Southern Brave will face Oval Invincibles in Saturday's women's Hundred final at Lord's after holding on to beat a Nat Sciver-inspired Trent Rockets by two runs in a thrilling Eliminator...
Story of the match
It's rematch time! After losing to Oval Invincibles in last year's women's Hundred final, a game in which they were rolled for 73, Brave will get another go at those opponents at Lord's on Saturday - but only just!
Nat Sciver (72no off 36 balls) smashed three successive sixes off Tahlia McGrath in the final set to reduce the Rockets' requirement from 22 off four balls to four off one delivery - but was then unable to hit a yorker away.
Brave posted 134-6 from their 100 balls in the Eliminator before ultimately limiting Rockets to 132-7 in reply with Sciver - the beneficiary of a dropped catch from Molly Strano on eight and a missed stumping from Carla Rudd on 11 - seeing her knock come in vain.
- Scorecard: Southern Brave vs Trent Rockets, The Ageas Bowl
- The Hundred - upcoming fixtures | Live cricket on Sky Sports
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Anya Shrubsole's Brave had their middle order, including Georgia Adams (38 off 24), to thank after the much-vaunted top three of Smriti Mandhana (16 off 11), Danni Wyatt (0 off 2) and Sophia Dunkley (8 off 6) fell cheaply.
Wyatt - who has now bagged back-to-back ducks - and Dunkley played loose strokes against the spin of Bryony Smith and Georgia Davis respectively as Brave slipped to 9-2 inside 10 deliveries, before Mandhana clothed seamer Sciver to backward point with the score on 32.
McGrath (31 off 29) and Maia Bouchier (29 off 24) lifted Brave in the middle period before top-scorer Adams took over that mantle at the death as Brave plundered 61 runs from their final 35 balls.
Adams and McGrath then picked up two wickets and a catch apiece as Rockets faded from 40-0 off 37 balls, a promising start given to them by Bryony Smith (16 off 15) and captain Elyse Villani (24 off 25).
Wickets continued to tumble at one end as Sciver kept Rockets afloat at the other - but her efforts were not quite enough.
'I stuffed three balls but got there in the end!'
Southern Brave all-rounder and Match Hero, Tahlia McGrath: "My heart is about 600 at the moment but happy to get the win, happy to contribute to the team, happy to get to Lord's.
"I had no idea where to bowl (at Sciver), I pretty much only had to execute one ball - stuffed three but got there in the end."
Brave skipper, Anya Shrubsole: "That was an unbelievable display of hitting from Nat, a great innings and possibly worthy of being on the winning side, but I'm pretty happy it's not!"
Trent Rockets' Nat Sciver: "I'm not really sure how I feel. Those last five balls I knew it was clear I needed to hit sixes. It's probably something that doesn't come as natural to me.
"We were really happy with the target at half time. We got a little bit stuck and lost clusters of wickets, making it hard to build momentum."
What's next?
Brave will now face defending champions Invincibles in the women's final at Lord's on Saturday (3pm start). Invincibles qualified directly for the final after topping the standings during the league phase.
The men's final follows at 6.30pm as table-toppers Trent Rockets face either Manchester Originals or London Spirit, whose eliminator takes place at The Ageas Bowl on Friday evening.
Watch Saturday's Finals Day in The Hundred live on Sky Sports The Hundred, Sky Sports Mix and via a free live stream on skysports.com, the Sky Sports App and the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel. Coverage begins at 2.30pm with the women's final at 3pm and the men's to follow at 6.30pm.
Tickets for The Hundred are selling fast! If you want to be part of the action, go to thehundred.com/tickets