Magnificent Martin helps Otago Sparks end the season with a win

Katey Martin’s magnificent effort with the bat and a bowling performance led by Eden Carson helped Otago Sparks beat Northern Spirit and finish their Super Smash 2020-21 season with a win at the University of Otago Oval, Dunedin on Saturday (February 6).



Put into bat, Sparks lost opener Hayley Jensen early to a caught and bowled by Nensi Patel in the fourth over. Martin started the innings with a boundary off Shriya Naidu and smashed Eimear Richardson for a six and a four in consecutive balls to take the score to 42 for 1 at the end of the power play.



In the company of Polly Inglis, Martin added 75 runs for the second wicket. She was the aggressor during their stay at the crease with Inglis playing the second fiddle with a 28-run knock. Martin took on Spirit’s bowlers and hit six fours and a six before she reached her fifty from 34 balls with a single off Charlotte Sarsfield in the 13^th over.



However, Sarsfield struck twice removing Inglis in the next ball before castling Millie Cowan for a duck in the last ball of the over. Martin didn’t let the twin dismissals affect her and continued attacking the bowlers and smashed six boundaries – including a six - in the next three overs to take the score 134 for 3 in 17 overs.



Martin was eventually dismissed by Brooke Halliday for 85 off 56 balls and the Otago side finished their innings on 153 for 6 from 20 overs.



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For Spirit, Halliday finished with figures of 2 for 18 from her four overs, while Sarsfield also took two wickets.



In the chase, Spirit couldn’t get off to a brisk start and lost Katey Gurrey in the final over of the power play to a catch from Martin off Jensen for 17. Martin’s day continued to get better as she stumped Kate Anderson in the eighth over bowled by Sophie Oldershaw to leave Spirit at 39 for 2.



Even though Halliday and Makayla Templeton played a few shots during their partnership of 38, the required run rate kept climbing and Halliday eventually got out for 22. With Spirit needing 58 runs from the last four overs, Carson struck twice to remove Richardson and Templeton when the score was 100 for 3 to snuff out any little hope Spirit had.







From there, Spirit lower-order found it difficult to score runs and Carson finished her spell with a wicket maiden in the 19^th over. The Northern District side limped to 111 for 9 from the stipulated 20 overs to give Sparks a big 42-run win.



For Sparks, Carson was the most successful bowler with figures of 3 for 18, while Emma Black gave away only ten runs in her four overs to finish with figures of 2 for 10.



Both the sides didn't have the greatest of seasons and finished with only three wins and 12 points each from their ten league matches. Spirit finished at four ahead of Sparks on account of superior run rate, while Central Hinds with only eight points finished at the bottom of the table.



Brief Scores:



Otago Sparks 153/6 in 20 overs (Katey Martin 85, Polly Inglis 28; Brooke Halliday 2/18) beat Northern Spirit 111/9 in 20 overs (Makayla Templeton 31; Eden Carson 3/18, Emma Black 2/10) by 42 runs.