GROUP A
PLYMPTON have taken over at the top of Super 8s Group A thanks to wins over former leaders Plymouth and Ipplepen in round four.
Plymouth were beaten by 104 runs in the first encounter of the day at Harewood Park where Evie Pitman (30), Steph Hutchins (25) and Maddie Turner (28) helped Plympton reach 156 for three.
Plymouth round runs hard to come by against Milly Squire, Evie Privett and Hutchins in particular and only got as far 52 for five in reply.
Plympton made it two wins out of two for the day when they overcame Ipplepen by 37 runs to open up an unassailable lead at the top of the table with one round to go.
Squire (32) and Ana Hampson (30) were the primary run scorers for Plympton in a 16-over total of 115 for two.
Only two Pens’ batters reached double figures – Naomi Hancock (19) and Darcy Thomas (10) as the visitors were held to 78 for four in reply.
Turner, Privett and Hutchins, who bowled two overs for no runs at all, made life difficult for the Pens.
Plympton now have a four-point lead and two games in hand over Plymouth, who bounced back from their drubbing to beat Ipplepen by 30 runs.
An opening stand of 82 between Candy Capling (27) and Jemima Johnson (23), topped up by 51 extras, helped Plymouth reach 115 for two.
Lauren Edworthy top scored for Ipplepen with 31 in their reply of 85 for two.
Piper Haffenden booked impressive bowling figures of 4-0-10-0.
Group A resumes on Bank Holiday Monday at Ipplepen where Cornwood and Plympton make up the group in the replay of round two, which was delayed due to bad weather.
GROUP B
EXETER are through to the Super 8s Trophy final after beating Topsham St James in a photo finish on the final festival day at Bovey Tracey.
Exeter and St James were the only sides in contention for the qualifying place and every point was going to be vital.
Exeter started the day in fine style with a seven-wicket win over Bovey Tracey, who were held to 49 for three, which the County Ground girls knocked off without mishap inside six overs.
Georgia Read (22) and Bea Willis (21) were the not-out batsmen when victory was achieved and four more points banked.
Topsham St James were still top of the table by a point going into game two against Exeter, who knew they had to win at all costs.
Read (32ret), Sophie Florides (31) and Imogen Dadorph took Exeter to 130 for three and a batting point. Crucially, there were no bowling points for TSJ.
Although Ameila Sydenham finished with 31 not out in the reply of 74 for six, Topsham lost by 56 runs and failed to earn a point from the game. Daldorph took four Topsham wickets for 12 runs.
Exeter were now top of the shop, but only by a point and with all their games played they were sweating on Topsham’s result against Bovey in the final match of the day.
Topsham could not get ahead of Exeter, but could finish level if they took two bonus points, which would have left league officials having to work out net run rates for the two teams over the tournament to determine who went through. That's the cricket equivalent of long division, multiplication and fractions all rolled into one!
Topsham won the game by four wickets, but only earned one bonus point, which put Exeter through to the final.
Ellie Ingham-Hill (33) and Rebecca England (22) were Bovey’s leading run getters as they progressed to 117 for one. Thirty-seven wides helped.
Mel Vaggers, whose four overs only cost one run off the bat, dominated the TSJ bowling returns.
The run chase went like clockwork as Sydenham (32), Ffion Barham (17) and Vaggers all made inroads.
Vaggers was still there on 26 not out when victory was clinched with 14 balls to spare.
GROUP C
TAUNTON Deane just did enough at North Devon to stop the host club snatching the qualifying spot in Group C
In theory it was a three-horse race in the final round of fixtures with North Devon (16pts), North Devon (10) and Hatherleigh (10) all capable of topping the pile.
North Devon needed two wins and bonus points and for Taunton Deane to lose to Hatherleigh if they were going to qualify.
Hatherleigh needed two wins, bonus points and for North Devon to lose to Taunton Deane if they were going to go through.
Taunton Deane knew one win might be enough, however they could be in jeopardy of they failed to earn any bonus points. So when North Devon denied Deane any points at all in the opening game the pressure was on.
Ali Kelly (33) and Carmen Clements (26) got North Devon moving from 39 for two towards a final total of 117 for three.
Deane were nearly up with asking rate at halfway – they were 56 for two – but slowed against Kelly (3-16) and Ruby Davies (2-23) who had them all out for 91 with two balls to go.
Deane now had to beat Hatherleigh in game two and take all five points to be sure of topping the group and did so by four wickets with time to spare.
Chloe Rose (33), India Spears (16) and Holly Presswell (27) were Hatherleigh’s principal run makers in their all-out total of 119. That was one point bagged.
Madi Bond (30ret), Hannah Hughes (22) and Laurie Currie (22no) took charge of the chase as the Somerset side eased to victory with nearly three overs in hand.
North Devon’s batters punished Hatherleigh’s bowlers to tot-up 174 for three in the dead-rubber game. Rose Ball (33), Kelly (32) and Davies (31) all retired after passing 30.
Rose (31) and Alicia Stebbing (31) had the only scores of note for Hatherleigh, who were bowled out for 115 and lost by 59 runs.
