Western Storm v Central Sparks

Amy Jones and Abigail Freeborn registered impressive half centuries as Central Sparks made a winning start to their Charlotte Edwards Cup campaign, beating Western Storm by 20 runs in this Group B fixture at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.

Both scored 52 and staged a third-wicket stand of 91, while Ami Campbell smashed an unbeaten quickfire 30 from 17 balls as Sparks posted 156-4 from their 20 overs after being put into bat on a used pitch.

Storm looked to be in with a chance while Sophie Luff and Georgia Hennessy held sway in a second-wicket alliance of 57, but England pace bowler Issy Wong crucially removed the former for 43 and claimed 2-28 from four overs to swing the contest in favour of the visitors.

Former England batter Fran Wilson finished on 22 not out, only for Storm to come up some way short on 136-6.

Having won the toss and elected to field, Storm effectively starved Sparks of the oxygen of early runs, removing openers Eve Jones and Issy Wong in quick succession to put the visitors firmly on the back foot. In an eventful first over, Danni Gibson served up four wide balls down the leg side, conceded a straight-driven four to Jones and then atoned by inducing Sparks’ captain to chip to cover.

Rising England starlet Wong departed in the next over from the Cathedral Road end, attempting to evade a Lauren Filer in-swinger, only to glove a catch behind with the score on 13. Back in the fold after missing the majority of last season, off spinner Claire Nicholas sent down two naggingly accurate overs from the River end to tighten Storm’s stranglehold on the game as their opponents were restricted to 35-2 in the powerplay.

Storm then allowed an opportunity to further tighten their grip on the game to quite literally slip through their fingers, Fran Wilson dropping Freeborn on 10 at point off a cleverly-disguised slower ball from Georgia Hennessy. Sensing an invitation to escape the shackles imposed hitherto, Freeborn and Amy Jones played with increasing freedom, finding gaps in the field to score both sides of the wicket and keep the board ticking over. Permitted width, Jones in particular thrived, cutting and pulling to good effect, while Freeborn proved adept at rotating the strike in a restorative partnership which realised 50 in seven overs.

Storm skipper Sophie Luff deployed six different bowlers in a bid to break the stand, but there was no stopping Jones, who harvested 6 fours on her way to a 42-ball half century. At the point where she was required to go on and post a really imposing score, the 28-year-old permitted Storm much-needed respite, driving a length ball from Hennessy straight to Filer at mid-on and departing for 52 in the 16th over.

An alliance of 91 in 12 overs nevertheless provided Sparks with an excellent platform from which to take risks during the closing stages of the innings, and Freeborn assumed responsibility for guiding the visitors to a challenging total, raising the tempo to reach 50 from 46 balls, with 3 fours.

Yet it was new batsman Ami Campbell who took centre stage in a blistering knock of 30 from 17 balls, the experienced left-hander plundering three boundaries in one over from Filer to seize the initiative in a hugely productive alliance of 41 in 3.5 overs with Freeborn for the fourth wicket. Freeborn hit Gibson to Luff at cover in the penultimate over, but Campbell finished with a flourish, helping herself to a fourth boundary and adding a further nine runs in the final over, sent down by Hennessy.

If containment was the name of the game for Sparks, they were initially disappointed. Wong bowled too short, Potts tended to over-pitch and openers Fi Morris and Hennessy took full advantage amid a barrage of boundaries to propel Storm to 34 in 4.5 overs and afford the chase a flying start. But Sarah Glenn’s leg breaks slowed progress dramatically, Morris pinned in the crease and departing for 18, and Hennessy and new batsman Luff forced to exercise a degree of caution against the England bowler, who sent down three overs for 16 runs.

Storm’s second wicket pair prospered following Glenn’s withdrawal, with the busy Luff, in particular, forcing the issue against the seamers. At halfway, the hosts were well-placed at 66-1, requiring to score a further 90 runs at nine an over, but with crucial wickets in hand.

When Eve Jones elected to take the pace off and threw the ball to off spinner Davina Perrin, Luff and Hennessy cashed in, plundering 17 runs from a lucrative twelfth over, which served to put Storm back on the front foot.

But the entire complexion of the game changed in a trice as Storm lost three wickets in the space of just six balls for the addition of four runs. Hennessy miss-timed a drive off Hannah Baker and was brilliantly caught by Eve Jones at mid-off for 27 as Sparks opened up one end. Wong then returned from the River end to strike a double blow, having the talismanic Luff held at short fine leg for 43 and then removing the hard-hitting Gibson in similar fashion two balls later.

Coming together with the score on 95-4 in the 14th over and with the asking rate having risen to above 10 an over, Wilson and Nat Wraith had their work cut out to make up lost ground. It proved too big an ask, Wraith offering a catch behind off Potts and Katie George being run out by Amy Jones as Sparks turned the screw and the chase fizzled out.

At the close of play, Western Storm Captain, Sophie Luff said: “It’s disappointing to lose the first game, but we’re not going to dwell on it for too long. There were key moments in the game and, it’s fair to say, we came out second best in most of those. We didn’t execute our skills quite well enough at those key times and were punished for not taking our chances. It just shows how strong the women’s game has become, that there are no easy matches these days.

“The pitch was a bit on the slow side, but I actually thought they had come up 10 runs or so short, and there was a time in our innings when I felt we could do it. We were probably quite well-placed at halfway, but then we lost quick wickets and the game fell away from us. Although we bat quite a way down, we just couldn’t really get anything going for long enough to challenge their total. We’ll dust ourselves down and go again at Chelmsford and then Beckenham.”

Courtesy of our friends at Glamorgan, here is a live stream of today’s Charlotte Edwards Cup fixture: