The Otago Sparks climbed back to the top of the Super Smash standings with a 15-run win against Canterbury at Hagley Oval last night.
Shikha Pandey threatened to steal victory away at the death with a hard-hit 37 from 23.
But the Sparks had put on 150 for five and that proved too many. Canterbury finished up at 135 for eight.
Olivia Gain top-scored for the Sparks with a career-best 48 while birthday girl Caitlin Blakely notched 43 from 33.
And Sparks captain Hayley Jensen took two for 22 in a tight spell to help seal the win.
But it look dodgy early on. Pandey got the prized wicket of Suzie Bates cheaply.
The veteran White Ferns opener had a swat at a short delivery and succeeded only in edging it to the keeper for nine.
The 37-year-old started the campaign with a half-century but has since strung together three single-figure scores.
Fellow opener Bella James played several scorching shots but sliced an edge to Gabby Sullivan for 16.
Gain and Blakely, who was celebrating her 29th birthday, set about rebuilding the innings and changing the game.
Gain dispatched a couple of boundaries through the backward point region and glanced another off her pads to the rope at fine leg. She lofted another over extra cover.
Blakely used placement rather than power and rotated the strike nicely for Gain, who was looking to crunch most deliveries.
But she was denied a maiden half-century when she slogged a drive straight back to Australian spinner Madeline Penna.
Her knock was the backbone of the innings.
Blakely kicked on, taking back-to-back boundaries off old team-mate Kate Ebrahim. Polly Inglis lofted another to long-off to help scored 15 off the penultimate over.
Blakely’s fine knock came to end when she was trapped lbw in the last over. But Anna Browning brought up the team 150 with a lap shot for four.
Canterbury’s chase suffered an early triple setback. Jodie Dean was trapped in front for a duck.
Penna picked out the fielder in the leg side and went second ball, also without scoring. And Izzy Sharp was caught by Bates who dived forward and scooped up a good catch.
Opener Kate Anderson was marooned at the non-striker’s end for most of the power play.
The required run rate kept climbing and spinner Eden Carson rushed through some inexpensive overs.
By the halfway stage, Canterbury was 49 for three and badly lagging behind.
Anderson shifted to boundary mode, but in the rush to get back on strike she ran out Ebrahim for 10.
Ebrahim’s departure brought the dangerous Pandey to the crease. She smacked 63 from 48 in her last outing against the Sparks. But the task got tougher when Anderson holed out for 43 at long-on.
Pandey was threatening with some superb ball-striking. But the home team needed 21 off the last over and the veteran Indian all-rounder fell victim to the rocket arm of Carson when desperately trying to return for a second run.
Jensen closed the game out with a tight final over.
OTAGO
S Bates c Hughes b Pandey 9 (14)
B James c Pandey b Sullivan 16 (16)
O Gain c & b Penna 48 (42)
C Blakely lbw Banks 43 (33)
P Inglis not out 19 (14)
F Robertson run out (Gerken) 1 (1)
A Browning not out 4 (2)
Extras (5lb, 3w, 2nb) 10
Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs) 150
Fall: 1-22, 2-41, 3-99, 4-142, 5-144
Bowling: M Banks 4-0-34-1 (1w), S Pandey 4-1-19-1 (2w, 1nb), G Sullivan 4-0-31-1 (1nb), M Penna 4-0-26-1, K Ebrahim 4-0-35-0.
CANTERBURY
K Anderson c Blakely b Gordon 43 (37)
J Dean lbw Black 0 (3)
M Penna c Black b Jensen 0 (2)
I Sharp c Bates b Jensen 11 (10)
K Ebrahim run out (Robertson/Bates) 10 (23)
S Pandey run out (Carson) 37 (23)
N Cox run out (Carson) 16 (13)
A Gerken not out 4 (5)
L Hughes run out (Carson) 2 (2)
M Banks not out 1 (2)
Extras (5b, 1lb, 5w) 11
Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 135
Fall: 1-3, 2-4, 3-16, 4-64, 5-73, 6-112, 7-131, 8-134.
Bowling: E Black 4-1-21-1 (2w), H Jensen 4-0-22-2 (2w), E Carson 4-0-23-0, K Gordon 4-0-26-1, F Robertson 2-0-17-0, S Bates 1-0-11-0 (1w), A Browning 1-0-9-0.
Result: Otago won by 15 runs.
