Match Preview: Central Sparks v Southern Vipers, RHFT

Central Sparks v Southern Vipers

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy

Friday 30^th August 2024 (10:30am start)

Visit Worcestershire New Road

Southern Vipers hit the road to Worcester where they play Central Sparks, looking to bounce back from defeat to The Blaze at Arundel Castle on Bank Holiday Monday.

Ava Lee was the star of the show, as the birthday girl took career-best figures of 4-51 to help bowl The Blaze out for 208.

Rhianna Southby then hit her Vipers-best of 36 in a new role opening the batting, but the Vipers fell 20 runs short despite Emily Windsor’s 41.

Central Sparks trounced Western Storm in their most recent game, with skipper Eve Jones smashing 130 and Hundred champion Abbey Freeborn scoring a quickfire 89* on their way to 297-3.

Spinner Georgia Davis then took 6-23 from ten overs to help skittle the hosts for 152.

Southern Vipers Squad

Southern Vipers have named a 14-player squad.

Rebecca Tyson, a slow left arm bowler, is a new addition to the squad having signed a PAYP (Pay As You Play) contract until the end of September.

The Hertfordshire bowler has had a successful season with Sunrisers 2^nd XI having taken 13 wickets at an average of 16 with a best of 4-18. In July, she picked up 3-19 against the Vipers, taking the wickets of Abi Norgrove, Nancy Harman, and Ava Lee.

Central Sparks

Captain: Eve Jones

The Sparks may be knocked out of semi-final contention, but they will be desperate to lift themselves off the bottom of the table, and they made a statement in their 152-run victory against Western Storm.

Captain Eve Jones leads from the front with the bat and is one of the form players this season with 429 runs to her name – the third most in the competition, and only seven behind Seren Smale in first place.

A strong middle order of exciting youngster Davina Perrin, the powerful Abbey Freeborn, and the talented Katie George, is a very watchable group of players, whilst the spin trio of Hannah Baker, Georgia Davis, and Charis Pavely look to do the brunt of the damage with the ball, with Grace Potts providing swing and pace up front.

2024 Season In Numbers:

• 8^th in RHFT
• Form (most recent first): WLLAL
• Leading run scorer: Eve Jones (429)
• Leading wicket taker: Hannah Baker (14)

Head-To-Head:

Southern Vipers’ record in Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy matches v Central Sparks:

Recent Meetings:

• April 24 2024 | Wormsley | Vipers won by seven wickets (with 67 balls remaining)
• May 10 2023 | 1^st Central County Ground | Sparks won by six wickets (with 46 balls remaining)
• May 1 2023 | Wormsley | Vipers won by three wickets (with 47 balls remaining)
• July 2 2022 | Edgbaston Foundation Ground | Vipers won by seven wickets (DLS method with two balls remaining)
• June 5 2021 | 1^st Central County Ground | Central Sparks won by 120 runs

Tickets

Tickets for Central Sparks v Southern Vipers are available from just £5 for adults and £1 for juniors.

To secure your place at Visit Worcestershire New Road, click here.

Match Coverage

A live stream will be available for the match, and a link to the stream will be available in the free-to-download Hampshire Cricket App and at www.utilitabowl.com/cricket.

Both the Hampshire Cricket App and www.utilitabowl.com/cricket will also host a live match centre with scorecard, statistics and insight available throughout the match.

Weather Forecast

Please follow the link to view the latest weather forecast for Worcester: https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2633563.