Bates carries bat as Otago hammer Northern Brave

Suzie Bates carried her bat to notch her second successive 50 in another victory for the Otago Sparks in the women’s Super Smash yesterday.

The star White Ferns batter scored a classy 76 off 59 balls and looked untroubled in her 54th 50 in Twenty20 matches against the Northern Brave in Hamilton.

It was the first match of this season’s competition for the Brave and Otago were too good, winning by 61 runs at Seddon Park to go top of the table with two victories.

The Brave were missing some of their Auckland-based players, including White Ferns batter Brooke Halliday, while the city’s borders still have restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic and never seemed capable of chasing down their target of 155.

Bates is back in the Super Smash after missing last season because of a shoulder injury and has quickly found form, hitting eight fours to dominate the Brave’s bowlers, reaching her 50 from 39 balls.

She scored 64 last weekend in Otago’s opening win over the Central Hinds in Dunedin.

In reply, the Brave struggled to get going, as Otago’s Emma Black bowled 1-13 in her three overs in the powerplay, while the hosts benefited from three dropped catches.

Still, Black bowled Brave skipper Kate Anderson for 7 and Eden Carson’s sharp caught and bowled dismissed Sam Barriball for 5.

The required run rate was rising when Lucy Boucher was trapped lbw for 22 by Sophie Oldershaw and the Sparks were in complete control of the Brave’s chase.

When Nensi Patel was bowled by Kate Ebrahim for 18, the Brave were reeling on 64-4 with the rate above 12 an over.

Carson and Oldershaw strangled the Brave’s batting and when Molly Loe (2-21) had Makayla Templeton caught behind for a laboured 14 off 21 balls, they needed an improbable 79 to win from 26 balls. Loe then

removed Task Wakelin another catch for Martin.

Their chase ended with their lower order collapsing, swinging for the rope. Black finished with 2-15 as the wickets tumbled, with the hosts finishing on 92-8 from their 20 overs.

The Brave won the toss and bowled first under gloomy skies, but the sun came out as Bates and opening partner Polly Inglis (18) lifted the Sparks to 47-1 in the powerplay.

Bates anchored Otago’s innings while her batting partners were dismissed regularly, with their highest partnership for the fourth wicket worth 49, with Caitlin Blakely (16).

White Fern Katey Martin was bizarrely run out at the nonstriker’s end on a dot ball for 7 by Templeton, who bowled Ebrahim around her legs for 9.

The large boundaries led to plenty of twos as the Blaze were guilty of sloppy fielding.

Otago reached 154-5 after hitting 10 from their last over to set the Blaze a challenging total they couldn’t get close to.