Phoenix falter with the bat as the Invincibles come out on top at Edgbaston

Birmingham Phoenix were made to pay for their failings with the bat and in the field as Oval Invincibles consolidated their place in the qualification spots with an eight-wicket win.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, Phoenix got off to the worst possible start as Eve Jones (0) picked out Invincibles skipper Dane van Niekerk at extra-cover off the bowling of Tash Farrant.

Katie Mack (14) would hit three consecutive fours but lost her wicket when looking for a fourth to provide Farrant with a second early wicket.

Amy Jones (1) soon fell to her opposite number as a quicker ball from van Niekerk beat the Phoenix captain on the inside whilst advancing, allowing Sarah Bryce to take an easy stumping.

The form of Shefali Verma has been a disappointment so far, and she would only manage to score 16 before failing to beat long-on when looking to hit Eva Gray for a maximum.

At the halfway stage the hosts had only managed to rack up 51 runs at the cost of four wickets.

Luckily for them, Erin Burns (45) would manage to steady the ship and then hit a number of boundaries in an attempt to post a competitive total.

The loss of Georgia Elwiss (7) would see the wickets continue to fall, but the real sucker punch would arrive 73 balls into the innings when Burns mistimed an effort into the hands of Grace Gibbs at deep-midwicket.

Shot of the day would go to Gwen Davies (11) who produced an elegant reverse-sweep over the off-side following a no-ball from Alice Capsey as Phoenix upped their run-rate to reach 100 off 79 deliveries.

Her innings would be brought to close by van Niekerk as the visitors picked up important wickets to prevent the home side from turning their score into an imposing one.

Kirstie Gordon (11*) and Abthaha Maqsood (2*) managed to bat out the innings and guided their side to a score of 129-9.

While the total eventually proved to be a more than chaseable one, Amy Jones would have been mightly disappointed with her side’s effort in the field.

If Phoenix had managed to hold onto the four catches they had put down, yes four! The outcome of the game may have been totally different to reality.

van Niekerk (67*)  has been in fine form throughout the competition so far and she looked good from the get-go with a classy sweep through backwards-square.

The South Africa international took the game to Kirstie Gordon in particular and hit the England off-spinner for three consecutive boundaries.

However, Gordon should have had the last laugh after van Niekerk mistimed a straight hit to off the bowling of debutant Phoebe Franklin. But she put down a simple effort at mid-off to commence a string of fielding mishaps.

Whilst Georgia Adams (42) supported van Niekerk well and increased Franklin’s woes with back-to-back fours, she too should have been out on two occasions but was instead was handed a double-lifeline. Adams was first dropped deep-midwicket by the diving Mack, though the chance was a tough one.

Davies would be the major culprit with Adams looking to take on Maqsood and send the Scottish international over long-on. Despite of getting two hands on the ball, Davies would parry the ball over it rope to concede the game’s first six.

It was a case of third time lucky for the home side as they caught finally caught Adams following an attempted shot into the off-side that was spooned to cover.

Although, the opening stand of 90 between van Niekerk and Adams provided the Invincibles with a vital platform to go on and seal their second away win. The former would bring up her 50 with a slog-sweep.

There was time for one more drop before Capsey (14) hit the winning runs as Gordon fumbled the 16-year-old off her own bowling.

Needing 14 runs from eight deliveries, two shots from van Niekerk reduced the required total to just four before Capsey found the square-leg boundary to win the game.

Phoenix coach Ben Sawyer bemoaned his side’s dropped catches and admitted that defeat is somewhat inevitable after making such major errors.

“You can’t win games after dropping big players like that (van Niekerk).

“We created our chances, we’ve been really great in the field all tournament, but today was not was not a great day for us.”

Yet Sawyer praised the work of his bowlers who took the game down the final set of five in spite of the Invincibles fast start.

“To drag it back after they needed 33 off 30 and fight back to take it to the final set of five is really commendable from the girls. I thought they fought really hard.

They’re giving as much as they possibly can, the girls are very young and just starting out. To be perfectly honest I’m really pleased with what they are doing.”

Farrant is now The Hundred’s leading wicket-taker following another three scalps, and her captain explained what makes her so important to the side.

“She (Farrant) has been helping me so much as vice-captain. She understands the game really well and is a great soundboard.

“I think her variation balls are brilliant. When you clearly back your skills you will execute them more often than not. Hopefully she can go really well for the rest of the tournament.”

Amy Jones and her team find themselves at the bottom of the league table and in desperate need of a win after three consecutive defeats. Meanwhile, the Invincibles will be confident of progressing through to finals day with a two-point advantage over fourth.

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