From: Ed Mace
Leeds, 9 August 2026:
Sunrisers Leeds comfortably saw off the Welsh Fire in a must-win encounter for both sides, winning by six wickets with 26 balls to spare in Leeds on Sunday.
Phoebe Litchfield was the aggressor in the chase, her 55 off 25 giving her team the chance to qualify for the Eliminator on Friday if they can beat local rivals Manchester Super Giants.
It brought an end to the tournament for the Fire, who went out with a whimper on both sides of the ball.
Winning the toss and putting the Fire into bat, Sunrisers restricted their opponents to 121-8, despite a magnificent display of power hitting from Freya Kemp who was unbeaten on 72 from 45 deliveries.
Kemp proved to be the only batter to eclipse 16, with six fours and three sixes including two off Annabel Sutherland who had also put down Kemp on two occasions.
Spin proved the key in the bowling innings as Deepti Sharma and Hannah Baker combined for 5-28. It left the Fire under-par on a ground where the average score in the first innings was 131.
The Fire could only extract the one wicket in the Sunrisers’ powerplay, Grace Potts removing Bryony Smith for a duck in the opening set of the chase.
From then the hosts never looked back as Lauren Winfield-Hill and Litchfield put together a brisk 55 run partnership off 31 deliveries which meant the chase required a run a ball by the time Winfield-Hill was bowled by Sophia Smale.
Both spin and pace were dispatched across the ground by Litchfield who made brilliant use of the straight boundaries before unleashing a range of sweeps to get to a strike rate of 220.
Her runs took her to the top of the batting leaderboard for this year’s edition of The Hundred with 262 across her seven innings.
Litchfield had another strong partnership with Aussie counter-part Sutherland who made up for her poor display in the bowling innings with 28 off 18.
By the time Litchfield was dismissed off the bowling of Georgia Wareham, Sunrisers needed just 31 off 48 which they completed at a canter.
With their batting firepower and their bowling versatility along with tournament experience, the Sunrisers will be hoping they can deliver a similar performance on Tuesday where a win would land them either second or third in the table, depending on the result for the Southern Brave.
Scores in brief:
Sunrisers Leeds Women beat Welsh Fire Women by six wickets
Welsh Fire Women 121-8 (Freya Kemp 72, Georgia Voll 16; Deepti Sharma 3-16)
Sunrisers Leeds Women 122-4 (Phoebe Litchfield 55, Annabel Sutherland 28; Sophia Smale 2-23)
Player of the match – Phoebe Litchfield
