Sunrisers Leeds 166 for 4 (Sutherland 62*, Villiers 2-25) beat Manchester Super Giants 125 for 8 (Scrivens 31, Jonassen 3-21, Sutherland 2-17, Sharma 2-21) by 41 runs
“We had to win, and it was nice to do a job for the team,” said Sutherland, who also took 2 for 17 from 20 balls and held two catches. “They came off to a pretty hot start. We knew they were going to come really hard, and that was the message to the group, to stay calm.”
Litchfield made her intentions clear after SunRisers were asked to bat, racing to 27 from 12 deliveries to leapfrog Sophia Dunkley at the top of the competition’s run-scoring charts. Her electrifying innings was brought to a halt when she miscued a drag-down from Mady Villiers but Bryony Smith (17 off 16) and Lauren Winfield-Hill (20 off 15) kept the scoreboard ticking.
Smith holed out to Villiers off Kathryn Bryce and Winfield-Hill was run out after a mix-up to leave the score 83 for 3 before Sutherland took charge, aided by a sparky cameo from Dani Gibson (24 off 13).
When Gibson fell to Villiers with 12 balls remaining, Sunrisers were handily placed at 119 for 4, and Sutherland propelled them to 166 – the highest score in the women’s Hundred at Emirates Old Trafford – by carting the unfortunate Ryana MacDonald-Gay for three consecutive sixes to round off the innings.
The Super Giants made a strong start in reply before Jonassen claimed the key scalp of Smriti Mandhana for 28, yorking her with a cleverly flighted delivery.
Grave Scrivens struck six fours in her 24-ball 31 before being stumped by Winfield-Hill off the irrepressible Sutherland (2 for 17), and Richa Ghosh departed two deliveries later after holing out to give Jonassen her second.
Bryce retired out after making 15 from 14 and even the great Meg Lanning (10 off 15) couldn’t find any momentum, bowled by Jonassen as the Super Giants laboured to 125 for 8.
On this form Sunrisers, on a four-match winning streak after a slow start to the tournament, will take some stopping as they bid to retain the title they won as Northern Superchargers last year.
