All posts by csb10.top

CSA’s new franchise-based T20 league has been named “SA20”, Graeme Smith, the tournament commissioner, announced in a press interaction on Wednesday. He also confirmed that the player auction for the inaugural season, to be played in January-February 2023, will be held on September 19.The six teams – all owned by groups that own teams in the IPL – have already signed between two and five players apiece from a pool of marquee players as part of the direct-acquisition process. The franchises have an overall purse of US$2 million and can buy as many more players as they can, or want, with the maximum squad strength set at 17.Related

• Why Baz is more of a cricket god than you think

• SA20 auction longlist: Jayden Seales and Odean Smith enter at highest base price

• Fleming wants to bring the CSK advantage to Johannesburg in SA20

• Moeen Ali tussle epitomises arms race as ILT20, SA20 compete for cricket's star names

• Death by T20 leagues? It's real, it's coming

The money available to them at the auction will be based on what is left of the purse after acquiring the pre-auction players [the five included a maximum of three overseas players, one a South African international, and one an uncapped South African player]. In total, franchises will be permitted to sign up to seven international players and ten South Africans, with a view to fielding an XI with a maximum of four internationals and seven South Africans, the same format as in the IPL.The tournament’s fixtures will be revealed soon and will comprise 33 matches, with each team playing the others home and away, two knockout matches, and a final. Sub-Saharan African broadcasters , who own a 30% share in the tournament, also have the rights to broadcast it on the African continent but CSA are in the market for international broadcasters. They are also in discussions to ensure South Africans who only have access to free-to-air television will have some way of keeping in touch with the event, with everything from radio coverage to delayed television broadcasts up for discussion.The league is currently working through player registrations and will present the franchises with a shortlist of candidates ahead of the auction.Smith said they had received an “immense amount” of interest from players, both local and overseas, despite the calendar congestion. The SA20 will clash with both the Australian BBL and the UAE’s ILT20 as well as the BPL in Bangladesh. While the ILT20 will rely on a majority of internationals, the BBL has a similar structure to the SA20 [with a maximum of three internationals in each XI]. Player overlaps between tournaments might become inevitable.To deal with clashing contractual obligations, Smith met with organisers of the ILT20, and the two players signed to both the BBL and SA20 – Liam Livingstone and Rashid Khan – have made themselves available for only part of the BBL, because they had signed with CSA first.”The Big Bash has created a different structure where they have allowed players to play for a portion of the Big Bash. The players that have signed for our league will be there [Australia] for the first couple of days of January and then they will come across to South Africa,” Smith said. “They will be here when their team owners require them in South Africa. They will be available fully for the South African league.”The headlines have obviously been grabbed by the big international names, but the CSA’s focus is also on developing local players.”We’ve been able to attract some big international names to our league. You can see in the pre-signing with Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and the like. We’ve got some real quality but the difference for us is that we focus on South African talent as well,” Smith said. “There will be 60 or 70 SA players on a global platform with their storylines. We’ve seen how that’s benefitted Indian cricket in the IPL and it’s gone to benefit their all-format cricket. We are hoping we will be able to create the same in South Africa.”The SA20, however, has been cited as one of the main reasons for CSA downscaling on Tests in the next FTP, in which South Africa play no Test series of three or more matches in the 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle.With the prime summer period in January-February now occupied by the SA20, and the IPL due to start in mid-March, South Africa’s Test – and by extension their first-class – window will have to be earlier in the season, in September-December. And concerns around the quality of the red-ball game have already been expressed.However, Smith, also South Africa’s most successful Test captain, does not see the league as having a negative effect on the longer format.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“These are things everyone grapples with in the international game – the growth of T20 and trying to understand how all the formats fit in. It’s an interesting debate and discussion going forward,” he said. “Every year, South Africa has played a T20 tournament. Now it’s just got to a level that elevates it to a standard that we see across the world.”It will bring a lot of expertise into our game. It’s going to bring financial support that hopefully will benefit all forms of the game in South Africa and keep us relevant in the international game. We don’t see it as an issue for Test cricket. We see it as an issue of growing South African cricket and keeping it strong.”CSA will try not to have any international matches when the SA20 is on, but in the first year, it will coincide with three ODIs against England. The matches were postponed from late 2020 and form part of the World Cup Super League. South Africa lie outside the automatic qualification zone and will forfeit points to Australia in January 2023 – they are not playing those matches because it would clash with the league. So they cannot afford not to host England.In subsequent years, the FTP sees some fixture clashes with the SA20, such as an England tour in early 2026, but schedules may be tweaked to allow CSA to keep the league window free.CSA also intends to launch a women’s version of the SA20 in the future, but have not been able do it from the outset because of the T20 World Cup, which will be held in South Africa in February 2023. “It’s 100% in our plans,” Smith said. “In year one, with the Women’s World Cup starting directly post the new league, it wasn’t viable. It’s definitely in our plans to begin one as soon as possible.”

