Welsh Fire crash to seventh straight defeat as Northern Superchargers cruise to victory

Ben Duckett had earlier hit the Fire’s first half-century of the tournament in his unbeaten 64 to squeeze them above 100 but openers Lyth and Du Plessis were destructive, putting on 75 for the first wicket before both were removed by Ish Sodhi for 47 and 32 respectively.

Having won the toss and opted to bat, Welsh Fire struggled in the powerplay once again as the recalled Tom Banton toiled before being caught behind for six off Craig Miles, while Joe Clarke skied David Wiese to cover for 14.

Matt Critchley holed out to deep mid-wicket for three off the bowling of Adil Rashid, who continued his streak of taking a wicket in every match of the Superchargers’ 2022 tournament, finishing with one for 17.

David Miller’s wicket epitomised the season the Fire have had, dragging an inside edge onto his stumps for three to hand Miles his second wicket, leaving the Fire 53 for four after 57 balls.

Consistency

Duckett had been the only Fire batsmen to find anything close to consistency in this summer’s competition and he rebuilt the innings alongside Leus Du Plooy, who made an unbeaten 21 from 15 balls, the pair finally pushing the Fire’s rate above one run per ball in the 74th after Duckett pulled successive boundaries.

He then accelerated to 64 off 48 balls, scoring eight of the side’s 11 boundaries.

The Superchargers bowled straight lines from wicket-to-wicket, with Miles the most expensive of the bowling attack in his two for 30. Wayne Parnell bowled smartly and was unlucky to end wicketless, as was David Willey, whose tight line was difficult to work away.

Lyth got the Superchargers off to a blistering start with four boundaries that included a huge six through mid-wicket, racing to 22 off just nine balls.

The opener seemed to be batting on a different pitch to everyone else at Sophia Gardens, picking up six boundaries in the powerplay to push his side to 42 for no loss, where Fire had managed to reach just 22 for one.

Du Plessis took a while to get the strike off Lyth but got going eventually to bring his side to within 50 runs of their target.

Brilliant bowling from Sodhi saw him pick up the wickets of both openers in consecutive sets, removing Lyth caught behind for 47 and Du Plessis in the deep for 32 to finish with impressive figures of two for 14.

Wiese was run out and Adam Hose bowled by Critchley, but Willey and Harry Brook steadied the ship to ensure the Superchargers moved level with Southern Brave before they meet at Headingley on Wednesday.

The Fire will be hoping to avoid losing all eight of their 2022 matches when they travel to title-chasing Trent Rockets on Monday.