Sunrisers Leeds men and women triumph over Welsh Fire in the Hundred
Both Leeds teams managed important wins over the weekend.
Phoebe Litchfield hit a half-century as Sunrisers Leeds kept alive their semi-final hopes in the women’s Hundred with a comfortable six-wicket win which eliminated Welsh Fire.
In a must-win game for both sides, Fire were fortunate to reach 121 for eight after being put into bat at Headingley as top scorer Freya Kemp was dropped three times during an unbeaten 72 off 45 balls.
Annabel Sutherland fumbled a straightforward catch at mid-off to reprieve Kemp on just six and later squandered another major opportunity at long-off.
Sunrisers all-rounder Deepti Sharma took three for 13 and would have claimed four wickets had Kemp not been dropped again on 62, this time by Cassidy McCarthy at deep cover.
The chase got off to a bad start when Bryony Smith was dismissed for a duck from the third ball, before Litchfield contributed 55 off 25 deliveries, including six fours and three sixes.
Australian Sutherland partly redeemed her poor performance in the field with 28 off 18 before a four from Jess Jonassen secured victory with 26 balls remaining.
For the men - Mitchell Marsh’s half-century and three wickets from Brydon Carse helped Leeds take a big step towards the men’s Hundred eliminator with a crushing 71-run victory over Fire.
Australian Marsh hit eight boundaries, including three sixes, in a 34-ball 50 as he shared an opening partnership of 89 with Ryan Rickelton at Headingley.
South African Rickelton made 40 off 22 deliveries for the second-placed Sunrisers, while Harry Brook (23), captain Zak Crawley (34) and Dan Lawrence (29) contributed towards a total of 201 for four.
Opener Matthew Short top-scored for Fire with 43 before being caught by Brook as Carse, who finished with figures of three for 24, claimed his second wicket after removing Phil Salt for 13.
Joe Root added 31 from 22 balls but the visitors fell well short, finishing on 130 for six as their hopes of a top-three finish suffered a major setback.