Hearts and Blaze kick off the year with thumping wins

Auckland Hearts and Wellington Blaze registered victories over Canterbury Magicians and Northern Spirit respectively in the ongoing Super Smash on Wednesday (January 1).  The Hearts' victory was a low-scoring thriller whereas Blaze romped home in a high-scoring encounter.

In the first match at Eden Park Outer Oval, Hearts downed Magicians by 17 runs.

Electing to bowl, Magicians started well with the ball by removing Anna Peterson for a four-ball duck. Afterwards, Hearts batters Katie Perkins (40) and Saachi Shahri resurrected the innings with a vital 41-run stand. After dismissing Shahri for 19, Magicians' bowlers kept tight lines and were on course to restrict their opponents to 100. That was not to be as Hannah Huddlestone, playing her 100th T20 game for Hearts, played a little cameo to remain unbeaten on a 16-ball 23 to take Hearts to 117.

In reply, Magicians got off to a good start as they lost just two wickets for 55 runs and seemed well on course to chase the target. Hearts, though, came back strongly by picking up regular wickets to stem the flow of runs. The middle and lower order batters of Magicians struggled for timing as most of the batters, excluding Ella Chandler, were out for single-digit scores. Jacinta Savage top-scored for Magicians with 26 runs. For Hearts, Peterson and Arlene Kelly, each picked up two wickets to restrict Magicians for just 100.

In the second match of the day at Bay Oval, Blaze thumped Spirit by 79 runs. Sophie Devine was the star with the bat as she scored a scintillating ton to take Blaze to a whopping total of 201. With the ball, Jess Kerr picked up four wickets to restrict Spirit for just 122.

Electing to bat, Blaze got off to a poor start as they lost both their openers, Rachel Priest and Rebecca Burns, for 26 and 0 respectively, inside the power play. From then on, it was all one-way traffic as Devine and Maddy Green put on an absolute show. The duo put on a stand worth 124 runs between them to bat Spirit out of the contest. Devine hogged the majority of the strike as she finished the innings on 112 off just 54 balls. Her knock included six fours and nine maximums.

Chasing 202, Spirit needed a brisk start upfront to harbour any hopes of staying in the contest. That didn't happen as they lost CA Gurrey pretty early for eight runs. BM Bezuidenhout and Felicity Leydon-Davis tried to put the innings on track with a 50-run stand but the departure of both the set batters for 36 and 15 runs respectively, handed over the advantage back to Blaze. Kerr led the way with four wickets and was well supported by Leigh Kasperek who picked up two wickets to restrict Spirit for just 122.

The win meant Blaze kept their unbeaten run intact in the competition.

Brief Scores:

Auckland Hearts 117/3 in 20 overs (Katie Perkins 40, HR Huddlestone 23*; Jacinta Savage 1-15) beat Canterbury Magicians 100/8 in 20 overs (Jacinta Savage 26; Anna Peterson 2/11, Arlene Kelly 2/23) by 17 runs.

Wellington Blaze 201/5 in 20 overs (Sophie Devine 112, Maddy Green 41; LS Mulivai 2-26, Felicity Leydon-Davis 1-32) beat Northern Spirit 122/9 in 20 overs (BM Bezuidenhout 36; Jess Kerr 4-19) by 79 runs.