Zimbabwe denied Netherlands their third straight championship at the T20 World Cup Qualifier as the hosts defended a total of 132 to secure a 37-run win in the final in Bulawayo. Netherlands – who have already claimed a spot at the T20 World Cup – collapsed from 45 for 2 to be bowled out for 95 in 18.2 overs as Sikandar Raza’s extraordinary tournament concluded in a Player-of-the-Match performance as he took 4 for 8.The result means that Zimbabwe will go to Hobart for the opening round of the T20 World Cup in Australia this October, where they will be in a group with Ireland, Scotland and West Indies. Netherlands will be sent to Geelong for their opening round fixtures against Namibia, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates. The top two teams in each opening round group will advance to the Super 12 stage.Both teams had produced dominant performances with the bat throughout the tournament before a low-scoring thriller unfolded on Sunday in which nobody made more than the 28 off 25 balls by Sean Williams at No. 3. But along with Regis Chakabva’s 27 off 16 balls, it was significant enough to put Zimbabwe in a defendable position.Logan van Beek struck in the third over for Netherlands, bowling captain Craig Ervine, who was attempting to back away from leg stump for a booming drive, for 10. Chakabva paid the price for trying one too many reverse shots to Bas de Leede’s medium pace and was given lbw in the fifth. Wessly Madhevere was next to go, sweeping a full toss from left-arm spinner Tim Pringle out to deep midwicket for 9 to make it 54 for 3.But Williams and Raza came together for the biggest partnership of the match, adding 39 for the fourth wicket to get Zimbabwe back on solid ground. The stand finally ended when Williams heaved a half-tracker from legspinner Shariz Ahmad out to deep midwicket.Van Beek returned in the 13th and was on a hat-trick a short time later during a double-wicket maiden. A one-handed swipe to the leg side by Milton Shumba produced a swirling top edge taken by wicketkeeper Scott Edwards. Raza crossed with the ball in the air and fell on the next delivery for 19 playing across the line to a back of a length delivery and was given lbw.Zimbabwe only scored two more boundaries the rest of the innings, but both were struck by Ryan Burl to start and finish a pivotal 10-run over bowled by Fred Klaassen in the 17th. Burl was run out for 15 in the first ball of the 18th over, and the tail was wiped out a short time later with three balls left unused.Madhevere trapped Netherlands opener Max O’Dowd heaving across the line for 12 in the third over of the chase before de Leede, the hero of semi-final win over USA, became Madhevere’s second lbw victim in the space of five balls. But Netherlands recovered well from 17 for 2 to speed along to 43 by the end of the powerplay thanks to Stephan Myburgh and Tom Cooper.That was until chaos erupted in the seventh when Cooper was run out by a direct hit from short fine leg to the non-striker’s end for 9. After hitting two fours and three sixes during the powerplay, Netherlands did not find the rope again until the 17th over as spinners Raza and Williams strangled the run rate.The mounting pressure finally burst in the 10th when Myburgh was pinned in front for 22 during a wicket-maiden for Raza. Another false sweep followed from Edwards in the 11th as he top-edged Williams to short fine leg for 7.Raza then bowled Logan van Beek in the 12th for a third-ball duck before ending his spell with wickets on his final two deliveries, bowling Pringle for 4 and pinning Klaassen in front for a golden duck. Netherlands slid from 17 for 6 to 62 for 8.A late burst of sixes from Paul van Meekeren and Teja Nidamanuru off Burl’s legspin in the 17th produced a 14-run over. But van Meekeren was dismissed by Jongwe two balls into the 18th for 10 before Richard Ngarava removed Nidamanuru in the next over to end the match.Papua New Guinea defended a total of 97 to beat USA by five runs in the third place playoff at Bulawayo Athletic Club. USA needed 11 runs to win off 12 balls with three wickets in hand before captain Assad Vala struck twice with his offspin in the 19th, including No. 6 batter Vatsal Vaghela for a top score of 29 chipping a skied drive to extra cover. Chad Soper then speared a yorker into middle stump on the first ball of the 20th to bowl Yasir Mohammad for 16 to clinch a dramatic consolation win.In the fifth place playoff, Uganda held on in almost identical circumstances, defending 102 to beat Hong Kong by four runs. Hong Kong needed six runs off three balls with four wickets in hand, but Cosmas Kyewuta bowled Zeeshan Ali for 26 and then removed Ehsan Khan first ball. No. 10 batter Aftab Hussain could only manage a single after entering to face the final ball. Jersey comfortably chased down a target of 141 with 26 balls to spare to beat Singapore by six wickets in the seventh place playoff.

