The Canterbury Magicians have overcome the Otago Sparks in Alexandra this afternoon, easing to a 76-run victory thanks to a half century from Frankie Mackay and a stifling bowling performance from their attack.
Mackay and opening partner Kate Anderson got the Magicians off to the perfect start after the visitors won the toss and chose to bat in beautiful conditions at Molyneux Park, putting on 72 for the first wicket inside the first 10 overs.
While Anderson fell for 43, Mackay continued to anchor the innings alongside Australian international Sophie Molineux. Together, the pair added another 47 runs for the second wicket, putting the Magicians in a formidable position of 119/1 in the 16th over. But when both fell within five deliveries of each other, the scoring began to sputter, and the Volts were able to restrict the visitors to 145 from their 20 overs.
But the run chase got off to the worst possible start as Bella James was dismissed by Lea Tahuhu in the first over, starting a slide that the Sparks were never able to recover from. Sparks captain Suzie Bates was the only one able to get going, but even she struggled to score freely against a formidable bowling attack featuring star internationals like Tahuhu, Molineux and Pakistan captain Fatima Sana.
After a mix-up with Hayley Jensen saw Jensen run-out, Bates skied a pull shot next ball to be impressively caught in the deep by Anderson, effectively ending any remaining chance the Sparks had of winning the game. The misery continued as Eden Carson was clean bowled by Tahuhu next ball, giving the Magicians a team hat trick. While Tahuhu missed out on her own hat trick, she still finished with excellent career-best figures of 3-10 from three overs.
Sarah Asmussen also had a day out, taking 3-16 from her four overs, while Molineux and Sana shared one apiece.
Tahuhu was named player of the match for her bowling efforts, which she put down to bowling wicket-to-wicket and keeping the stumps in play.
"I think I get a fair bit of stick for being this old now from some of the young girls in the team but it's certainly nice to still be going and performing at this age."
Magicians captain Mackay said it was nice to get back to winning ways.
"I think we had to go away after the last couple of games and have a look at how we were doing things, and the way we came out and played today, that's exactly what we've been asking for.
"To put 145 on the board you know you're in a good position. I knew it wasn't too much for that Otago side so the way our girls bowled today was just phenomenal."
Sparks captain Bates said the Magicians bowling attack was just too strong for her side.
"I think there was a little bit of indecision all day from our team. Canterbury are too good a side when you're not decisive."
The win sees Canterbury leapfrog their South Island rivals into third position on the Super Smash table.
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