Polly Ingis, bowlers take Otago Sparks to a thumping win

An unbeaten 43 from Polly Inglis helped Otago Sparks romp home by seven wickets against Central Hinds in the Super Smash at the University of Otago Oval in Dunedin on Friday (January 8).



Opting to field, Sparks got early breakthrough in the form of Jess Watkin with Hayley Jensen accounting for the Hinds skipper. Georgia Atkinson and Natalie Dodd took Hinds’ score to 48 from ten overs, but struggled to find boundaries.



Once Atkinson was dismissed, Hinds lost wickets at regular intervals. Emma Black first had Hannah Rowe stumped off her bowling before castling Dodd for 26. For Hinds, only Kerry-Anne Tomlinson managed to score runs at a decent pace as she made a 15-ball 20 with two boundaries to her name. They could only score 102 for 7 from their allotted 20 overs.



For Sparks, Jensen and Black took two wickets each.



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In reply, Sparks openers Inglis and Millie Cowan added 32 runs in 4.5 overs to get them off to a good start. The Central Districts side had a ray hope when they dismissed Cowan and New Zealand international Katey Martin in quick succession.



However, Inglis and Jensen formed a partnership of 37 for the third wicket to take the Otago side closer to the target. Ingis smashed young Ashtuti Kumar for a couple of boundaries to reduce the target to just 18 runs from the last seven overs.



Even as Hinds managed to dismiss Jensen in the next over, in the company of Caitlin Blakely, Inglis took Sparks home to a comprehensive win when she hit Watkin for a boundary in the 16^th over.







This was Sparks’ second win from the matches they played, while Hinds succumbed to their fifth defeat from as many matches.



Brief scores:



Central Hinds 102/7 in 20 overs (Natalie Dodd 26, Georgia Atkinson 21; Hayley Jensen 2/22, Emma Black 2/26) lost to Otago Sparks 105/3 in 15.2 overs (Polly Inglis 43*, Millie Cowan 20) by seven wickets.