By David Williams
In a match dominated by the ball, the Oval Invincibles made it two from two, beating the Welsh Fire by 10 runs in an exciting encounter in Cardiff.
Although they only posted 113 for 9, the Invincibles’ stellar bowling unit tore through the Fire, with the hosts never looking like chasing down the modest total.
Leg-spinners Nathan Sowter (two for 12) and Adam Zampa (three for 24) starred for the defending champions, with the latter picking up his second Meerkat Match Hero award in as many games.
In the women’s clash, England star Alice Capsey followed up her opening-day 51 with a well-made 59 as Oval Invincibles defeated Welsh Fire by six wickets at Cardiff.
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Capsey hit seven boundaries in her 48-ball knock before she was brilliantly caught at long-on by Hayley Matthews off Freya Davies with 27 runs still required.
All-rounders Marizanne Kapp (26*) and Mady Villiers (11*) then took the reins to extinguish any Welsh Fire hopes, guiding Invincibles home with 12 balls to spare.
Asked to bat by Welsh Fire captain Tom Abell, the Invincibles men lost Dawid Malan almost immediately as he flicked David Willey to midwicket.
Will Jacks and Tawanda Muyeye responded well in the powerplay, but the Welsh Fire’s talented seam arsenal stuck to their task. Jacks fell victim to Josh Little, finding the hands of Mason Crane on the long square leg boundary (25 from 15), and Jake Ball and Willey removed Sam Billings and Muyeye respectively to leave the Invincibles struggling at 58 for 4 at the halfway mark.
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Donovan Ferreira (30 from 23) and Sam Curran (20 from 21) provided some resistance in the face of the Fire onslaught, but the Invincibles never really got going, with wickets continuing to fall at regular intervals, and Ball ending as the pick of the bowlers taking three for 24.
Defending 113 was always going to be a tough ask for the Invincibles, and it was made all the more so when Jonny Bairstow was dropped on four by Harrison Ward off the bowling of Saqib Mahmood.
Fortunately for Ward, Australian Spencer Johnson cleaned him up a couple of balls later.
After Curran bowled Joe Clarke with the first ball of his spell, the Invincibles spinners came to the fore. Zampa continued his good form for the Invincibles, picking up the wickets of Abell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (22 from 33) and Willey, while Sowter removed Glenn Phillips and Luke Wells.
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Some lusty hitting from David Payne (28 from 15) and Crane took the game to the final few balls, but Curran held his nerve to secure the win.
Meerkat Match Hero, Zampa, said: “It was important to start well. We needed some early wickets to get momentum going into the middle overs and the way that Spencer (Johnson) and Saqy (Mahmood) bowled was superb. It was really exciting to watch from mid-off.
“Me and Sowts (Sowter) have to play different roles throughout and me bowling more towards the back end with the run rate going up is when I can get into my work.”
“There wasn’t much pace in the wicket, there was a bit of spin if you gave it some. It was hard to score on it throughout the game.”
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