Southern Vipers hold nerve to reach Kia Super League final after chase fraught with danger

NICK FRIEND AT HOVE: At one stage, this was only ever going one way. Southern Vipers had broken the back of an awkward chase. Half an hour later, it was neck and neck. Ultimately, Tammy Beaumont's Vipers crept home, but not without an almighty scare

Hove: Loughborough Lightning 143 v Southern Vipers 145-5 - Southern Vipers win by five wickets

Scorecard

Danni Wyatt and Suzie Bates put the wheels in motion for an ultimately tense victory over Loughborough Lightning as Southern Vipers belied their Kia Super League position to outgun last year's runners-up at Hove.

England T20 opener Wyatt and New Zealand legend Bates broke the back of an awkward-looking run chase in the opening powerplay, taking Jenny Gunn for 19 in the second over in the innings. Both struck at far greater than a run a ball, before falling in successive overs.

Yet, what looked a foregone conclusion soon became something far more dramatic as the golden ticket of a final berth crept both nearer and further.

In games like this, the pressure of a chase is often worth 20 runs in itself. And as a straightforward target became one steeped in danger, Hove fell silent with nerves. It was a far cry from the opening six overs, when only one result ever seemed possible.

After dispatching three sixes between them, Bates was beaten by a well-flighted delivery from recent England Test debutante Kirstie Gordon, while Wyatt was smartly stumped by England teammate Amy Jones after advancing at the leg-spin of Sarah Glenn.

In the women’s game, there are few better players than Tammy Beaumont and the sight of the right-hander striding out to capitalise on her team’s fast start will, no doubt, have alarmed Lightning. Alongside Maia Bouchier and then Fi Morris, she seemed to have calmed any threat of the kind of collapse that so regularly disrupted Loughborough.

Even when Bouchier ran herself out, attempting a tight single on a misfield, Beaumont remained a beacon of composure. Her check-drive through a packed off-side ring off the bowling of Gordon was palpably the stroke of the match.

However, once Beaumont was bowled by Gunn, the tension rose as Lightning sensed a victory that had appeared unlikely even five overs beforehand.

In the end, Lightning might have been 10 runs short. Amanda-Jade Wellington, who had earlier bowled a fine spell, held her nerve to drag her side over the line. 

^{Amanda-Jade Wellington took two wickets for Southern Vipers}

Earlier, Loughborough Lightning had rather limped their way to a competitive total of 143. It was a curious innings; wickets fell at all too regular intervals for Georgia Elwiss’ side to reach a truly match-winning score after electing to bat, though the runs equally flowed with a level of freneticism that dragged Lightning to an imposing final score.

After winning the toss on what looked a fine wicket in the glaring sunshine, Elwiss knew that her top-order engine room would have to fire, given the Southern Vipers’ firepower of their own.

However, Jones and Sri Lankan star Chamari Atapattu both fell cheaply within two overs of each other to the impressive Lauren Bell.

Bell, who has been tipped by many to come into the England reckoning sooner rather than later, swung the ball away from the left-hander prodigiously and at some considerable pace.

After Jones lost her off-stump while attempting to manufacture a ramp shot over fine leg, Atapattu was struck in front by a fine delivery that straightened perfectly.

Lightning recovered through Elwiss and Georgia Adams, reaching 79 midway through the 12th over before, once again, the two set batsmen fell – this time, in needless circumstances.

First, Elwiss took on the arm of Wyatt, her England teammate and widely regarded as one of the best fielders in the women’s game, and lost. Four deliveries later, Adams joined her back in the dugout, planting a misplaced scythe into the hands of long-on.

South Africa’s Mignon du Preez added a quickfire 21, but once she was dismissed, Lightning contrived to lose their final six wickets for the addition of just 25 runs.

There were also three catches for Wyatt and she was involved in the careless runout of Jo Gardner, before she set about the plunder of Lightning’s bowlers.

Observers often speak of the pressure that comes with chasing in knockout cricket. Here, though, Priest and Wyatt were a runaway train, pouncing on anything short, while Gunn was deposited over her head for six on two occasions in her first over.

It was a far cry from the game's ending - a nail-biting affair as Loughborough tried to haul themselves back into a game that had seemed out of their reach.

Beaumont's Vipers held on. They will be all the better for it ahead of a final full of significance. There is a trophy up for grabs, but something more eternal as well - the chance to be the competition's last ever winners. They won the first and they will have the chance to complete their cycle.