OVAL THE MOON
Oval Invincibles crowned first ever Hundred champions as women’s team rout Southern Brave in Lord’s final
WHEN a team slumps to 14-6 at Lord’s, it is a surprise to discover that England men’s top-order batters are not involved.
This time, it was Southern Brave women and their catastrophic collapse handed the inaugural Hundred title to Oval Invincibles.
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The Brave had been the best and most consistent team throughout the tournament but they suffered a severe case of big day blunders.
South African away-swing bowler Marizanne Kapp took three wickets in her initial ten-ball set and the Brave’s top three batters all registered ducks.
Two runs for three wickets became 11-5 and 14-6 and this was the kind of one-sided damp squib the organisers were dreading for the women’s final.
The Brave managed to extend their total to 73 all out as the Invincibles won by 48 runs.
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Around 8,000 were in the ground when the match started and this swelled to an official attendance figure later in the game of 17,116 - the highest for a non-international women’s match in this country.
Earlier, Kapp also starred with the bat with a cameo of 26 from 14 balls. She had scored useful runs and taken three wickets, too, in the Invincibles’ victory over Birmingham Phoenix in the eliminator - effectively a semi-final - at the Oval on Friday.
Kapp, who is married to Invincibles captain Dane van Niekerk, said: “I believed that whoever won on Friday would win today. It shows what a brilliant team we have. The ball moved quite a bit and I knew that, if I stuck to my strengths, I’d get a few wickets.”
And van Niekerk added: "I don't have words. It’s a childhood dream to play a final at Lord’s. I told Marizanne last night that she always steps up on the big stage - I’m really proud of her.”
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