KOWLOON: Barmy Army Women’s captain Lauren Winfield-Hill scored a magnificent half-century before bowlers Rumana Ahmed and Kavisha Egodage powered their side to maiden FairBreak Invitational triumph with a close nine-run victory over Falcons Women.

Set to chase 144, the Falcons fell just nine runs short and could finish at 134/9 despite a solid start.

Falcons’ openers Danni Wyatt and Chamari Athapaththu charged on the Barmy Army bowlers straight up as the pair switched a magnificent 77-run partnership in the eighth over before Laura Cardoso dismissed the former to draw the first breakthrough.

Wyatt scored a brisk 44 off just 33 deliveries, laced up with three boundaries and three sixes.

The Falcons then lost two more wickets in quick successions as Theertha Satish (5) and set batter Athapaththu fell in consecutive overs.

Athapaththu remained the notable run-getter for the Falcons with 38 off just 21 balls, hitting two boundaries and four sixes.

The Falcons then ran into a match-defining collapse and kept losing wickets at an alarming rate which stopped the flow of runs and Barmy Army bowlers roared back to restrict them nine runs short of glory.

Egodage and Rumana led the bowling attack for Barmy Army with three wickets each, followed by Cardoso’s two, while Tara Norris could pick up a wicket.

Put into bat first, Barmy Army accumulated 143/6 in the allotted 20 overs with their skipper Winfield-Hill leading the charge with a brilliant half-century.

Winfield-Hill singlehandedly scripted a solid start for her side as he stitched a 50-run partnership with her fellow opener Deandra Dotting, who could score seven off 12 before perishing in the sixth over.

Barmy Army then dealt another blow in the form of Laura Wolvaardt (three off eight) and slipped to 57/2 in the eighth over.

Following two back-to-back dismissals, Winfield-Hill stitched a brief 21-run partnership with Nigar Sultana before finally walking back to the pavilion in the 11th over, briefly after raising her bat for a fighting half-century.

She top-scored for Barmy Army with 54 off 35 deliveries, smashing four boundaries and four sixes.

Barmy Army then lost wickets at regular intervals after their skipper’s dismissal but Sultana held her ground firm and played an anchoring knock of 40 runs before falling in the final over.

Athapaththu led the bowling attack for the Falcons with four wickets while Christina Gough and Gunjan Shukla struck out a batter each.

READ: Pakistan to play intra-team One-Day series before World Cup, hints chief selector