A classy, unbeaten century from Felix Organ (101*) saw Hampshire Academy claim a convincing 99-run victory over an Australia Women side at the Utilita Bowl.

Organ looked in excellent touch on his way to an impressive hundred, after Brad Taylor (78) and Elijah Samuel (51) had initially given Hampshire a positive start.

The hosts finished on a commanding 344-5 from their allotted 50 overs, before Organ (3-63) then proved pivotal with the ball as Australia came up well short in their reply, despite a fifty from skipper Meg Lanning (59), finishing on 245-8.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Hampshire’s openers began well as both Taylor and Samuel looked to score quickly from the off.

The duo successfully saw Hampshire past the opening hundred inside the opening 20 overs, whilst also bringing up their respective fifties, to see hosts dominate the opening period.

Despite the loss of Samuel, Taylor continued the attack and he combined well with Jake Goodwin (43) to see Hampshire to 150-2.

Taylor’s knock came to an end shortly after, however Organ settled in swiftly to ensure to the accumulation of further runs continued at a canter. He steered Hampshire brilliantly past the 250 and as the final 10 overs began, several of the right-hander’s hard-hitting strokes soon found the boundary.

Hampshire then finished in authoritative fashion as a number of hefty blows lifted the score further until eventually concluding with an above-par total on the board.

In reply, Australia battled hard as they recovered well from the early loss of Nicole Bolton (7) to reach 76-1 thanks largely in part to Lanning and Elyse Villani (29).

Villani was quick to depart though and when another wicket fell for the addition of just 16 runs, it was left to Lanning and Alex Blackwell (54) to stage yet another recovery.

Lanning passed her deserved fifty with 30 overs gone, however she was dismissed shortly after by Andy Gorvin (1-27) and two further wickets fell to leave the away-side struggling once again at 190-6.

A 54-run partnership between Blackwell and wicket-keeper batsman Alyssa Healey (29*) ensured the score moved past 200 and the former also reached her half-century, but when Organ swiftly removed the former, any hopes of a closer finish soon disappeared as Australia ultimately fell short in their pursuit of Hampshire’s first-innings total.

Words: Will Brewster