The 50s of Marie Kelly and Sarah Bryce kept The Blaze unblemished in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and helped them avenge their Charlotte Edwards Cup final loss to the Southern Vipers.
As the Blaze pursued 259 with 10 balls remaining, openers Kelly and Bryce (61 and 52) set up 115.
With a superb unbroken 95 on Vipers’ first trip to the Isle of Wight, Georgia Adams came close to earning her second Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy century.
The Blaze currently lead the standings with six victories and two no-result games, while the Vipers have now dropped four of their last eight games, jeopardizing their chances of moving up.
Due to the tennis-ball bounce of the field, the vipers were sunk in and made slow progress, which was seen in the scorecard’s abundance of starts.
The game progressed as a result of Kirstie Gordon’s introduction. Her first three overs yielded 30 runs, but she also got Ella McCaughan out for a reverse sweep and Maia Bouchier out for a tantalizing 40 after a long hop to deep square.
She would finally finish with three for 54 after picking up in-form Emily Windsor, edging to a short fine.
In the 1950s, the Vipers enjoyed three partnerships, with the most recent seeing Adams start to feel comfortable in the crease with Georgia Elwiss.
Adams began attempting to achieve three digits after reaching her second fifty of the game with a leisurely straight drive in 73 balls.
Nadine de Klerk, who was moving through her partners, was her opponent. Elwiss hit a ball to cover, Freya Kemp was bounced out three balls later, and Linsey Smith steered to point. For 48, the South African returned three. Kathryn Bryce also took Maitlan Brown.
However, Adams was out of time. She needed 14 off the last over to reach 100 but fell five runs short despite sixes from Sophie Munro and Ballinger.
Rain during the break sped up the pitch, which at first made fruitful batting a little bit simpler.
With a fantastic partnership that saw runs flow continuously ahead of the needed pace, Marie Kelly and Bryce really capitalized on that move, ensuring that any additional heavy rain wouldn’t affect them at the gorgeous Newclose Cricket Ground.
Kelly discovered openings all throughout the field, while Bryce took control square on each side of the wicket and hardly ever glanced at the V.
Both players scored their second half-centuries of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy season when Bryce did so first in 57 balls and Kelly did so on the next ball in 63 deliveries.
Prior to Adams finding Bryce’s outside edge and Kelly holeing out against promising rookie off-spinner Ava Lee, the 115 the two combined for was The Blaze’s highest opening.
While Georgie Boyce and Michaela Kirk cleaned up the mess with a 42-run stand, Kathryn Bryce maintained the wobble by top-edging to square leg.
Boyce, however, maintained the attention of the Vipers when she plinked to long on with 47 runs still needed, Kirk bowled, and Teresa Graves lbw in back-to-back balls to Smith with 31 runs remained.
Under pressure, Munro and de Klerk maintained their composure to defeat their opponents by four wickets at New Road last month and exact revenge.
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