On the first full, rain-absent, day’s play of the Test, Sri Lanka and West Indies set up what promises to be the quintessential Galle classic. At stumps, the hosts in their second innings trail by three runs with eight wickets in hand, on a pitch that has produced 21 wickets over the past two days – though the last two will have the Dimuth Karunaratne’s side kicking themselves, both being entirely avoidable run outs.The first came as a result of an outstanding direct hit from Kyle Mayers to dismiss the captain himself, while the second was rather more self-inflicted, with Oshada Fernando hesitating in the middle of the pitch and failing to return to his crease in time.That has left Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka at the crease, on 21 and 4 respectively, with the former also nursing a knee injury that he had received treatment for on the field.Therefore going into the final two days, with rain also expected in bursts, the game is poised to go down to the wire. While West Indies will be wary of having to bat last – only two teams have chased a score higher than double-digits to win in Galle – they will be quietly confident of the ability of their batters in chasing what could end up being a modest target.Indeed, despite losing their last seven wickets for just 87 runs earlier in day, Kraigg Brathwaite would have been buoyed by how well the top order coped with Sri Lanka’s spin threat for the most part. He himself was the top scorer, hitting 72 off 185, while Jermaine Blackwood (44), Nkrumah Bonner (35) and Kyle Mayers (36) all chipped in with handy knocks to secure a 49-run lead. That could have been considerably more had it not been for the Sri Lankan spinners who, after a sub-par showing in the morning, imparted a vice grip on the visitors after lunch.Ramesh Mendis was the undoubted star for the hosts, ending with career-best figures of 6 for 70 – his first five-wicket haul in Tests – while Lasith Embuldeniya and Praveen Jayawickrama picked up two apiece. Mayers’ unbeaten 36 off 64 late on had briefly threatened to balloon the lead, but he eventually ran out of partners.Kraigg Brathwaite brought up his half-century on the third morning•AFP/Getty Images

Mendis, Embuldeniya and Jayawickrama all found better lengths after lunch and in the process dried up the scoring. They were also perhaps aided by the extra bounce afforded by the new ball, with five of the six wickets to fall in the session coming after they opted for it – the last two wickets fell swiftly after tea.That said, the most important breakthrough came at the start of second session, when Embuldeniya worked over a set Brathwaite in brilliant fashion. Having shifted to over the wicket against the right-hander, Embuldeniya peppered a leg-stump line – replete with leg slip and short leg – for the first couple of deliveries, before getting one to spin sharply past Brathwaite’s, oddly lax, forward defence. The ball proceeded to hit the top of middle stump, a dream dismissal for the left-arm spinner but one which Brathwaite could have avoided by simply padding away.That brought to an end an 85-ball 25-run stand between Brathwaite and Shai Hope, the last one of any significance. Mendis took charge of proceedings from thereon, getting rid of Roston Chase, Hope, Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva in the span of a few overs, before returning after tea to close out the innings with the wicket of Jomel Warrican.This turn of events had seemed far from likely in the morning. Indeed, such was the level of West Indies’ control that, aside from the wicket of Bonner, the only real moment of peril occurred courtesy Suranga Lakmal, Sri Lanka’s lone seamer, who got a fuller one to jag back into Bonner’s pads, only for a subsequent review to show a faint inside edge. There was also a potential catch down the leg side, also off Lakmal, that Chandimal seemed to have grassed, only for replays to show that there was no bat or glove involved.Dimuth Karunaratne is caught short of the crease•AFP/Getty Images

