Suzie Bates hit a sensational unbeaten 119 as champions Southern Vipers beat Loughborough Lightning by 46 runs in Derby to make it two wins from two in defence of their Kia Super League title.
The 29-year-old New Zealand captain hit 15 fours and four sixes as Lightning paid a heavy price for Australian star Ellyse Perry’s dropped catch when she was on 39.
For good measure, Bates took three wickets with her medium pace and held a brilliant catch on the boundary as Lightning were bowled out for 134.
The innings is among the biggest in women’s Twenty20 cricket at the highest level. Australian Meg Lanning’s 126 against Ireland in 2014 is the highest individual score in international T20s, while the biggest so far in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League is Sophie Devine’s 103 not out for Strikers Women against Hurricanes Women.
Perry put Bates down off her own bowling, throwing out her right arm in her follow-through as the ball was driven back down the pitch but failing to hold on to the chance. It was a sharp opportunity but Perry was furious with herself for letting it slip.
And how Bates made Perry and her teammates suffer as Vipers amassed 180 for two from their 20 overs, the biggest total so far in the Kia Super League, in its second season.
The tall right-hander raced to 53 off just 30 balls as Vipers broke the KSL’s Powerplay record at 63-0, Bates launching sixes big enough to clear even the deeper boundary marker in position for the men’s game in the NatWest T20 Blast that followed.
It wasn't until the tenth over that Lightning made a breakthrough as Hayley Matthews holed out to Elyse Villani at long-on, the only other moment of celebration for the home side came when Thea Brookes ran out Georgia Adams with a direct hit from extra cover.
But there was no stopping Bates, who easily passed the previous highest individual KSL score – Dane van Niekerk’s 91 for Loughborough Lightning last year.
That milestone came during a Perry over which saw Georgia Adams caught off a full toss that was ruled a no-ball for height. Soon after hitting her 15th four, Bates completed her century with her 63rd delivery, a push into the offside off Kristen Beams, and she celebrated with her fourth six.
Well batted @SuzieWBates!! #worldclassplayer #KSL2017
— Dane van Niekerk (@danevn81) August 15, 2017
Lightning’s reply began disastrously as Villani, their key top-order bat, was run out at the non-striker’s end off just the fourth ball as left-arm seamer Tash Farrant deflected a drive by Amy Jones into the stumps.
Villani, who missed Lightning’s opening match with a shoulder injury, was gone for one, and when Perry was run out for six the home side’s position already looked irretrievable at 25 for three. Skipper Georgia Elwiss (32), Derbyshire’s Sarah Glenn (25), and Brookes (24), offered glimpses of talent with some good hitting in reply, but the target was always a distant hope.
Beaten in both their opening matches, Lightning – semi-finalists last year – face a tough task to qualify for finals day this year. To rub salt in their wounds, all-rounder Paige Scholfield has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament after she broke a thumb in the defeat by Western Storm last Saturday.
Stay up to date with all the goings on in the competition – including tickets, fixtures, results and team news – using our dedicated Kia Super League section.