Manchester Originals 124 for 1 (Lee 47*, Lamb 46) beat Trent Rockets 122 for 6 (Johnson 33, Ecclestone 2-11) by nine wickets
Beware the wounded animal. Manchester Originals were the first team knocked out of the women's Hundred but have played party poopers in their final two games, winning away at Northern Superchargers to dent their qualification prospects and now thrashing Trent Rockets to eliminate them at the group stage.
Rockets were pegged back by regular wickets after being asked to bat first: Sammy-Jo Johnson hit four sixes in her 33 and Sarah Glenn played an important cameo at the death, but their highest partnership was 29 for the first wicket as Originals' attack dented their prospects of posting a defendable score.
In the chase, their attack was impotent and their fielding sloppy as Emma Lamb and Lizelle Lee spearheaded a cruise to victory with nine wickets in the bank and 13 balls to spare. Lee was happy to go along at a run a ball with Lamb flying at the other end, but took on the responsibility after Lamb's dismissal and flat-batted Katherine Brunt for four to seal the win.
The result not only eliminates Rockets, but also guarantees Oval Invincibles a berth in Friday's eliminator at their home ground. They will play the winner of Tuesday's fixture between Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix, barring an improbable net run-rate swing towards London Spirit on Wednesday night.
Rockets fail to launch
Rockets knew they needed to break their losing run at home and win by a decent margin to give themselves a decent chance of qualifying, but seemed to play within themselves under the pressure of the situation. Nat Sciver, their captain and key batter, threw her head back in frustration after her dismissal, caught at mid-on off Kate Cross, and in the field they were distinctly average.
To stand a chance of defending a score that looked 15-20 runs light on a good batting pitch, Rockets needed to be tight and alert in the field but conceded 21 extras - 16 of them in wides - and gave Lamb an early life when Glenn put down a straightforward chance in the covers. The scoring rate was never a problem; Georgia Davis removed Lamb for 46, but the back of the chase had been broken long before.
Economical Ecclestone
Sophie Ecclestone is the best T20I bowler in the world according to the ICC's rankings, but she has not been as effective as she might have expected in the Hundred. Ecclestone bowls at the same pace, if not faster than, most male spinners, and teams have generally played her like a medium-pacer rather than a slow left-armer in this tournament, with plenty of success.
She came into Originals' final game with only three wickets for the season and none in her last four appearances, but proved almost impossible to get away at Trent Bridge. She conceded a solitary boundary, when Brunt paddle-scooped her over the keeper, and struck with consecutive deliveries in her final set of five to finish with 2 for 11 from her 20 balls - the most miserly spell by an Originals bowler in the season.
Universe Cross
Cross has carried a heavy burden for Originals: she is their captain, their main strike bowler, and their only senior seamer, but has coped well with the pressure on her to perform. She is joint-second in the wickets charts, with 12 scalps at 14.08, and has led her side into mid-table after a slow start to the season.
Unusually, she did not strike with the new ball at Trent Bridge, but returned to take two key wickets in her third and fourth sets of five. She returned after 50 balls with Sciver getting set, and induced a false shot as she pulled a length ball straight to mid-on, and in her final set, she had Brunt caught well by Lee at backward point.
After their qualification hopes evaporated early in the season, Originals have grown into the competition and may only miss out on the knockout stages by a single point. With one of the younger squads in the competition, there is reason to believe they will bounce back well next summer.
