England international Alice Capsey followed up her opening-day 52 against Birmingham Phoenix with a well-made 59 as Oval Invincibles defeated Welsh Fire by six wickets at Cardiff.
Capsey hit seven boundaries in her 48-ball knock before she was brilliantly caught at long-on by Hayley Matthews off Freya Davies with 27 runs still required.
All-rounders Marizanne Kapp (26*) and Mady Villiers (11*) then took the reins to extinguish any Welsh Fire hopes, guiding the Invincibles home with 12 balls to spare.
The Invincibles’ chase got off to a far from ideal start as they lost Lauren Winfield-Hill second ball of the innings, caught at cover by Tammy Beaumont off Shabnim Ismail for a duck.
Paige Schofield (11) and Capsey didn’t let this early loss faze them, playing fluently to move the score along to 37-1 after 20 balls, the latter crucially being dropped at long-on by Ismail off Jess Jonassen two runs later.
Capsey survived an overturned lbw decision on 43 off the bowling of Jonassen and went on to bring up her fifty from 42 balls.
Oval Invincibles restricted Welsh Fire to just 116-5
Welsh Fire won the toss and elected to bat, losing Beaumont (4) to the eighth ball of the innings, an outswinger from Kapp inducing an edge behind to keeper Winfield-Hill.
After 25 balls, Welsh Fire had laboured to 17-1 and they soon found themselves 20-2 when Amanda-Jade Wellington struck first ball to remove the dangerous Matthews (6), caught brilliantly by Kapp running in from the cover boundary.
Sophia Dunkley made 35 from 26 balls before launching Wellington to Ryana MacDonald-Gay at long-on and Jonassen, who took over Dunkley’s role as aggressor, played enterprisingly for 32 not out from 22 balls as Welsh Fire closed their innings on a below par 116-5.
Player of the Match – Alice Capsey
“Pace on was really nice, so capitalising on that up the top in the powerplay. When it got a bit harder, they were bowling really well with change-ups and bowling a bit slower. Me and Kappy built a partnership and knew the longer it went on, the easier it would get for the others coming in at the back end.
“I’ve been feeling in really good nick, but I think the most pleasing thing for me is my calmness. I think last year I was a bit frantic. So, it’s nice to be back in this space where I can contribute to team wins.”
What’s next?
The Hundred continues on Monday as Manchester Originals face Trent Rockets at Old Trafford.
The women’s match (2.55pm on air, 3pm first ball) is live on Sky Sports Mix and via a free live stream on skysports.com, the Sky Sports app and on the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.
The men’s game starts at 6.30pm with build-up beginning at 6pm on Sky Sports Mix. There will also be coverage on Sky Sports Cricket from around 6.30pm.
Sky Sports will show all 68 games in The Hundred live, while you can also watch selected matches via free streams on Sky Sports’ digital platforms and the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.
