. We thought 200 might be par, but credit to them. They obviously bowled really well today and they got over the line.”
(On Harry Brook’s wrongful dismissal) “That’s the way of cricket, I guess. You know, you miss out, get a review wrong and then you don’t get one. We’ve got a little TV down at the dugout and we saw afterwards, after Brookey walked off, his dismissal.”
“Obviously, sometimes it doesn’t go your way. But yes, obviously, Harry’s one of the best, if not the best player in the world at the minute. So, yes, to have him on your side is a real asset.”
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