Northern Superchargers secured their first Women’s Hundred title at Lord’s on Sunday after defeating Southern Brave by seven wickets, thanks to an unbeaten 35 off 25 balls from Nicola Carey.
Carey, who was drafted into the tournament partway through as an injury replacement for Georgia Wareham, described the past two weeks as a “whirlwind”. “It’s pretty wild,” the Australian said.
“A couple of weeks ago I was back home in Tasmania doing a cold pre‑season. You get a message one night, a day and a half later you’re on a plane, and then a day and a half later you’re on the field.”
The final was a rematch of the 2023 game which Brave won comfortably, while this season the Southampton‑based side had enjoyed a faultless procession to the final, winning all eight of their group-stage matches. But Brave faltered at the last after being put in to bat by a Superchargers side high on confidence following their 42-run hammering of London Spirit in the eliminator on Saturday.
Kate Cross quickly found herself on a hat-trick, Sophie Devine and Freya Kemp both holed out in the 20s, and Brave’s captain Georgia Adams was run out after hitting the ball straight back to the bowler Cross and dashing out of her ground. Brave put just 115 runs on the board.
“A final’s a final and you’ve got to go into that on a fresh start, wipe what’s happened away,” Adams said. “We didn’t hit our straps early enough with the ball today and put enough pressure on them.”
Brave had defended a total of 106 three days ago at Southampton against Welsh Fire, but Superchargers are a far stronger batting side. The world’s leading proponent of the switch-hit, the 22-year-old Australian left-hander Phoebe Litchfield, once again showcased her extraordinary talent, with two of her five boundaries hit from a right-handed stance. She was ultimately undone with a conventional sweep which ended up in the hands of Lauren Bell at short fine leg, but by the time she was dismissed – shortly after a 15-minute rain delay – the equation was down to a run a ball and an unbeaten partnership of 60 from 24 balls between Carey and Annabel Sutherland saw Superchargers home with 12 balls to spare.
Superchargers enjoyed their fair share of luck – Chloe Tryon could have seen off Carey lbw first ball had Brave referred the not-out decision to the third umpire, while Bell actually clipped the top of Sutherland’s stumps but failed to dislodge the bails – but the pair remained unbeaten to the end, Sutherland sealing the win in style with a six lofted over long-on.
Whatever happened in the final on Sunday was scarcely going to eclipse the events of 24 hours previously, whereby the 18-year-old prodigy Davina Perrin struck a once‑in‑a-lifetime century to propel Superchargers into the final, and herself into England contention.
All eyes were on Perrin as she walked out to the middle at Lord’s and continued where she had left off with back-to-back boundaries against Bell, including disdainfully ramping her bouncer – the shot of a supremely confident player who has just played the innings of her career.
“It was a ridiculous innings,” Carey said. “She’s got so much talent. Who knows, next summer we might see Dav up in lights here in a World Cup final for England.”
There was a sigh of disappointment around the ground when Perrin skied a catch to mid-on for just 17. But while she could not quite match her mammoth efforts of the previous day, she can look back with satisfaction on an innings which launched her side to an odds-defying Hundred title.
Perrin’s innings may also have wider significance, showcasing the quality of the Women’s Hundred at a time when female players are anxious about their future in a tournament now with a new set of owners who are making noises about possible changes to the double-header format, team names and player-selection process.
“We absolutely love playing it, we love the format, we love playing alongside the men,” Adams said. “The nature of what we’re doing now is you’ve just got to roll with what’s happening, roll with the changes, be open to change. But everyone feels like it’s just starting to take off. Hopefully they don’t change too much, but we’ll just have to wait and see what’s thrown at us.”
