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Amelia Kerr's fifty and disciplined bowling helps Wellington break Otago's unbeaten run

Women's CricZone Staff

28 Dec 2021 00:00 IST

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Amelia Kerr's fifty and disciplined bowling helps Wellington break Otago's unbeaten run — Amelia Kerr © Getty Images

Otago Sparks’ unbeaten run in the Super Smash came to an end as they were beaten by Wellington Blaze by a margin of 66 runs at the John Davies Oval in Queenstown on Tuesday (December 28). Amelia Kerr starred once again for the Blaze with performances from both the bat and the ball. With this win, Blaze extended their unbeaten run to five wins in a row.

Earlier in the day, Wellington won the toss and elected to bat first. Georgia Plimmer gave them a good start with her cameo of 19 runs off 10 balls but she fell in the second over. Amelia Kerr joined opener Rebecca Burns next as the duo started making the most of the powerplay. At the sixth-over mark, Wellington reached 57 runs but had lost Burns for 13.

Maddy Green was dismissed soon for just seven runs. Kerr then got together in a stand with Leigh Kasperek. The pair put on 65 runs from 55 deliveries. Kerr also reached her fifty in the process, but was eventually dismissed for 56 off 50. Kasperek then got out for 24 runs. A few cameos in the end took the score to 157 for seven in their 20 overs. The innings had 17 extras, which was also the third highest contributor.

ALSO READ: Moments you want to play are ones where you bowl the last over or hit the winning runs: Amelia Kerr

For Otago, Kate Ebrahim was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets. In reply, Sparks lost Polly Inglis in the second over of the innings courtesy of Jess Kerr. After this, there was a partnership between Suzie Bates and Katey Martin of 55 runs from 50 balls, which tried to uplift the innings. However, the required rate kept going up which brought about a collapse.

Bates’ dismissal for 24 runs started the downfall. Martin played well for her knock of 40 from 34, but her wicket also came at the wrong time. In the second half of the Otago innings, things got from bad to worse very quickly.

They lost nine wickets in the period between the 10th over and the 19th over, eventually being bowled out for 91 runs. All of the Wellington bowlers put up a commendable performance, picking up two wickets each. Maneka Singh, Xara Jetly, Kasperek and the Kerr sisters were the five bowlers used.

Brief scores: Wellington Blaze 157/7 in 20 overs (Amelia Kerr 56; Kate Ebrahim 3/34) beat Otago Sparks 91 all out in 18.1 overs (Katey Martin 40; Jess Kerr 2/16, Kasperek 2/16) by 66 runs.

Wellington Blaze Amelia Kerr Leigh Kasperek Otago Sparks Jess Kerr Super Smash 2021-22