Kia Women's Super League Finals Day, Hove - Knight leads Storm to victory over Vipers, Lightning third

Western Storm captain Heather Knight made an unbeaten 78 in a run chase to win the Super League.

Photo from BBC

FINAL
Western Storm - 174-4 / 172-7 - Southern Vipers
England captain Heather Knight made an unbeaten 78 as Western Storm completed the run chase of 173 to win the Super League title ahead of Southern Vipers.
In a repeat of the 2016 and 2017 finals, with the teams winning one encounter each, the Vipers were favourites for the win at Hove after Danni Wyatt made 73 off 42 balls on the way to 172-7.
Smriti Mandhana was out for a golden duck in reply, before Knight played a near perfect innings.
Deepti Sharma made an unbeaten 39 in a stand of 69 with Knight as they reached 174-4 to win by six wickets.
Knight's innings include nine fours and three sixes in her ninth half-century in four years of the competition, and she also scored her 1,00th Super League run - the first player to do so.
Storm - champions in 2017 - become the only team to win the Super League more than once.
This competition is making way for The Hundred next year, mention of which did not go down well with some sections of the south-coast crowd during the awards ceremony.
Vipers finished their six-over powerplay on 62-0 with Wyatt and her opening partner Suzie Bates looking in great form.
But just 73 runs came off the final 10 overs for six wickets, with Anya Shrubsole catching Wyatt in the 15th over before dismissing Vipers captain Tammy Beaumont for 33.
The total looked good enough for the Vipers to win, but they will have felt another 10-15 runs may have put the match beyond Storm.
Indian batter Mandhana was caught brilliantly by Marie Kelly from the third ball of the innings, and it was clear Knight had a tough task on her hands.
She made good partnerships of 27 and 18 with opener Rachel Priest and Fran Wilson respectively before Sharma hit seven fours in her aggressive knock to see out the run chase with an over to spare.

It looked like Wyatt was going to be the star of both matches for much of the day, having made a quickfire 31 off 17 in the semi-final as well as four catches and making a run-out throughout the day.
The England all-rounder finished as the tournament top run scorer with 466 with a strike rate of 166.42, but her bowling was expensive in the final with 23 runs coming off her two overs.
Storm were the best team across the whole tournament though, topping the group with nine wins from 10 matches, finishing 17 points ahead of Vipers in third who picked up just four victories.
Knight ends the summer on a high, having been on the end of a hammering in the Ashes at home, but contributed with an innings of high quality as the tournament bows out.

Photo from Yahoo Sport UK

SCORECARD
Southern Vipers won the toss and decided to bat
Western Storm won by six wickets

Southern Vipers Innings
Batsman: How Out - Bowler / Runs / Balls / SR (4s, 6s)
Bates: c & b - Odedra / 26 / 19 / 136.84 (5, 0)
Wyatt: c Shrubsole - b Sharma / 73 / 42 / 173.81 (10, 2)
Beaumont: c Nicholas - b Shrubsole / 33 / 28 / 117.86 (3, 1)
Bouchier: run out - (Wilson) / 0 / 0 / 0.00 (0, 0 )
Wellington: lbw - b Nicholas / 13 / 10 / 130.00 (2, 0)
Morris: b Shrubsole / 12 / 14 / 85.71 (1, 0)
Scholfield: c Luff - b Davies / 2 / 3 / 66.67 (0, 0)
Kelly: not out / 3 / 3 / 100.00 (0, 0)
Rudd: not out / 4 / 1 / 400.00 (1, 0)

Extras 0nb 4w 0b 2lb 6
Total (20.0 overs) 172-7

Bowler: Overs / Maidens / Runs / Wickets / Econ
Nicholas: 4.0 / 0 / 28 / 1 / 7.00
Davies: 4.0 / 0 / 40 / 1 / 10.00
Sharma: 4.0 / 0 / 40 / 1 / 10.00
Shrubsole: 4.0 / 0 / 26 / 2 / 6.50
Odedra: 2.0 / 0 / 16 / 1 / 8.00
Knight: 2.0 / 0 / 20 / 0 / 10.00

