Southern Vipers defeated Central Sparks by seven wickets (D/L) in a heavily rain-affected Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy opener at Portland Road.
After frequent interruptions by the weather, Vipers chased down a revised D/L target of 70 in ten overs as they reached 75 for three with just two balls to spare.
On a relentlessly damp afternoon in Birmingham, calculators were to the fore as both innings were truncated by heavy showers.
The Sparks batted first and closed on 163 for seven from 36 overs – an innings of two halves after they reached 103 for three from 24 before a two-hour rain break.
They resumed with 12 more overs to have a thrash but added just 60 more against disciplined bowling led by Georgia Elwiss (8-0-29-1).
Chasing an initial D/L target of 176 from 36, the Vipers were 24 for one when rain returned. That trimmed the target to 70 from ten and Danni Wyatt paved the chase to perfection with an unbeaten 36 from 24 balls (four fours, one six).
Put in, the Sparks, depleted by the absence of Emily Arlott, still recovering from covid, and recent England debutant Issy Wong, were given a solid platform by openers Eve Jones and Davina Perrin who added 65 in 17 overs..
Fifteen-year-old Perrin, a Staffordshire product, impressed with 22 from 48 balls before lifting Charlotte Taylor to mid on.
Paige Schofield soon had Thea Brookes caught behind before Jones’s promising innings of 39 (70 balls) ended in wasteful fashion when Ami Campbell called for a second run and Jones’s desperate dive for home narrowly failed.
Three balls later the rain arrived and, after the resumption, Vipers bowled accurately to deny Sparks the boundaries they needed to beef up their total.
Vipers’ reply suffered an early blow when Georgia Adams was trapped lbw by the third ball of the innings, from Grace Potts.
Wyatt was quickly into her stride, striking three boundaries despite the wet outfield before rain returned at 24 for one after three.
The final chapter of a complex plot saw Vipers resume at 5.20pm needing another 46 from seven overs.
Wyatt and Maia Boucher added a measured 62 from 47 balls and, though Boucher fell lbw to Sarah Glenn in the penultimate over, Vipers needed just five from the last, from Hannah Baker.
A handsome straight four from 17-year-old Freya Kemp from the second ball relieved the pressure. Kemp was bowled by the next but Georgia Elwiss settled the match by lifting her first ball for a huge six.
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Central Sparks head coach Lloyd Tennant said: “We were on the wrong side of the Duckworth-Lewis today but it was the rain breaks that kept damaging us when we were batting.
“It was a good pitch but still you need to get in on it – and every time it looked like we were going to build a partnership and get going there was another rain break and off we’d come again. That ate into our run-rate a bit and what we would have liked to posted.
“Once we got into the second innings and it started to rain again, we knew we would be under the pump but it was a great effort from our bowlers to take it so close. Even in the last over we were still fighting with Bakes getting a wicket and that is a really good sign for us.”
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Vipers batter Danni Wyatt said: “Those on-off days are never fun but we are really chuffed to have come through and won in the end.
Credit to our bowlers, I thought they bowled exceptionally well. After the first rain break, we came out and really bowled to our potential and bowled straight and it paid off.
“In that last little session where we needed seven an over, we just said let’s play normal cricket shots for the first few overs and luckily a few boundaries came as well. In that situation, if you get a couple of dot balls, it can get a bit nervy but we held our nerve really well.”
