Girl Talk
Back to Girl TalkSpirit sparkle past the Sparks
As in any great pursuit there are obstacles and challenges and cricket is no different. The Northern Spirit are ready to turn the tables, make history and travel down victory lane! Lincoln provided the sun and quality grounds and now it was our turn to provide the quality cricket.
Winning the toss we decided to bowl first and it was a simple equation....quick outfield, good deck and short boundaries meant there was always going to be lots of runs! Taking the early wicket of White Fern Katie Martin got the Spirit girls pumped and regular wickets were falling but the runs were also coming too. The Sparks made their way to 145 in 20 overs with Floss being the pick of the bowlers finishing with 4-0-21-3. And then the run chase began...we lost two early wickets and things could've continued on like our previous 2 rounds.....But not this round! Not this game! Not now! Nicky B and Aussie Hannah had it under control with a 64 run partnership that had us on track. With Heidi and capatarno Morna finishing the job in the last over we recorded our first win! It was like we had won gold, finally we had put together a complete performance! Finally we cold give out the Sweat Personal Training Studio player of the match cheque! The $100 cheque going to Heidi for her 24 off 16 balls that saw her bring home the match for us.
As Owen made clear if he knew anything about Otago sport they would back strong the next day...and that they did! Otago won toss and chose to bowl, which seemed to have been the right decision as it was hard work for our top order batsmen! We were 6 for 86 off 27 overs. To the crease this brought about Mornana and Reej who were determined to get the Spirit back on track and that they did. Recording a 7th wicket NZ domestic record partnership of 122 and bringing Uncle Mo right back to the Spirit. Mornana had a PB of 79 no off 66 balls smashing it to all parts of the park whilst Reej provided a handy PB 41 and we made our way to a happy 218. The bowling attack were fired up and boom we took a wicket first ball. Nicola Browne knocked the top off the top order and wickets fell regularly. White Ferns Captain Suzie Bates provided the backbone to their innings scoring 45. Nicky B came back and finished the game and also finished with a PB of 9.3-0-31-5 recording her first 5 wicket bag in her career. We bowled them out for 138 in 30 overs....oh yeah another win!!! The player of the match cheque going to Morna and Nicky B for their significant performances.
Again we were warned about the fight that Otago will come back with for the last Twenty20 but coming off two incredible wins we were ready for anything! We won the toss and chose to bowl. Getting the early wicket of Bates in the first over who had proven to be the rock for the Sparks was "awesome". Again regular wickets fell but runs kept on coming for the Sparks and it was looking like we would be chasing another high total. Once we got the wickets of Abbott and Martin the runs dried up and we happily restricted the Sparks to 118. Nicola finishing with another PB of 4-0-17-4 and Morna once again finishing with 4-1-12-2. Like Owen had been trying to instill in us we started positively with a good opening partnership of 26. Aussie Hannah, Wolfy and Nicky B were focused and made easy work of the Sparks attack knocking the runs off in 19th over. Sweat Personal Training Studio Player of the Match going to Hannah and Anna for their great bating efforts.
3 from 3....we won the series just like that, an all time first for the Spirit.
A big ups to our supporters, it was great to hear you on the sideline when we are are so far away from home. And thanks to all those that are following us and sending supportive messages. We are going into the next round in fine form to challenge the top of the table Magicians.