Fall of Wicket - Batsman
65-1 (6.2 ovs) - Bates
134-2 (14.1 ovs) - Wyatt
136-3 (14.2 ovs) - Bouchier
138-4 (15.2 ovs) - Beaumont
158-5 (17.5 ovs) - Wellington
161-6 (18.3 ovs) - Scholfield
168-7 (19.5 ovs) - Morris

Western Storm Innings
Batsman: How Out - Bowler / Runs / Balls / SR (4s, 6s)
Priest: st Rudd - b Wellington / 27 / 22 / 122.73 (5, 0)
Mandhana: c Kelly - b Farrant / 0 / 1 / 0.00 (0, 0)
Knight: not out / 78 / 53 / 147.17 (9, 3)
Wilson: c Wyatt - b Farrant / 18 / 17 / 105.88 (3, 0)
Luff: c Rudd - b Wellington / 0 / 1 / 0.00 (0, 0)
Sharma: not out / 39 / 22 / 177.27 (7, 0)

Extras 2nb 7w 0b 3lb 12
Total (19.0 overs) 174-4

Bowler: Overs / Maidens / Runs / Wickets / Econ
Farrant: 3.0 / 0 / 19 / 2 / 6.33
Bell: 4.0 / 0 / 44 / 0 / 11.00
Bates: 4.0 / 0 / 39 / 0 / 9.75
Wyatt: 2.0 / 0 / 23 / 0 / 11.50
Wellington: 4.0 / 0 / 31 / 2 / 7.75
Morris: 2.0 / 0 / 15 / 0 / 7.50

Fall of Wicket - Batsman
2-1 (0.3 ovs) - Mandhana
50-2 (6.2 ovs) - Priest
90-3 (11.1 ovs) - Wilson
103-4 (12.3 ovs) - Luff
SEMI-FINAL
Loughborough Lightning - 143 / 145-5 - Southern Vipers
Southern Vipers had earlier won the semi-final to reach their third Super League final.
They won by five wickets as opponents Loughborough Lightning collapsed from 118-4 to 143 all out, with Suzie Bates taking three wickets in the final over.
With the bat, Bates then made 37 off 25 and she made a stand of 76 with Wyatt.
Beaumont was bowled for 24 by Jenny Gunn, but the Vipers held their nerve to reach 145-5 in the penultimate over of their innings.
Last year's beaten finalist Lightning were on a six-match winning streak coming into finals day, and they elected to bat after winning the toss.
Pacy youngster Lauren Bell took 2-23 as she dismissed the opening pair of Amy Jones and Chamari Atapattu.
Captain Georgia Elwiss and Georgia Adams were taksed with rebuilding the innings.
But both could only make 28, Elwiss was run out when she couldn't reach her crease when trying a quick second run, while Adams holed out off spinner Amanda Wellington.
Mignon du Preez hit two sixes as she made 21, but her dismissal sparked a Lightning collapse which ended with Bates removing Sarah Glenn, Lucy Higham and Kirstie Gordon in the space of five balls to finish with figures of 3-22.
The Vipers looked to be cruising to the target with Bates and Wyatt at the crease, and credit needs to go to Lightning for making a game of it and give themselves a chance to progress.
Wellington made an unbeaten 18 as she held her nerve alongside Paige Scholfield, who hit the boundary to win.


SCORECARD
Loughborough Lightning won the toss and decided to bat
Southern Vipers won by five wickets

Loughborough Lightning Innings
Batsman: How Out - Bowler / Runs / Balls / SR (4s, 6s)
Atapattu: lbw - b Bell / 10 / 14 / 71.43 (1, 0)
A Jones: b Bell / 9 / 10 / 90.00 (1, 0)
Adams: c Bates - b Wellington / 28 / 28 / 100.00 (2, 1)
Elwiss: run out - (Wyatt) / 28 / 22 / 127.27 (4, 0)
du Preez: c Wyatt - b Morris / 21 / 11 / 190.91 (1, 2)
Freeborn: c Wyatt - b Wellington / 15 / 14 / 107.14 (3, 0)
Gunn: not out / 14 / 11 / 127.27 (2, 0)
Gardner: run out - (Beaumont) / 0 / 2 / 0.00 (0, 0)
Glenn: c Morris - b Bates / 4 / 7 / 57.14 (0, 0)
Higham: c Wyatt - b Bates / 0 / 1 / 0.00 (0, 0)
Gordon: b Bates / 0 / 1 / 0.00 (0, 0)

