Unbeaten Quinton De Kock thwarts Northern Superchargers

The Brave’s five-wicket win, their third success of the season took them to second in the table and was secured with five balls to spare with South African batsman de Kock unbeaten on 72 alongside Chris Jordan who was 10 not out and hit the winning boundary.

After restricting the Superchargers to an under-par 128-6, on a sluggish surface in damp and cold conditions the Brave looked to be cruising to victory at 101-2.

However, spinners Adil Rashid and Adam Lyth grabbed four wickets to almost wrestle the initiative back towards the visitors before de Kock and Jordan guided their team home.

Superchargers’ Dane Villas said: “I think we were a bit light on runs in the back end there and had we had 10 or 15 more runs on the board it might have been interesting.

“We did get it close, but ultimately when Quinny (de Kock) was there it was too easy for them.

“It was a great spell from Adil and Adam Lyth, we knew they were going to be a threat on this wicket and they have been class for the whole tournament for us and they almost did the job for us again tonight.

“The pitch was difficult, it was a used wicket so it was hard to get going and unfortunately we lost too many wickets in the middle period of the innings.”

The Brave started well in the response to the visitors’ total as Ireland international Stirling thumped 20 from 12 deliveries before being caught and bowled by Brydon Carse.

Brave skipper James Vince then departed for eight after being bowled by a magnificent Rashid googly but Alex Davies and de Kock put on 51 for the third wicket to put their side in sight of victory. But the admirable Rashid took his second wicket when Davies was stumped by John Simpson for 15 before Lyth struck twice in quick succession with his off-spin to bowl Ross Whitely and New Zealand all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme to check the home side’s progress.

The Superchargers won the toss and elected to bat but got off to the worst possible start when former England opener Lyth was bowled by the first ball of the match by George Garton.

Garton produced a cracking in-swinging yorker that bowled the Yorkshireman around his pads much to the delight of the home crowd.

Big-hitting Australian Chris Lynn crashed four boundaries for his 22 before falling to Chris Jordan’s first ball of the match with Davies taking a superb catch after coming in off the boundary to dive full-length and hang on to the ball.

Danny Briggs then took the crucial wicket of talismanic Superchargers skipper David Willey, who had looked in good touch for his 24 off 18 deliveries as the visitors slipped to 63-3 after 48 balls.

The visitors quickly slumped to 76-5 after 64 balls as in-form Harry Brook and Simpson perished cheaply.

Brook fell for 14 when he smashed Jake Linton down the throat of Jordan who took a simple catch, with Simpson playing an awful reverse sweep shot from a poor delivery by Briggs to fall for just three.

The Brave bowlers continued to keep the visitors in check with Tymal Mills in particular impressing, conceding just one boundary from his 20 balls to finish with figures of 1-17 and taking the wicket of Ben Raine for 18.

Vilas was unbeaten with 35 for the Superchargers, who finished their innings on 128-6 - a total always looked under-par.

Earlier, a superb 50 from Sophia Dunkley kept Southern Brave on top of the women’s Hundred table in a rain-affected clash with Northern Superchargers.

Needing to score 89 from 75 balls after the Superchargers’ push for a competitive target was curtailed by rain over Southampton, Dunkley and Maia Boucher got their side over the line with 13 deliveries to spare.

Put in to bat, the Superchargers started well with Lauren Winfield-Hill and Jemimah Rodrigues putting on 33 for the first wicket.

But Winfield fell for a run-a-ball 14 when she was caught behind by Carla Rudd off Tara Norris with Rodrigues, the competition’s top run scorer, perishing for 18 shortly after Bouchier took a sharp catch off Lauren Bell.

Laura Wolvaardt was unbeaten on 21 and Alice-Davidson-Richards 17 when heavy rain brought proceedings to a halt for an hour and the Brave easily chased down their truncated target to extend their lead at the top of the table.