Sam Curtis in action for the Northern Spirit at Cobham Oval. Photo/John Stone
Sam Curtis in action for the Northern Spirit at Cobham Oval. Photo/John Stone
Another shock win by Northern Spirit - this time in the Twenty20 format - sees this season's giant-killers sharing the honours at the top of the national table after round two of NZC's women's domestic T20 battle.
An unbeaten 48 off 51 balls from White Ferns opener Rachel Priest spearheadedWellington Blaze's 117 for four after captain Liz Perry elected to set last season's fifth-placed Northern Spirit a chase at Whangarei's Cobham Oval.
Priest had combined with fellow international Sophie Devine (38 off 37 balls) to pile on 58 runs for the second wicket but Spirit's opening batsman Natalie Dodd responded with a quick dent in the run chase, racing to a run-a-ball 25 before she was stumped in the seventh over.
Needing a further 59 runs at the halfway mark, the match was destined for a tight finish, a pivotal run-a-ball 40 from Katie Gurrey taking Spirit out to 86/3 in the 15th over. Kerry Tomlinson (23* off 18) blasted a six next over to ease the pressure, but it came right back on after a useful 17th over from Devine cost just one run and a wide - leaving an equation of 19 runs off 18 balls.
Two more timely boundaries from Tomlinson, named NZC's 2016 Maori Scholarship winner earlier this week, had Spirit right back in the box seat, just four more runs needed off Alex Evans' final over and international Bernadine Bezuidenhout taking strike.
A dot ball, a wide and a boundary later and Spirit had a thrilling seven-wicket victory in the bag, having knocked off their second big win in the space of a week against one of the more fancied teams on the women's circuit. They downed defending one-day champs the Hearts in round one of the 50-over competition the previous weekend.
