2020/21
ROUND 9
Wellington Blaze beat Otago Sparks by 8 wickets
Basin Reserve
13 March 2021
If it's difficult to get fired up for a bottom of the table clash with neither side in contention, someone forgot to tell Sophie Devine.
The WHITE FERNS captain returned to her Domestic side to blast 97 off just 54 balls in another signature knock this season, far too strong for the Otago Sparks who were left with the imminent prospect of finishing the season winless if it happened again tomorrow.
The Sparks had been rolled for 180 with just over two overs to spare, Blaze off-spinner Leigh Kasperek claiming 4-28 and leg-spinner Melie Kerr and seamer Maneka Singh each picking up a brace after captain Thamsyn Newton won the toss and bowled first in the second to last match of the season.
Devine simply took charge with the bat in the chase, smashing the young attack for six sixes and 10 boundaries before she was caught by fellow WHITE FERN Hayley Jensen off Emma Black just short of what would have been a seventh List A century which would have seen the star extend her own record for the side.
Kerr added to the spectacle with and unbeaten 54* off 44 as the Blaze chased the target down with an emphatic eight wickets in hand and 26.2 overs to spare.
Not for the first time, WHITE FERNS wicketkeeper-batsman Katey Martin was left playing a lone hand in defence of her team's honour, a knock of 70 but not enough to save their skins without support.
