Hinds hold on to claim first Super Smash win
Anlo van Deventer played a starring role while the sun shone at Pukekura Park yesterday before Monique Rees held her nerve to lead the Central Hinds to their first win in the Twenty20 Super Smash.
Van Deventer finished 63 not out off 40 balls after sharing in an unbeaten partnership of 88 with White Fern Hannah Rowe (25no off 27) for the fourth wicket to power them to 126-3 from their 17 overs after they were sent in by the Otago Sparks.
The match had been reduced from a 20-over contest when morning rain led to a delayed start and a shower 4.1 overs into the Sparks’ chase sent the players from the field with five more balls required for a completed match.
At that stage, the Sparks had slumped to 14-2, which meant they were well behind the asking rate, and the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method wasn’t kind when play resumed, setting them a target of 66 runs off eight overs.
That meant their equation was 52 runs off 23 balls, but they only managed to add four runs in the over that was under way, which made it an unwieldy 48 off 18.
Hayley Jensen departed at the end of the sixth over, where the Sparks only added 11, and the task of pulling off the chase fell to White Ferns wicketkeeper Katey Martin.
Rowe returned to bowl the penultimate over and Martin hit 18 off it, but a last-ball six meant she was at the nonstriker’s end as the final over began, with 19 more required.
Caitlin Blakely was facing her first ball of the innings from Rees, who was bowling her first over, but hit a four, then a three, to put Martin on strike with 12 needed off four.
A pair of singles was all they could manage of the next two balls, however, leaving them needing two boundaries and when they could only run a bye off the penultimate
delivery, Rees only had to avoid bowling a wide or a no ball to seal the win, and she duly did just that, with Martin finishing not out on 33 off 24.
The Hinds handed Anna Gaging a debut alongside her twin sister Kate, who made her first Super Smash appearance earlier this month, and both were in the action in the field – taking the catches to dismiss Millie Cowan and Polly Inglis respectively.
With the six-run win, the Hinds now have four points from seven matches, but remain last on the table, while the Sparks’ faint finals hopes have taken a blow, as they remain stuck on eight points from six matches.
The Hinds are next in action on Saturday, when they travel to Auckland to play the second-placed Hearts, while the Sparks must wait until Sunday, when they play the top-of-thetable Blaze in Wellington.