Match Preview: South East Stars v Southern Vipers, RHFT Semi-Final

South East Stars v Southern Vipers

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy Semi-Final

Saturday 14^th September 2024 (10:30am start)

Beckenham

Southern Vipers travel to Beckenham as they bid to reach every single final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy since the tournament began in 2020.

They go into the semi-final off the back of four straight defeats since The Hundred, and slipped from the top of the table down to third.

In a heavily rain-affected match at Utilita Bowl, the Vipers were five runs shy of victory by DLS against Sunrisers.

Naomi Dattani’s 5-51 was the standout as she became only the third Viper to claim five wickets in an innings.

South East Stars trounced Northern Diamonds at the Riverside, Chester-le-Street as the 2022 champions were skittled for 119 in pursuit of 276.

Alice Davidson-Richards, no selected for England Women’s tour of Ireland, top scored with a run-a-ball 79 before Alexa Stonehouse claimed career-best figures of 4-27 with Kalea Moore picking up 3-10.

The last match between these two sides saw Freya Davies have the ball on a string when she took 4-14 at Falkland CC, before Charli Knott’s 57* helped the Vipers to a seven-wicket win inside half of their allotted overs.

Saturday’s match will be the second time these two sides have met in a knockout match this season, as they faced off in the first semi-final of the Charlotte Edwards Cup back in June.

Southern Vipers Squad

Southern Vipers have named a 14-player squad.

Club captain Georgia Adams is unavailable as she is on international duty for England Women’s IT20 series in Ireland.

Emily Windsor will take the reins for tomorrow’s match.

South East Stars

Captain: Bryony Smith

Kira Chathli is set to captain South East Stars as their club skipper, Bryony Smith, is in Ireland alongside Georgia Adams for England Women’s two-match IT20 series on 14^th and 15^th September in Dublin.

They have experience in all-rounder Alice Davidson-Richards, their leading run scorer, but will miss having their leading wicket-taker – Ryana MacDonald-Gay – along with Paige Scholfield and the aforementioned Smith.

In their previous match, young all-rounder Emma Jones stepped up with 47 in the middle order, whilst 19-year-old left-armer Alexa Stonehouse has 13 wickets to her name, and is more than capable with the bat as well.

2024 Season In Numbers:

• 2^nd in RHFT
• Form (most recent first): WWWLW
• Leading run scorer: Alice Davidson-Richards (467)
• Leading wicket taker: Ryana MacDonald-Gay (21)

Head-To-Head:

Southern Vipers’ record in Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy matches v South East Stars:

Recent Meetings:

• July 10 2024 | Falkland CC | Vipers won by seven wickets (DLS with
• April 20 2024 | Beckenham | Stars won by four wickets (with three balls remaining)
• September 13 2023 | Utilita Bowl | Vipers won by 58 runs
• April 29 2023 | Beckenham | Vipers won by 158 runs
• September 21 2022 | Beckenham | Vipers won by six wickets (with 96 balls remaining)

Tickets

Tickets for South East Stars v Southern Vipers are free.

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 Beckenham: https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2656065.