Those instances typified a luckless morning for the home side with Brathwaite and Bonner resolute. The Sri Lankan spinners did themselves little favours in any case, unable to extract the same turn and bounce West Indians were able to do so consistently the previous day.Much of this was down to an inability to find the right lengths, with Jayawickrama and Embuldeniya particularly culpable, far too often straying full and making it easy to smother any turn on offer. On the few occasions that they did hit a good length, both Brathwaite and Bonner were able to get bat in the way and deal with it safely. And it wasn’t long before the home side’s frustration began to show, as they began to offer more scoring opportunities, ones the West Indians were ruthless in dispatching.Brathwaite, who was quite comfortable staying back and navigating the spin late in most circumstances, was the biggest beneficiary on this front – he would end his innings with nine boundaries, and was all too happy to put away anything short, square of the wicket on either side. The pick of his shots, though, were two front-foot efforts either side of mid-on – for the first, he showed exquisite wrist work to take one that was a little fuller and steer it to the left of a straight-ish mid-on, while the second was a delightful clip to the midwicket fence.It was only following Bonner’s dismissal that Sri Lanka’s spinners rediscovered some sort of rhythm, which in the end they managed to carry over in spades for the rest of the innings.

T20 World Cup finalists Australia and New Zealand have added a three-match T20I series in New Zealand next March in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup which will run concurrently with Australia’s tour to Pakistan.Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket confirmed on Friday that the two teams will meet in three T20Is in New Zealand on March 17, 18 and 20 in Wellington and Napier. Australia will need to send a separate T20I squad to New Zealand as they did earlier in 2021 when the two teams played a five-match series while Australia’s Test team was scheduled to play in South Africa, although the Test tour was subsequently cancelled due to CA’s covid concerns.Justin Langer missed the New Zealand tour with senior assistant Andrew McDonald taking charge of the team. David Warner, Steven Smith, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood also missed the five-match series in New Zealand. All would likely miss next year’s series as well given they will be required in Pakistan with the three Tests being played between March 3 and March 25. A three-match ODI series and one-off T20I will follow in Pakistan starting on March 29.CA confirmed that once again another T20I squad would be selected without the first-choice Test players, with the Pakistan Tests taking priority. CA chief executive Nick Hockley said the series was important for both nations despite it being shoehorned into the calendar alongside the Pakistan tour.”New Zealand’s home summer schedule has been heavily impacted by the pandemic, and we are pleased to be able to support our closest neighbour with this T20I tour,” Hockley said. “As well as supporting New Zealand Cricket to host a full summer of international cricket, it will also be a great opportunity for our men’s T20 team to ramp up their preparations ahead of our home ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in October and November next year.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

NZC chief executive David White was grateful for CA’s support with New Zealand’s closed border causing issues in terms of getting teams to travel there.”The impact of Covid-19 has meant a number of changes to our schedule – and we want to place on record our thanks to Cricket Australia for agreeing to send a team across the Tasman at such short notice,” White said. “NZC and CA have always enjoyed a close relationship and we really appreciate the lengths they’ve gone to in order to help us.”New Zealand’s 2021-22 schedule
New Zealand will kick off their 2021-22 home season with the New Year’s Test against Bangladesh in Tauranga. Christchurch will host the second and final Test of the series.After that, New Zealand will travel to Australia for three ODIs and a T20I although travel restrictions could still cause complications for that tour with the opening match set for Perth on January 30. Western Australia’s border could still be closed at the point depending on vaccination rates.In February, South Africa will visit New Zealand for a two-match Test series. The games will be played in Christchurch and Wellington.That will be followed by Australia’s above-mentioned visit for three T20Is. New Zealand will end their home summer with a T20I and three ODIs against Netherlands. This will be the first time New Zealand and Netherlands will be involved in a bilateral series in any format.All four Tests will be part of New Zealand’s World Test Championship title defence, and all the ODIs through the summer will count towards World Cup Super League for automatic qualification for the 2023 edition.

A consolidated effort from bowlers, followed by contributions from Sharjeel Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Anwar Ali with the bat, helped Sindh beat Northern by four wickets.Batting first, Northern got off to a decent start putting in 27 in 3.3 overs before opener Umar Amin was dismissed, following which wickets started falling in regular intervals. The scoring rate went down, as no batter scored more than Mohammad Nawaz, who made a 30 off 34. Imad Wasim (18 off 13) and Haris Rauf (19 off 9) helped pushed the score further but Northern could only post a modest 136. Shahnawaz Dahani (3 for 26), Mohammad Hasnain (2 for 40) and Zahid Mahmood (2 for 25) were the pick of the bowlers for Sindh.Sindh were off to a strong start in the chase with Sharjeel Khan hammering 23 in the first two overs. But three quick wickets in space of nine balls meant Sindh had to take the conservative route, as Sarfaraz and Anwar batted with caution to take them to a win. Anwar hit three fours and one six in his 31 off 23 balls before falling to Haris in the 19th over with the scores level following which Sarfaraz hit the winning runs.File photo: Mohammad Rizwan taps one away•PCB

