2023/24 HALLYBURTON JOHNSTONE SHIELD
Round 9
Saturday 17 February 2024
University of Otago Oval, Dunedin
OTAGO SPARKS beat AUCKLAND HEARTS by 4 wickets
Otago Sparks : 5 points
Auckland Hearts : 0 points
Clinging to second spot, the last thing the Auckland Hearts had needed was to lose the penultimate round of the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and let the race for the Final go down to the wire.
But the Otago Sparks had other plans, in a low-scoring but key result.
Auckland Hearts captain Maddy Green won the toss and batted, but only three of her batters got past 20 on the scorecard.
Emma Black and Hayley Jensen kept things pretty tight at the top, Black breaking through at 4/1 while Jensen got the massive wicket of Maddy Green at the end of her first spell, Green caught behind at 42/2.
Then change bowler Eden Carson came on and struck with her first ball, opener Saachi Shahri departing for 23.
Molly Loe got Prue Catton a few overs later and the Sparks were well on their way to rolling the Hearts for 125 in 32.5 overs, after Black and Jensen came back for more and helped their side take five wickets just in two and a bit overs to utterly destroy the middle order.
Black and Jensen picked up three wickets each and a bonus point was on, but the chase wasn't an easy one.
The Sparks lost early wickets. Fran Jonas got the big wicket of Suzie Bates early, then swing bowler Bree Illing struck twice in the next over to have the Sparks 33/3 after five overs.
Having headed in with a points advantage, the Hearts needed only to win to ink in the last available spot in the national Final against the Blaze. But it was not going to go to plan.
lling soon had a third victim in Felicity Robertson, but Polly Inglis came to the rescue for her side, top-scoring with 40 in a 76-run stand with Olivia Gain (36 not out).
It was a patient and crucial stand, Inglis departing just a few balls before the four-wicket win as officiated in the 36th over.
The Sparks had needed to win their last two rounds with bonus points in order to deny the Hearts. Now, they were halfway there.
