Stars knock out holders Vipers to reach trophy final

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Kalea Moore (left) and Alice Davidson-Richards celebrate their match-winning stand

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy semi-final, Beckenham

Southern Vipers 220-9: Harman 38, Elwiss 34, Windsor 30; Corteen-Coleman 3-33

South East Stars 221-7: Davidson-Richards 90*, Moore 52*; Elwiss 3-39

South East Stars won by 3 wkts

Alice Davidson-Richards hit an unbeaten 90 as South East Stars beat Southern Vipers to reach the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final.

The Stars were in trouble at Beckenham when Georgia Elwiss (3-39) reduced them to 131-7 with 15.3 overs left, chasing 221.

But Kalea Moore stroked an unbeaten run-a-ball 52 in an unbroken 90-run stand with Davidson-Richards as the pair guided them home by three wickets with seven balls to spare.

Earlier, Nancy Harman (39), Elwiss (34) and stand-in skipper Emily Windsor (30) had helped the Vipers recover from 36-3 to post 220-9.

The Stars will play Sunrisers, who stunned Northern Diamonds in the other semi, at the Uptonsteel County Ground in Leicester in the final next Saturday.

Vipers, who lifted the trophy 12 months ago, elected to bat first but struggled to build partnerships after Tilly Corteen-Coleman and Alexa Stonehouse removed the top three cheaply.

Five batters in the middle and lower order made starts, but none were able to reach 40 as Corteen-Coleman (3-33), Stonehouse (2-53) and Danielle Gregory (2-31) chipped away.

Alice Monaghan (26) and Harman added 48 for the seventh wicket - Vipers' biggest partnership - to help drag the total to a below-par 220-9 from 50 overs.

But the target soon looked challenging as Freya Davies (2-37) made early inroads, and when Elwiss bowled stand-in captain Kira Chathli for a first-ball duck, the hosts had subsided to 55-4.

Aylish Cranstone steadied the ship with a 29-ball knock of 27, but Vipers looked in control when Priyanaz Chatterji became Elwiss' third victim midway through the 34th over.

But 21-year-old Moore had other ideas with a well-paced knock, bringing up her fifty off 49 balls shortly before Davidson-Richards hit the winning single, her unbeaten 90 from 107 balls adding to group-stage knocks of 70, 70 and 79.