Match Report provided by the ECB Reporters Network
Western Storm’s Heather Knight smashed 66 in preparation for England’s series with New Zealand as they defeated Sunrisers in the Charlotte Edwards Cup by 11 runs.
The England captain secured back-to-back fifties to develop a 74-run partnership with Emma Corney and set the game for Storm. However, the away side’s batting innings was restricted by Sunrisers’ Sophie Munro, whose four wickets led to a late Storm collapse.
Jodi Grewcock top-scored for Sunrisers, with 40 but Storm easily held the hosts to 131 at the Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford.
Sunrisers were condemned to bottom place, while Storm ended the tournament in seventh - though it was known before the game that both teams were unable to progress to Saturday’s finals day.
A strong partnership between Emma Corney and Knight saw Western Storm complete a comfortable innings after winning the toss and electing to bat.
Corney opened the batting alongside Danielle Gibson, who hit three fours before being caught by Surenkumar.
This led to the introduction of Knight, who formed a strong partnership with Corney, resulting in 74 runs off 60 balls which shaped the bulk of the Storm innings.
Knight impressed most with the bat, scoring 66 runs from 42 balls - with eight boundaries, including the only six of the innings, contributing to this tally - before being stumped on the final ball of the final over.
The wicket of Corney, who was caught out four runs shy of her first T20 half-century for Storm, was a key turning point in the innings, with six wickets lost for 41 runs in the final six overs.
Munro, on loan from The Blaze, enjoyed her career-best T20 bowling performance of four for 23 - three of which were caught - as Storm reached 142 for seven.
Sunrisers began their batting innings with intent, hitting nine boundaries in the first seven overs.
Captain Grace Scrivens hit some valuable runs for Sunrisers, striking 26 off 16, before being caught by Issy Wong.
Jo Gardner smashed 24 runs, including three fours in a row, before following the trend of the game by getting caught out - though this time on the square-leg boundary.
Sunrisers reached the halfway stage at 71 for four, but couldn’t accelerate to the required total.
Grewcock held firm for an impeccable 40 off 34 balls but she couldn’t find a partnership to challenge Storm, with Sunrisers eventually 11 runs short of victory.
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