Shauna Kavanagh, Sophie MacMahon, Hannah Little help Scorchers go 4-2 up in Super 50 series

defeat in the previous match to take an unassailable 4-2 lead in the Super50.

Chasing 223, Typhoons lost Rachel Delany off the eighth ball of the innings to medium-pacer Kate McEvoy. MacMahon dismissed the other opener, Amy Hunter, for 7 (22) in the tenth over. The onus then fell on skipper Laura Delany and a young Rebecca Stokell to steady the ship for Typhoons.

Stokell played a few cracking shots in her 61-ball 32 before she was dismissed by Hannah in the 18th over. While Delany tried to forge a partnership with Orla Prendergast, MacMahon had other plans.

The 23-year-old allrounder ran through the Typhoons batting line-up as she kept pegging away at the wickets from one end. In the 27th over, MacMahon castled Prendergast before she removed Sarah Forbes. She came back again for her third spell to dismiss Louise Little and Jane Maguire in the 36th over.

Delany was the lone warrior for Typhoons as she continued her good run with the bat in the tournament. She made her second half-century in the series with a hard-fought 62 from 86 balls. The Typhoons captain was the eighth wicket to fall, when she eventually holed out to the mid-wicket fielder in the 41st over. Typhoons were all-out for 192 with Hannah taking 4 for 42 including the last three wickets.

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Earlier, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, openers Leah Paul and Gaby Lewis got Scorchers off to a steady start, adding 42 runs in 10 overs. Leg-spinner Celeste Raack came into attack right after, and along with Jane Maguire, put a halt to the Scorchers scoring rate. In the next six overs, they gave away only 12 runs.

Raack, in particular, troubled the batters with her tight lines. She used her variations constantly, kept the batters guessing and lured them into making mistakes thanks to her flight. As a result, Paul drove one back into Raack's hands in the 17th over. Two balls later, she trapped Tess Maritz, who came in at number three, in front of the stumps.

In her next over, Lewis came down the track and lofted Raack over extra-cover for a boundary. She tentatively defended the next delivery that took the outside edge and rolled towards point. Trying to repeat her previous shot in the next ball, Lewis jumped out of the crease only to push the ball half-heartedly towards Raack, who completed the catch. All of a sudden, Scorchers were 71 for three with two new batters at the crease.

Joined by MacMahon, Kavanagh tried to rebuild the innings. The duo added 43 runs in the next ten overs before Prendergast dismissed MacMahon for 20. Sparrow fell a while later to Louise Little, and the Scorchers were stuttering at 154 for 5 by the end of the 40th over.

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Though wickets kept falling at one end, Kavanagh kept her cool and was determined to bat through the innings. She was happy to play second fiddle to Louise McCarthy as they added 49 runs from 39 balls. The wicketkeeper-batter made a brilliant 69 off 98 balls, and guided the team to 222 for 8 thanks to a late flourish in the final two overs.

Brief Scores: Scorchers 222/8 in 50 overs (Shauna Kavanagh 69*, Gaby Lewis 28; Celeste Raack 3/33) beat Typhoons 192/10 in 48.3 overs (Laura Delany 62, Rebecca Stokell 32; Sophie MacMahon 5/41, Hannah Little 4/42) by 30 runs.