The revitalised Canterbury Magicians continued to gain ground on the leaders with essential back-to-back wins on doubleheader Friday in Lincoln.
After having taken down the Hearts in the morning, they turned their sights on the unpredictable Central Hinds who opted to bat first on Bert Sutcliffe Oval.
After a half century in the morning’s game, young flier Jess Watkin (below) shaped as the key wicket to get early and was looking good as she tucked into Lea Tahuhu for boundaries square of the wicket.
But on 18 she pushed her luck against experienced leggie Erin Bermingham (4-1-14-2) and from there, despite an anchoring 33 from Rebecca Burns, a gutsy unbeaten 46 off 40 balls from captain Anlo van Deventer and a quick cameo to finish from Hannah Rowe, the Magicians kept the Hinds under relative control despite only three wickets having fallen.
Watkin gave the Hinds hope with the ball by quickly dismissing WHITE FERNS stars Amy Satterthwaite and a scoreless Thamsyn Newton in the space of three balls, but Kate Ebrahim proved harder to dislodge at the top and underpinned her Mags with a solid 37, Frances Mackay dropping down the order.
Chasing 128 simply wasn’t enough to daunt the full strength Magicians and Bermingham would continue making an impact with the bat, slamming 45 from 32 balls with six fours and two sixes — a late flurry of wickets from the Hinds’ pace attack, including two in two balls from young Rosemary Mair (above), not enough to stop the Mags cruising home with 15 balls to spare.
Despite a good win in the morning, the loss knocked the youthful Hinds out of contention for the season, while the Magicians remain alive.
