Alice Capsey inspires Oval Invincibles to Hundred victory at Welsh Fire

England international Alice Capsey followed up her opening-day 51 with a well-made 59 as Oval Invincibles defeated Welsh Fire by six wickets in front of a record crowd of 7,271 for a Women’s Hundred match at Sophia Gardens.

Capsey hit seven boundaries in her 48-ball knock before she was brilliantly caught at long-on by Hayley Matthews off Freya Davies with 27 runs still required.

Unbeaten all-rounders Marizanne Kapp (26) and Mady Villiers (11) then took the reins to extinguish any Welsh Fire hopes, guiding the Invincibles home with a score of 118 for four, with 12 balls to spare.

The Invincibles’ chase got off to a far from ideal start as they lost Lauren Winfield-Hill to the second ball of the innings, caught at cover by Tammy Beaumont off Shabnim Ismail for a duck.

Paige Scholfield (11) and Capsey did not let this early loss faze them as they played fluently to move the score along to 37 for one after 20 balls, the latter crucially being dropped at long-on by Ismail off Jess Jonassen two runs later.

Capsey survived an overturned lbw decision on 43 off the bowling of Jonassen and went on to bring up her fifty from 42 balls in a knock that included seven fours.

Outswinger

Welsh Fire won the toss and elected to bat, losing Beaumont (four) to the eighth ball of the innings, an outswinger from Kapp inducing an edge behind to wicket-keeper Winfield-Hill.

After 25 balls, the hosts had laboured to 17 for one and they soon found themselves 20 for two when Amanda-Jade Wellington struck first ball to remove the dangerous Matthews (six), caught brilliantly by Kapp running in from the cover boundary.

Sophia Dunkley made 35 from 26 balls before skying Wellington to Ryana MacDonald-Gay at long-on to top score for the home side.

Jonassen, who took over Dunkley’s role as aggressor, played enterprisingly for 32 not out from 22 balls as Welsh Fire closed their innings on a below-par 116 for five.

Meerkat Match Hero Capsey admitted her calm mentality helped her during the match, saying: “Pace on was really nice, so capitalising on that up the top in the powerplay.

“When it got a bit harder, they were bowling really well with change-ups and bowling a bit slower, me and Kappy built a partnership and knew the longer it went on, the easier it would get for the others coming in at the backend.

“I’ve been feeling in really good nick but I think the most pleasing thing for me is my calmness. I think last year I was a bit frantic. So, it’s nice to be back in this space where I can contribute to team wins.”