The home side appeared to have the chase in hand with five overs remaining.
The Sparks had posted 136 for five which was arguably 15 runs light on a decent surface at Hagley Oval.
Canterbury was nicely placed at 94 for four. But off-spinner Eden Carson struck twice in the next over to put her side in command.
She finished with three for 17 in what was a wonderful spell.
Kate Ebrahim was instrumental with the ball as well. She also nabbed three, including the final wicket, to fall to wrap up Canterbury’s innings for 124.
Suzie Bates (47) and Katey Martin (38) put on 70 for the second wicket, and opener Polly Inglis clouted 23.
Sparks coach Craig Cumming said Canterbury got off to a rapid start but ‘‘Carson came on, got Amy Satterthwaite who was starting to look really dangerous and was hitting the ball well’’.
‘‘Then Suzie made a really good call to bowl Molly [Loe] for a third over ... who managed to get Frankie Mackay lbw and that pulled the game back,’’ he said.
The Sparks have won all five games and sit on top of the Super Smash standings.
The next assignment is against Wellington in Queenstown tomorrow and the Blaze are also unbeaten in four games.
The Sparks made a quiet start.
Dot balls create a silent pressure which build towards an explosive end.
That end can come in the form of a wicket, a boundary or sometimes both. And both it was.
Inglis used her feet to win the battle eventually. She moved around the crease to access different areas of the ground and got the ball to the rope four times.
But there were plenty of dot balls in the mix early and ultimately she danced past a delivery from Missy Banks and was stumped.
Martin joined Bates in the middle and the vastly experienced duo set about expanding on a useful platform.
Bates stroked an on-drive down the ground which sped to the boundary despite a fielder getting a large part of her hand in the way.
Martin adopted a more muscular approach at the other end. She was winding up and swinging hard, sometimes at the expense of timing and placement.
Subtlety is overrated anyway. It is how many which really counts.
The partnership had reached 70 when Martin, who had just hit back-to-back fours, was bowled.
The Sparks were 107 for two with five to go and probably should have pushed on to post 150.
But Canterbury rallied. Banks and Mackay hustled through a cheap over each.
Banks removed the dangerous Bates three shy of a half-century. The batter had shuffled across to off-stump looking for an angle, but only managed to dragged it on.
Bella James and Olivia Gain teamed up to take 13 off the last over. Gain lofted the last delivery for six which would have felt good.
