KOWLOON: Ellie Johnston and Phoebe Litchfield raised an 87-run opening stand to help the Warriors beat the Falcons Women comfortably by five wickets in the seventh match of the FairBreak Invitational 2023 on Friday.
Set to chase a paltry 134, openers gave the Warriors a flourishing start before Mariko Hill (3-11) clawed back in with back-to-back strikes in the middle overs to gain some ground for the Falcons.
The top and middle-order debacle, however, had only sedated the rate with which the Warriors were advancing towards the target as they managed to get over the finish line in the 18th over.
Johnston and Litchfield scored 38 and 32 respectively while no.3 Yasmin Khan made 20 from 19 balls to put Warriots in command.
Earlier Warriors’ bowlers exhibited a brilliant effort to restrict the Falcons to 133 for 8 in the 20 overs.
Electing to bat first, the Falcons went through a dismal start, losing star openers Dani Wyatt and Chamari Athapaththu cheaply inside the first four overs.
Theertha Satish and skipper Suzie Bates then held the fort for the side and gathered 71 runs for the fourth wicket before the Warriors bowlers made a comeback to rip through the lower order.
Satish made 45 from 37 balls while captain Bates scored 44 off 38 to control the damage in the middle over but following their departure the Warriors underwent another collapse.
None of the last six batters except Christina Gough (21) made it into the double figures.
For the Warriors, Jess Kerr, Kathryn Bryce and Yasmeen Khan took two wickets each.
