Katie Gurrey, Eimear Richardson help Northern Districts to a 17-run win over Central Hinds

Katie Gurrey’s fifty, allround performances from Felicity Leydon-Davis and Eimear Richardson helped Northern Districts to a 17-run win against Central Hinds in their opening encounter of the Super Smash 2020-21 at the Pukekura Park in New Plymouth on Wednesday (December 30).



Put into bat, Northern Districts opener Kate Anderson started aggressively smashing Hannah Rowe for three boundaries in the second over. But Rosemary Mair and Claudia Green struck in back-to-back overs to remove the openers with the scorecard reading 25 for 2 in 3.3 overs.



However, Gurrey in the company of Richardson, batting at four, put on 39 runs for the third wicket in five overs to take the score to 64 with the Ireland allrounder hitting a four and a six in her 14-ball 20.



Once Richardson was dismissed, Gurrey and Leydon-Davis consolidated the innings taking their time. Once they were settled Leydon-Davis’ smashed Georgia Atkinson for a six in the 14^th over followed by a couple of fours in the next over off Mikaela Greig. Gurrey joined the skipper on the attack with a boundary as the pair took 12 runs from the 16^th over.



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Twin strikes from Jess Watkin to sent back Leydon-Davis and Lucy Boucher gave the Hinds some hope of restricting the Northern District side to reasonable total. However, Gurrey taking on Atkinson with a six and two fours in consecutive deliveries to bring up her fifty from 38 balls took Northern District over 150. Even though Gurrey was dismissed in the next over, Alisha Rout finished the innings off in style with a last ball six as they finished on 161 for 6 from their 20 overs.



For Hinds, Jess Watkin was the most successful bowler with figures of 2 for 17 from her three overs.



In reply, despite early dismissal of Watkin by Lauren Heaps, a flurry of boundaries from Natalie Dodd and Emily Cunningham took Hinds’ score to 41 for 2 at the end of the power play.



It looked like Dodd, in the company of Anlo van Deventer, would take the Hinds side over the line as the pair took them over 100 inside the 14^th over. But once Nensi Patel trapped Dodd in front of the wicket for 49 to break the 68-run partnership, Hinds lost their way with Richardson striking twice in 16^th over to remove Rowe and van Deventer to leave Hinds at 112 for 5.







Once Richardson dismissed Mair in her next over, it was a tough ask for the Hinds and they eventually finished on 144 for 9 from the stipulated 20 overs.



Richardson finished with figures of 3 for 27, while Laydon-Davis had two wickets to her credit.



Brief Scores:



Northern Districts 161/6 in 20 overs (Katie Gurrey 57, Felicity Leydon-Davis 42; Jess Watkin 2/17) beat Central Hinds 144/9 in 20 overs (Natalie Dodd 49, Anlo van Deventer 35; Eimear Richardson 3/27, Felicity Leydon-Davis 2/23) by 17 runs.