Northern Superchargers solidified their position in the top three of the women’s competition of The Hundred with a comfortable win over a misfiring Oval Invincibles, whose hopes of staging a late run to the knockout stages lay in ruins after a maiden tournament half-century for Alice  Davidson Richards and another brilliant cameo from Phoebe Litchfield.

A win here doesn’t quite confirm the Superchargers’ progression – London Spirit, in fourth, could yet haul them in – but the result does end the Invincibles’ slim chances of featuring come the business end.

The result will sting for Lauren Winfield-Hill’s team, who scrapped hard but were always up against it once Tash Farrant was injured in the field; Tarrant was only able to bowl five deliveries, which meant that Winfield-Hill had to turn to spin. With Farrant indisposed and her new-ball partner Marizanne Kapp forced to complete her 20 deliveries early, Litchfield and Davidson-Richards counter-attacked devastatingly, putting on 47 to take the game away from the visitors.

Davidson-Richards brought up her fifty with a slew of punches down the ground, hitting nine fours in all in her 32-ball stay, while Litchfield’s range of shots, with the signature reverse-sweep once more in evidence, was breath-taking at times, her 21-ball 29 taking her into the top three of the competition’s run-scorers.

Despite losing both batters in quick succession, the Australian pair of Annabel Sutherland and Nicola Carey steadied any nerves to see the Superchargers home with a full set still to bowl.

The Invincibles, two-times winners of the competition, will be hurting. A garlanded line-up only sporadically clicked into top gear and even today, despite a sparky knock of 37 at No.5 from Winfield-Hill, their big guns were quiet, with their top four of Paige Scholfield, Meg Lanning, Alice Capsey and Kapp contributing just 39 runs between them, as Grace Bollinger and Kate Cross set the tone with excellent new-ball spells.

Meerkat Match Hero, Alice Davidson-Richards, was relieved that they held their nerve to get the job done. “I’ll be honest, I was a bit of a wreck at the end there, pacing around with a cup of tea, just hoping the girls [Sutherland and Carey] could get us over the line. In the end it was a really great win for the team.

“Up top it was quite hard against the seamers who were swinging it around for both teams, but as I got in, it got a little bit easier. And at Headingley, it’s always a decent deck to bat on.” ends

Brief scores:
Northern Superchargers Women  127 for 3 in 95 balls (Alice Davidson-Richards 50, Phoebe Litchfield 29, Annabel Sutherland 17*,  Nicola Carey 25*; Sophia Smale 1-32, Phoebe Franklin 1-15, Amanda Jade-Wellington 1-19) beat Oval Invincibles Women  125 for 6 in 100 balls (Meg Lanning 21, Alice Capsey 12, Lauren Winfield-Hill 37, Joanne Gardner 19*, Amanda Jade-Wellington 12; Grace Ballinger 1-20, Kate Cros2-16, Annabel Sutherland 2-26,Linsey Smith 1-28)  by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]