A comprehensive all-round performance from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) saw them ease past Southern Punjab (SP) by seven wickets. KP found both their bowlers and batters on song in a comfortable win that takes them top of the table.Mohammad Rizwan had opted to field first, and with arguably the best bowling attack in the league, it was easy to see why he felt confident. Imran Khan and Mohammad Wasim found themselves among the wickets early to stifle SP up front, and while Mohammad Imran tried to hold the innings together, wickets continued to fall at the other end. Shaheen Afridi, who had gone wicketless in his first spell, returned to remove the dangerous Khushdil as well as the stubborn Mohammad Imran, and aside from a breezy 14-ball 25 from Hassan Khan, there was limited resistance from the lower order as SP folded for 152.Naseem Shah gave SP some hope by getting rid of Fakhar Zaman early but, thereafter, KP assumed control. Rizwan’s breathtaking 2021 continued with another commanding, assured anchoring role in the chase, while Sahibzada Farhan took on a more pugnacious role at the other end. The duo kept SP at bay for the best part of the innings in a sensational 136-run second-wicket partnership, and by the time both fell off consecutive deliveries either side of the 17th-over mark, the game was all but done. Adil Amin and Iftikhar Ahmed knocked off the remaining runs to keep SP winless after two games.

Yorkshire 197 for 6 (Bess 45*, Abbott 3-45) vs HampshireGary Ballance continued his Ageas Bowl love affair by helping Yorkshire finish an attritional opening day of the LV= County Championship Division One clash against Hampshire on 197 for 6.Ballance, who has scored more than 1000 runs at the Southampton venue, including a Test high 156, scored 42 hard-fought runs in conditions tailor-made for seam bowling to admirably hold the innings together alongside Dom Bess. Bess hit the last ball of the day for four to be unbeaten on 45 before bad light brought play to a conclusion 10 overs before the scheduled close.On an overcast Bank Holiday Monday morning, Hampshire skipper James Vince had no hesitation in asking the visitors to bat on a green-tinged surface after winning the toss.Kyle Abbott and Keith Barker immediately posed plenty of questions for the openers Adam Lyth and George Hill, who eked out just 13 runs between them in the first 10 overs before the South African quick made the breakthrough. Having beaten the bat on numerous occasions, Abbott finally got a ball to nip back and trap Lyth on the pad for 6, with the umpire, former Yorkshire allrounder James Middlebrook, raising the finger.Despite the tough conditions and some probing bowling from Ian Holland, who conceded just four runs from his first five overs, Hill and Tom Kohler-Cadmore showed great patience and discipline to help Yorkshire reach lunch at 60 for 1. However, Hill’s good early work was undone immediately when Abbott struck with the first ball following the resumption, thumping the 21-year-old’s front pad with a delivery that would have clipped the stumps and he departed for 31.The brought Ballance, who has scored three centuries and a double-ton on his previous three visits to the Ageas Bowl, to the crease. Like his fellow batsmen he was forced to graft for every run with the floodlights turned on half-an-hour after lunch.Abbott picked up his third wicket when Kohler-Cadmore tried to break the shackles with an attempted drive down the ground but could only edge behind to Lewis McManus. Kohler-Cadmore, who ground out 20 runs from 91 balls, threw his head back in frustration following his departure as his side slipped to 84 for 3.Former England Under-19 skipper Harry Brook soon followed him back to the pavilion after playing on to a Brad Wheal ball just before tea.Ballance and Bess looked relatively untroubled, despite the scoreboard not accelerating rapidly. But just when Ballance looked to be heading towards 50 for the eighth time in 13 innings on this ground, he was dismissed in a somewhat tame fashion when he chipped Liam Dawson to Joe Weatherley at midwicket.Wheal struck again to dismiss Harry Duke for 12 to leave Yorkshire on 159 for 6 before Bess and Jordan Thompson added a potentially priceless unbeaten 38-run stand for the seventh wicket.

