Georgia Elwiss stars as holders Southern Vipers reach second successive Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final

Having won the silverware in the inaugural season of the 50-over tournament, Vipers topped the qualifying group with a five wicket triumph against Northern Diamonds at The Ageas Bowl, writes RAF NICHOLSON.

That ensured progression to next Saturday’s final at Northampton against group runners-up Diamonds or Central Sparks, who meet in the semi-final on Wednesday.

Georgia Elwiss steered her side home in a tricky chase for the second time in as many matches, following up the previous week’s century with a magnificent unbeaten 84 (77 balls) as Vipers chased 257 with six balls remaining.

Captain Georgia Adams had earlier led from the front with a second consecutive half-century.

Diamonds had opted to bat first but were bowled out for 256 in 48.3 overs, despite a galloping 71 from 51 balls for Bess Heath and a career-best 49 from Leah Dobson. The Northern side were pegged back early by Lauren Bell, who returned 2-29 in her 10 overs including two maidens in her opening four-over spell,.

Vipers had been 7-1 in the fourth over of their chase after Heath ran out Ella McCaughan with a direct hit from behind the stumps - revenge for McCaughan’s own two run outs in the Diamonds innings, which had seen off both Dobson and Heath herself.

Maia Bouchier (40) shared a 67-run stand with Adams to steady the ship, punching hard through the leg side, but both were caught on the ring off Phoebe Graham. Graham (3-44) also trapped Gaby Lewis LBW for 39, and Emily Windsor was run out with 31 runs still needed.

Elwiss - cheered on from the balcony of the Hilton Hotel by the England Women’s football team, who had beaten North Macedonia 8-0 at Southampton FC the previous night - finished the job in the 49th over by lofting the ball over the head of Linsey Smith for four.

Earlier, Diamonds had been in trouble at 105-4 after 30 overs, after skipper Armitage (21) played on and Bouchier, bowling for only the second time in the competition after her action was cleared in July, had Sterre Kalis (23) stumped off a leg-side wide with her first ball.

Bell’s second spell then yielded the wicket of Ami Campbell (26), caught at mid-on.

Even without the talismanic Jenny Gunn, sitting out injured, Diamonds’ middle-order proved resurgent - 84 runs were added between overs 31 and 40, including a quickfire 37 from 42 balls from Smith.

Heath grew in confidence, pulling for four to bring up her fifty before walloping two huge sixes over the leg side. But after she was run out colliding with Smith, Diamonds lost their final four wickets for eight runs.

Elwiss, in her first year with the Vipers, said: ‘It’s been a long season and getting straight through to the final has been a big ambition of ours. Thankfully we did that. ‘I’ve had some great conversations with Lottie (Vipers coach Charlotte Edwards) as well and she’s really helped me, about making sure that I’m the one that sees the team over the line.

‘I now see myself as a senior player - I’ve got to that age where I feel responsible for getting us over the line, so it’s nice to be able to do that, and the team are very happy.

‘We bowled really well for half of our overs and then we let them get away. At the halfway stage we knew it was going to be a difficult chase, but they’re missing a couple of their important bowlers so we knew if we stuck in long enough we’d be able to pick off bad balls off their lesser bowlers.

‘I’ve had a lean run of form over the summer so I felt like I needed to repay the Vipers a little bit.

‘It’s nice to spend some time in the middle and it’s amazing what happens when you give yourself a chance.’