Southern Brave 139-6
Northern Superchargers 105 all out
Southern Brave won by 34 runs
Danny Wyatt finished as the leading run scorer in the women’s Hundred as Southern Brave made it third time lucky with a 34-run win over Northern Superchargers to give Anya Shrubsole a fairytale send-off in the final at Lord’s.
Wyatt’s scintillating 59 from 38 balls meant she overhauled fellow England star Tammy Beaumont at the top of the standings with 295 runs in all.
Freya Kemp 31 and Georgia Adams 27 lent support as Brave piled up 139-6 on a dry pitch, despite England speedster Kate Cross taking three wickets for 21.
Jemimah Rodrigues, starved of strike for long periods, made 24 in the chase, but Kalea Moore returned 3 for 15 and Lauren Bell 3 for 21, while there were a trio of stumpings for Rhianna Southby as Superchargers were bowled out for 105.
It meant Brave, bridesmaids in the first two finals, finally got their hands on the trophy, a fitting end to a glittering career for retiring skipper Shrubsole, who took the match-clinching wicket in England’s World Cup final win over India at the home of cricket six years ago.
Much of the Brave’s success on the run to the final had been built on the triumvirate of Smriti Mandhana, Wyatt and Mia Bouchier. But after being put in, two were gone in the blink of an eye.
Mandhana dismissed the first ball of the match to the point boundary only to slice the next from Grace Ballinger to fly-slip, while Bouchier played too soon at one from Cross to leave Brave 9-2.
However, it was a case of if the first two don’t get you the third will as Wyatt produced a gem of an innings.
The England batter played shots all around the wicket, sweeping effectively and hitting inside out over the offside in racing to 50 from 35 balls with nine fours. A glorious straight six followed as she and Adams added 84 in 63 balls.
A mix up meant that Cross’s underarm throw ended Wyatt’s knock prematurely and Adams, dropped earlier by Georgia Wareham, holed out to the same fielder for 27.
However, an extraordinary cameo from Kemp, including swinging the bat out of her hands, lifted the Brave above par before she and Chloe Tryon both fell in Cross’s excellent final set.
Marie Kelly was given out lbw to the first ball of the chase from Bell, only to be reprieved on review, but undeterred the England speedster bowled her off the pads with the second.
Phoebe Litchfield took up the chase with two dismissive early fours in a bid to overhaul Wyatt once more as leading run scorer. She would though only get to 13 before swinging another Bell delivery to a catcher in the deep.
Rodrigues picked up five from a misdirected Tryon throw at the stumps but only 28 came from the powerplay.
Wicketkeeper Southby then took centre-stage with two brilliant pieces of glovework to stump first Hollie Armitage and then England newbie Bess Heath, the latter having previously hit Bell over the ropes for six.
Shrubsole joined in the fun with a farewell wicket of Alice Davidson-Richards and once Rodrigues holed out in the increasingly desperate pursuit of boundaries, Brave were all but home.
Southern Brave and England bowler Lauren Bell said: “It feels a lot better to be on the winning side for sure.
“It was a special day for Anya (Shrubsole) and the team … Anya is understandably emotional. She is definitely ready to retire but it is always a sad day.
“And when it has been your life for so long it’s a big thing but we have definitely sent her off in the best way possible.”