Big picture

In less than 24 hours between their stirring performance to eliminate Birmingham Phoenix and the final with Southern Brave, Oval Invincibles will need to have found some amazing powers of re-focus or chosen to simply ride a wave of adrenaline all the way to Lord’s.Whether the latter can sustain them for the duration of a daunting assignment against a side beaten only once in eight matches is uncertain. Whichever approach Invincibles take, the difficulty of backing up a day after winning a match that appeared beyond their grasp should not be underestimated. That said, T20 Blast sides have been doing something similar on the same day for a while now. Neverthelss, Invincibles’ tougher path gives Brave, who already looked the stronger side – certainly with the bat – even more reason to go into the title decider fresh and firing.Invincibles’ 20-run victory over Phoenix in Friday’s eliminator was built on a stellar afternoon in the field, spearheaded by a tournament-best 4 for 10 from 19 balls by the leading wicket-taker in the women’s competition, Tash Farrant, who also took a highlights-reel catch to pre-empt a Phoenix collapse of six wickets for 13 runs. Marizanne Kapp had rescued a flailing Invincibles innings with a run-a-ball 37 before claiming three wickets in support of Farrant. If they can stay sharp and extract a stronger performance from their more-than-capable but yet-to-fire batting line-up, you never know what can happen. Just ask Phoenix… but maybe wait until next season.It seems a long time since Kapp opened the inaugural season of the Hundred, bowling a leg-side wide in Invincibles’ win over Manchester Originals on July 21, sealed with an unbeaten 56 from captain Dane van Niekerk with two balls to spare which, in hindsight, signalled their fighting instinct. In that time, Southern Brave have been the tournament pace-setters with an enviable top order in Danni Wyatt, the now-departed Smriti Mandhana and Sophia Dunkley – not to mention Stafanie Taylor at No. 4. It will take all the fight Invincibles have to beat them.

In the spotlight

Gaby Lewis, the 20-year-old Ireland international has come into the Brave line-up with huge shoes to fill, drafted as a replacement for Mandhana, who forged a formidable opening partnership with Wyatt before flying home to India ahead of their tour to Australia. Lewis had an all-too-brief first outing when she managed 9 off 14 deliveries against Invincibles last Monday, chipping to mid-off when she failed to commit fully to her shot. If she can trust her gut and find her flow, she can help set Brave off to the sort of strong start to which they’ve become accustomed under Mandhana and Wyatt.Fran Wilson reached double-figures for just the third time in eight innings against Phoenix, where she had just looked like getting going with 21 off 17 deliveries when she fell to a Kirstie Gordon return catch. Her strike rate of 94.31 puts her in the bottom third of Invincibles batters and her team can ask more of their vastly experienced No. 3.

Team news

Brave have had a settled side throughout the season. Bringing Lewis in for Mandhana aside, their only other change has been to swap Tara Norris for Charlotte Taylor, the offspinner who has proven a match-winner for Southern Vipers on more than one occasion, including last year’s Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy. But, with Charlotte Taylor having claimed just one wicket from the three matches she played and with Stafanie Taylor and Fi Morris able to complement the legspin of Amanda-Jade Wellington – Brave’s leading wicket-taker – it’s hard to see them plumping for another spin option. Expect to see them keep the same side which defeated Invincibles in their last group game.Southern Brave: (possible) 1 Gaby Lewis, 2 Danni Wyatt, 3 Sophia Dunkley, 4 Stafanie Taylor, 5 Maia Bouchier, 6 Amanda-Jade Wellington, 7 Anya Shrubsole (capt), 8 Fi Morris, 9 Tara Norris, 10 Carla Rudd (wk), 11 Lauren BellOval Invincibles were unchanged between their defeat to Brave and win over Phoenix. Provided everyone pulls up fit from their exertions in the eliminator – bearing in mind Kapp has missed a chunk of Invincibles’ campaign through injury, although she looked in fine form on Friday – they could well opt to keep the same side again.Oval Invincibles: (possible) 1 Georgia Adams, 2 Dane van Niekerk (capt), 3 Fran Wilson, 4 Marizanne Kapp, 5 Alice Capsey, 6 Mady Villiers, 7 Joanne Gardner, 8 Grace Gibbs, 9 Sarah Bryce (wk), 10 Tash Farrant, 11 Shabnim Ismail.Key stats

• Between them Tash Farrant, Amanda-Jade Wellington and Anya Shrubsole hold the top four best bowling figures in an innings.
• Southern Brave own the two highest winning margins by runs for the women’s tournament, 39 runs against Welsh Fire and 30 runs against Oval Invincibles.
• Dunkley needs just six runs to overtake Jemimah Rodrigues as the tournament’s leading run-scorer, with van Niekerk just 11 runs behind her in the race to finish top.