KOWLOON: Phoebe Litchfield’s magnificent 77-run knock in the run chase aided Warriors Women to seal a dominating seven-wicket victory over Sapphires Women in the second fixture of the FairBreak Invitational Tournament 2023.
Set to chase a mere 112, the Warriors accumulated 115/3 in just 12.4 overs at the back of a scintillating knock by Litchfield.
The Warriors’ openers scripted a decent start for their side in the run chase as the opening pair of Hayley Matthews and Litchfield added 28 runs for the first wicket before the former perished in the fourth over after scoring nine off seven.
The Warriors then jolted with another blow as Katherine Sciver-Brunt trapped Esha Oza (1) plumb to draw another success for the Sapphires in the next over.
Following the slump, skipper Sindhu Sriharsha joined Litchfield in the middle and helped her to raise an astounding 70-run partnership for the third wicket.
Litchfield was the core aggressor of the third-wicket stand and scored the majority of the partnership runs before a run out brought down the curtains on her brilliant knock in the 12th over.
She top-scored for the Warriors with a 37-ball 77, which featured 16 boundaries and a six.
Following Litchfield’s dismissal, Sriharsha then put on a brief partnership with Mignon du Preez (9*) and made sure to script a winning start to her side’s campaign. She remained unbeaten with a cautious 10 off 23 deliveries.
For Sapphires, Sciver-Brunt and Erin Burns could pick up a wicket.
Put into bat first, the Sapphires’ batting lineup failed to put up a big total on the scoreboard as could amass 111/7 in the allotted 20 overs.
The Sapphires had a similar decent start but ran into a collapse after losing the first wicket and could not recover from it as the Warriors’ bowlers exerted domination to restrict them to a meagre total.
Wicketkeeper batter Babette de Leede remained the top-scorer for the Sapphires amid a dismal show with the bat, scoring 24 off 36 deliveries, while opener Katie Mack followed with a 19-ball 21.
Kathryn Bryce led the bowling attack for the Warriors with 3/25, followed by Amanda-Jade Wellington’s 2/15, while Jess Kerr and Matthews made one scalp each.
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