Sunrisers Leeds have advanced to the Women’s Hundred final once again, delivering a clinical performance to eliminate Southern Brave. The defending champions utilized a disciplined bowling display to restrict their opponents to 114/7 before successfully navigating a tense finish to secure a five-wicket victory with 11 balls remaining.
Southern Brave’s innings began with promise as Lizelle Lee attacked early, hitting a six and several boundaries. Despite a quiet period against Jess Jonassen, Lee continued to score until Hannah Baker dismissed her with a sharp leg-break. The momentum shifted firmly in favor of the Sunrisers when Kate Cross and Deepti Sharma claimed the wickets of Laura Wolvaardt and Maia Bouchier. Although Sophie Molineux and Charli Knott attempted to stabilize the innings, the Sunrisers’ bowling attack prevented any late-order surge, leaving Brave at 114/7.
The Sunrisers’ chase faced immediate hurdles as Lauren Bell and Issy Wong dismissed the openers. Lauren Winfield-Hill and Annabel Sutherland steadied the innings with timely boundaries, though Sarah Glenn eventually removed Sutherland. Winfield-Hill and Deepti Sharma then formed a crucial partnership that appeared to guide the team toward a comfortable win.
A dramatic turn occurred when the Sunrisers required 20 runs from 24 balls, as Issy Wong claimed two wickets in consecutive deliveries, removing Winfield-Hill and trapping Danielle Gibson lbw. The brief panic was quickly extinguished by Deepti and Jonassen, who struck two boundaries each within 10 balls to seal the result. The Sunrisers will now face the Trent Rockets in Sunday’s final.
Brief scores: Southern Brave Women 114/7 in 100 balls (Lizelle Lee 32; Hannah Baker 2-13) lost to Sunrisers Leeds 116/5 in 89 balls (Lauren Winfield-Hill 37, Deepti Sharma 28*; Issy Wong 3-21) by 5 wickets.
The defending champions set up the win with a disciplinedeffort on the field that saw them restrict Brave to just 114/7 before overcoming a few nervy moments towards the end to close out the win.
Sophie Molineux and Charli Knott made contributions but no one was allowed by the Sunrisers bowling attack to explode in the back end of the innings as Brave crawled to 114/7.
However, in a late twist, with 20 needed off 24, Sunrisers lost two wickets in two balls that caused some panic in the camp.
The decision to bowl first wasn’t necessarily vindicatedearly in the innings when Lizelle Lee went after the Sunrisers bowling attack to smash a six and a couple of fours to give Brave a bright start.
Despite Lee’s efforts, the run rate was kept in check by Sunrisers given Maia Bouchier made a stuttering start at the other end.
Brave just didn’t stage a recovery as they kept losing regular wickets.
