Southern Vipers 171 for 2 (Elwiss 73*, Kemp 55*) beat Sunrisers 152 for 5 (Gardner 79*, Taylor 2-29) by 19 runs
Elwiss and Kemp put on an unbroken 110-run stand – a Vipers record for any wicket – with 73 and 55 respectively to set Sunrisers an imposing target of 172. Mady Villiers and Jo Gardner – who bagged her maiden CEC half-century – put on 75 to give Sunrisers hope but Vipers’ attack squeezed and secured them their first victory of the campaign – as they aim for a three-peat.
Charli Knott got Vipers off to a flier after they were stuck in, with three boundaries in the first over as she took the aggressor role in the early stages. It proved her downfall as with the penultimate ball of the powerplay she was sublimely caught by Cordelia Griffith at cover, with Vipers ending the first six overs on 47 for 1.
Spin duo Jodi Grewcock and Mady Villiers stemmed the tide with their first four overs only conceding 17 runs. But it was Nicola Hancock who reaped the rewards of the pressure, as her reintroduction found Georgia Adams splicing to mid-off.
Throughout the spells of profligacy and struggle, Elwiss had kept the scoreboard ticking along and was compensated with a 43-ball half-century – her first in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.
With a platform of 105 for 2 and wickets in the shed, Elwiss and Kemp went ballistic to get Vipers above par – with 66 runs coming from the last five overs.
Kemp scored all but two of her runs either on the leg side or straight, as she prioritised power – summed up by hitting all three sixes of the innings – to strike her second Vipers fifty, and first in T20s. She ended up with 55 off 35 balls, placing a full stop with a last-ball maximum, while the experienced Elwiss returned with a 57-ball 73, having gone at a run-a-ball for much of the innings.
Their 110 beat Danni Wyatt and Maia Bouchier’s 108 in last year’s Eliminator as Vipers’ best alliance and slots in as the CEC’s all-time seventh-highest.
In reply, it took just two balls for Freya Davies to breakthrough as Knott stuck out her right hand to catch high above her head at cover to dismiss Amara Carr. Griffith was bowled through the gate by Linsey Smith in the following over, but Gardner and Villiers countered against Adams and Smith to reach 46 for 2 by the end of the powerplay.
Gardner play the role of anchor – albeit with a life on 25 – which allowed Villiers to free her arms, stride past her previous CEC best of 36 but fall six short of fifty as she was stumped off Knott.
It ended a 75-run stand and swung the momentum to the visitors and while Gardner reached her first CEC fifty, in 47 deliveries, the run-rate was always slightly out of reach.
Lissy Macleod and Hancock holed out in successive Mary Taylor balls before Davies and Adams saw out the last two overs, despite some late Gardner power-hitting after the game had gone.