Extras 2nb 11w 0b 1lb 14 

Total (19.5 overs) 143 all out

Bowler: Overs / Maidens / Runs / Wickets / Econ
Farrant: 4.0 / 0 / 32 / 0 / 8.00
Bell: 4.0 / 0 / 23 / 2 / 5.75
Wyatt: 3.0 / 0 / 23 / 0 / 7.67
Wellington: 4.0 / 0 / 22 / 2 / 5.50
Morris: 2.0 / 0 / 20 / 1 / 10.00
Bates: 2.5 / 0 / 22 / 3 / 7.77

Fall of Wicket - Batsman
21-1 (3.3 ovs) - A Jones
24-2 (5.2 ovs) - Atapattu
79-3 (11.3 ovs) - Elwiss
85-4 (12.1 ovs) - Adams
118-5 (15.5 ovs) - du Preez
123-6 (16.5 ovs) - Freeborn
127-7 (17.2 ovs) -Gardner
141-8 (19.1 ovs) - Glenn
142-9 (19.3 ovs) - Higham
143-10 (19.5 ovs) - Gordon

Southern Vipers Innings
Batsman: How Out - Bowler / Runs / Balls / SR (4s, 6s)
Bates: b Gordon / 37 / 25 / 148.00 (6, 1)
Wyatt: st A Jones - b Glenn / 31 / 17 / 182.35 (3, 2)
Beaumont: b Gunn / 24 / 19 / 126.32 (4, 0)
Bouchier: run out - (Elwiss) / 4 / 9 / 44.44 (0, 0)
Morris: b Elwiss / 7 / 16 / 43.75 (0, 0)
Wellington: not out / 18 / 16 / 112.50 (2, 0)
Scholfield: not out / 12 / 12 / 100.00 (1, 0)

Extras 0nb 4w 0b 8lb 12

Total (19.0 overs) 145-5

Bowler: Overs / Maidens / Runs / Wickets / Econ
Atapattu: 3.0 / 0 / 24 / 0 / 8.00
Gunn: 3.0 / 0 / 30 / 1 / 10.00
Glenn: 4.0 / 0 / 25 / 1 / 6.25
Gardner: 1.0 / 0 / 14 / 0 / 14.00
Gordon: 4.0 / 0 / 23 / 1 / 5.75
Elwiss: 4.0 / 0 / 21 / 1 / 5.25

Fall of Wicket - Batsman
76-1 (6.3 ovs) - Bates
78-2 (7.2 ovs) - Wyatt
91-3 (10.1 ovs) - Bouchier
109-4 (12.2 ovs) - Beaumont
123-5 (15.5 ovs) - Morris

Results
August
6 Lancashire Thunder v Southern Vipers, Southern Vipers won by 34 runs
6 Loughborough Lightning v Western Storm, Western Storm won by seven wickets
6 Yorkshire Diamonds v Surrey Stars, Surrey Stars won by nine runs
8 Loughborough Lightning v Southern Vipers, Southern Vipers won by two wickets
8 Surrey Stars v Lancashire Thunder, Surrey Stars won by eight wickets
10 Western Storm v Lancashire Thunder, Western Storm won by six wickets
11 Southern Vipers v Western Storm, Western Storm won by three wickets
11 Yorkshire Diamonds v Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough Lightning won by nine wickets
12 Surrey Stars v Southern Vipers, Match abandoned without a ball bowled
13 Lancashire Thunder v Yorkshire Diamonds, Yorkshire Diamonds won by nine runs
13 Western Storm v Loughborough Lightning, Western Storm won by 40 runs
15 Southern Vipers v Lancashire Thunder, Match Tied
15 Surrey Stars v Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough Lightning won by seven wickets
15 Yorkshire Diamonds v Western Storm, Western Storm won by nine wickets
18 Lancashire Thunder v Western Storm, Western Storm won by five wickets
18 Loughborough Lightning v Yorkshire Diamonds, Loughborough Lightning won by six wickets
18 Southern Vipers v Surrey Stars, Southern Vipers win by 89 runs
20 Lancashire Thunder v Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough Lightning won by 35 runs (DLS Method)
20 Surrey Stars v Yorkshire Diamonds, Yorkshire Diamonds won by five wickets
20 Western Storm v Southern Vipers, Western Storm won by 15 runs
21 Southern Vipers v Yorkshire Diamonds, Southern Vipers won by three runs
21 Western Storm v Surrey Stars, Western Storm won by four runs
23 Loughborough Lightning v Surrey Stars, Loughborough Lightning won by five wickets
23 Yorkshire Diamonds v Lancashire Thunder, Yorkshire Diamonds won by four wickets
25 Loughborough Lightning v Lancashire Thunder, Loughborough Lightning won by eight wickets
25 Surrey Stars v Western Storm, Western Storm won by 77 runs
25 Yorkshire Diamonds v Southern Vipers, Yorkshire Diamonds won by four wickets
28 Lancashire Thunder v Surrey Stars, Surrey Stars won by 35 runs
28 Southern Vipers v Loughborough Lightning, Loughborough Lightning won by 36 runs
28 Western Storm v Yorkshire Diamonds, Yorkshire Diamonds won by five runs

