2022/23 NZC Gillette Venus Women's Under 19 Tournament - Day Six (Final Day)
After a dramatic penultimate day and a tight four-way race for the title, the last T20 of the absorbing 2022/23 Gillette Venus Under 19 Women's nationals would decide this season's champion.
Wellington Under 19 headed in with a one-point lead to make them the only team in control of its own destiny, while Otago Under 19 and Northern Districts Under 19 were both playing for pride, but could both have a huge influence on the outcome of the nationals - with ND playing Wellington, and Otago playing Central Districts in their final T20 games.
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Central Districts and Auckland (who played fourth-ranked Canterbury) headed in just one point behind Wellington, anxious not only to win, but for the other match to fall their way.
What an exciting finish was in store on this last, breezy morning in Lincoln!
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Auckland needed first of all a win to stay alive, and had looked to be an impressive side throughout the tournament without quite managing to take the overall lead.
Captain Emma Irwin won the toss in the live-streamed match on Bert Sutcliffe Oval, and put Canterbury in.
After a strong one-day campaign, Canterbury had not got off to a winning start in the first two T20s of the tournament, but now captain Izzy Sharp stood up and smashed a brilliant 73 off just 54 balls, with 10 fours and two sixes in her innings at the top.
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She carried her team for almost the entire innings to see Canterbury post a strong 152/7 in their 20 overs.
Auckland would need almost eight an over in reply and, at the halfway mark, still needed seven an over at 83/1.
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But Auckland paced their thrilling reply perfectly, Emma Irwin (23 not out) bringing home victory with a boundary off the last ball.
Earlier, opening bat Kate Irwin had steadied the chase after the loss of two wickets in the 10th and 14th overs, and brought it home side by side with her sister for the top score of 64 not out off 60 balls in yet another nailbiter for the team - with Auckland this time on the winning side of the ledger.
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Defending champion Central Districts Under 19 finished strongly with a clean sweep in the T20 matches, but their fate was ultimately out of their control.
Otago won the toss and batted, Louisa Kotkamp top-scoring with 36 for her team in a total of 132/5 before she was run out at a critical moment by Gretel Fairbrother (who also took 2-18) in the 17th over.
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That wasn't enough to daunt Central, even after the loss of big early wickets with Vanessa Taylor, Reese Drager, and the top batter of the tournament, Emma McLeod, all sent back with single-figure scores inside the first half of the innings.
But captain Jessie Hollard had meanwhile got in, and went on to a vital half century, with 52 off 46 balls, including five boundaries and a six.
She batted into the 16th over and set up the three-wicket win for her team before her teammates finished if off to win with three balls to spare for the runners up medal this year.
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All eyes were glancing to Lincoln No.3 where Wellington made a strong start in their decisive encounter with Northern Districts.
Deciding to bat first, Wellington reached 160/5 in their 20 overs, after a solid team effort from the top and middle effort.
Ava Conroy top-scored with 44 before being run out on the last delivery trying to squeak the obligatory extra run. Hannah Francis (26), Kate Chandler (38) and Rachel Bryant (32) had all kept the score moving along briskly, and the target would prove 91 runs too many for Northern Districts who were coming off just the first win in the tournament on the previous day.
Losing in-form captain Tash Wakelin to a runout in the first over was a big blow to their hopes, and at 48/7 after 15 overs, it was inevitable that Wellington had this in the bag.
The match was the first of the three games to finish and the shouts of excitement arising from across the hedge will have alerted the other contenders to their fate: Wellington had finished off the tournament with a standout win, the new champions getting better and better across the week to lift the trophy.
It was Wellington's first trophy at women's Under 19 level, in the fourth edition of the tournament.
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Central Districts star Emma McLeod finished as the top run-scorer at the Nationals with 322 runs across the week at a 64.40 average, just ahead of ND captain Tash Wakelin with 308 at 51.33. Emma Irwin was also impressive for Auckland with the top score of 136, sister Kate finishing with 248 runs and Wellington's Kate Chandler 255.
Kate Irwin and teammate Rishika Jaswal finished as the top bowlers, both with 15 wickets, ahead of CD's Gretel Fairbrother who ended with 12, just ahead of Wellington's Ava Conroy and Otago's Hannah O'Connor.
• ROUND SEVEN
Canterbury U19 lost to Auckland U19 by eight wickets
Wellington U19 defeated Northern Districts U19 by 91 runs
Lincoln Green
Central Districts U19 defeated Otago U19 by three wickets
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