Brave vs Rockets, Eliminator at Southampton, Women's Hundred, Sep 02 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

5.55pm: The women's eliminator served up a contest worthy of the fixture, but as ever in the Hundred there's no time to dwell: London Spirit and Manchester Originals are preparing for the men's play-off, with the winner going through to take on Trent Rockets in the final. Andrew Miller is firing up ball-by-ball, and there's just time to grab a brew before we go again. Bye!

5.38pm: Extraordinary from Nat Sciver, who demonstrated an iron temperament and some of the cleanest hitting you are likely to see to finish unbeaten on 72 off 36. The decision to give up the captaincy to concentrate on her game certainly paid dividends, but there wasn't enough support forthcoming from her team-mates, only two of whom got into double-figures. Southern Brave showed why they were the form team, finding contributions from several players, not least McGrath, who scored 31 and took two big wickets, before finally holding off Sciver at the death. Brave will go into tomorrow's final against Oval Invincibles, in a rematch of last year's decider at Lord's

Tahlia McGrath is named the Match Hero: "My heart rate's about 600, happy to get the win, happy to contribute, excited to play at Lord's. [Sciver?] I had no idea where to bowl, I pretty much only had to execute one ball but I stuffed up three, got there in the end. [Du Preez catch] Thought it was a bump ball and then everyone was celebrating around me. Bit of a fluke. We have got such a deep batting line-up, we just had to get some runs. Got a competitive total and then were able to defend it. I am so excited to play at Lord's This group has been very special to play with, one more big day hope we come out on top."

Here's Nat Sciver after getting Rockets so close: "At the moment I'm not really sure how I feel. That last five I knew I had to hit sixes. Not something that happens that naturally for me. It's hard to know when to go and when to not go. I just tried to stand still and put my bat through the line. We were really happy with it [chasing 135]. We got a bit stuck, lost clusters of wickets through the middle, so it made it hard to keep momentum. [Six-hitting] I've been practising trying to sit deep and then react to the line, and hopefully get the elevation you need. Feels clear in my head to try and get the trajectory, so that's what I was trying. Always looked to be aggressive with spin, managed to get a couple away. [Format] It's such a funny one as a batter, because it feels like every ball is pressure if you don't get it away. Stepping away from captaincy has probably helped me with my batting, and so I'm clear when I'm at the top of my mark as well. I'd been feeling I was putting pressure on myself and taking on more than I could handle. It ebbs and flows in tournament cricket. [Finding women's increased schedule?] Tough. Need to learn how to switch off when at home, not think about what's coming up. I find that quite hard."

And Anya Shrusbole, Brave captain: "That was an unbelievable display of hitting, a great innings and poss worth being on the winning side, but I'm glad it wasn't. Discussing whether she kept going for [her yorker]. Every ball, it was do we keep going, backing her best ball. I'm a big believer of that. We talked about going wide, changing the field and going wide, but that wasn't something she felt confident in. She missed three out of three but they didn't get a boundary off the last one, so I don't care. Felt like if we could get Sciver out that would kill the game, so took the decision to frontload the bowlers. But she took it down to the last five, and that's why you do it, for instances like that. Felt like if we got her out, that would have been the game. Invincibles are set up slightly differently, with Kapp, Ismail and Smale has bowled well. Our batters need to look at their options. Thought there were some poor shots, but tomorrow is another day. Some of our middle-order will say they've underperformed, but Tahlia, Maia Bouchier batted outstandingly, and Georgia Adams, I think has been one of the outstanding signings of the Hundred. Really pleased to see those three contribute, if we can put it all together tomorrow I'll be a happy captain."

Long, long conference between McGrath and her captain. Brave need one good ball, Rockets need it to go to the rope

Few more of those needed...

Superb from McGrath, just four off the set - and she's going to stay on to try and close this out. Sciver needs at least four boundaries from the next five balls

Sarah Glenn is the new batter

Rockets need 28 from 10, are we set for a grandstand finish? McGrath back, Australia's premier allrounder versus England's

Bell again

Rockets need 34 from 15, Sciver waging a one-woman war

Wellington to finish, 47 needed from 20. Abbey Freeborn the new batter