September
Semi-final
1 Loughborough Lightning v Southern Vipers, Southern Vipers won by five wickets

Final
1 Western Storm v Southern Vipers, Western Storm won by six wickets

Final Group Stage Standings

#	TEAM	PLD	W	D	L	PTS
1	Western Storm	10	9	0	1	39
2	Loughborough Lightning	10	7	0	3	32
3	Southern Vipers	10	4	0	4	22
4	Yorkshire Diamonds	10	5	0	5	20
5	Surrey Stars	10	3	0	6	16
6	Lancashire Thunder	10	0	0	9	2

At the end of the group stage, the side that finished top (Western Storm) qualified immediately for the final, while the teams directly behind them in second and third (Loughborough Lightning v Southern Vipers) faced each other in the semi-final in a bid to join the group-winner in the final.

Tournament Stats
Most runs

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
D Wyatt	11	11	0	466	110	42.36	280	166.42	1	4	2	61	18
(Southern Vipers)
J Rodrigues	10	10	3	401	112*	57.28	268	149.62	1	2	0	55	3
(Yorkshire Diamonds)
H Knight	11	11	3	392	78*	49.00	352	111.36	0	4	0	37	9
(Western Storm)
R Priest	11	11	1	365	89	36.50	251	145.41	0	3	0	45	15
(Western Storm)
A Jones	11	11	2	309	74*	34.33	269	114.86	0	3	1	31	8
(Loughborough Lightning)
F Wilson	11	10	4	298	54	49.66	215	138.60	0	2	0	37	4
(Western Storm)
S Mandhana	11	11	0	268	72	24.36	195	137.43	0	2	2	42	3
(Western Storm)
M du Preez	11	9	3	267	70*	44.50	181	147.51	0	1	1	23	12
(Loughborough Lightning)
H Kaur	10	10	1	261	58*	29.00	230	113.47	0	2	1	25	10
(Lancashire Thunder)
S Taylor	8	8	2	260	73	43.33	215	120.93	0	2	0	35	0
(Surrey Stars)

Most wickets

Player	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5
F Davies	11	11	39.0	1	251	19	4-18	13.21	6.43	12.3	2	0
(Western Storm)
A Wellington	11	11	41.0	0	281	15	3-22	18.73	6.85	16.4	0	0
(Southern Vipers)
N Farrant	10	10	33.4	0	223	14	3-18	15.92	6.62	14.4	0	0
(Southern Vipers)
A Shrubsole	10	10	32.0	0	254	13	3-36	19.53	7.93	14.7	0	0
(Western Storm)
D van Niekerk	8	8	30.2	0	211	12	3-20	17.58	6.95	15.1	0	0
(Surrey Stars)
S Ecclestone	10	10	37.0	0	238	12	3-17	19.83	6.43	18.5	0	0
(Lancashire Thunder)
C Nicholas	10	10	35.0	1	246	12	2-25	20.50	7.02	17.5	0	0
(Western Storm)
S Glenn	11	11	34.0	0	206	11	3-25	18.72	6.05	18.5	0	0
(Loughborough Lightning)
K Gordon	10	10	36.4	0	222	11	3-18	20.18	6.05	20.0	0	0
(Loughborough Lightning)
K Cross	10	10	34.1	0	293	11	2-13	26.63	8.57	18.6	0	0
(Lancashire Thunder)

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