Sciver and Elwiss full of praise for sides after Super League final

Natalie Sciver, the Surrey Stars captain, was full of praise for her side after they beat Loughborough Lightning by 66 runs in the final of the Kia Super League on Monday (August 27). She said that “for us to have peaked at the right time is brilliant.”



Sciver later added “we knew what we could do as a team. We have got a brilliant batting order and experienced bowlers and some really good young ones in between.”



Much of the praise she had was for Lizelle Lee, whose hundred was the basis of their comprehensive win. After they were asked to bat first, Lee made a 58-ball 104 for Surrey to finish on a strong 183 for 6.



“I didn’t have to do too much, it was great, just get her on strike and away she goes. She has worked hard on her batting this summer and it’s a great way for her to finish the tournament,” the skipper, who followed her unbeaten 72 in the semifinal with a 40 in the title summit, said. “When I was batting with her, Lizelle said ‘shall I just go now?’ I said ‘I don’t know what you’re doing because you are 40 off 20 balls.’ A player of that quality can easily take a game away from a team.”



Sciver put on a match-defining 111-run stand with Lee before the partnership was broken in the 17th over.  She said she was not surprised with the way the South African, who hit 13 fours and six sixes, batted. “No, the way she had been batting in the nets. She is pretty scary actually. We had a hit in the indoor school the other day and I would not be volunteering top bowl in the net the way the ball was flying.”



Georgia Elwiss, Loughborough's captain, was equally in praise of Lee. “She played out of her skin.”



It is never easy for a captain to speak after their team has lost but Elwiss took pride with the way her team performed through the tournament, having been written off before the first ball was bowled.



“I couldn’t fault any of these girls this year. They have given everything I have asked of them. We have had some bumps in our journey," she said. "Every time I’ve asked them to come back and work harder they have. The character that they have shown I honestly couldn’t have been prouder and there is a lot more to come from this group.”