Northern Diamonds book Charlotte Edwards Cup final place

NICK FRIEND AT THE AGEAS BOWL: After winning the toss and electing to bat, Lauren Winfield-Hill produced a match-winning knock for Northern Diamonds in a repeat of last year's Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final

Ageas Bowl: Northern Diamonds 135-6, Southern Vipers 117 - Northern Diamonds win by 18 runs

Scorecard

Northern Diamonds came through an eliminator against Southern Vipers as comfortable winners to qualify for the Charlotte Edwards Cup final against South East Stars.

Vipers finished second to Stars in their group but went through as the best runners-up, earning the right to face Diamonds in the first game of a doubleheader at the Ageas Bowl.

However, once Vipers had lost the toss and been asked to field, they were always slightly behind in a game that was shaped by the international class of Lauren Winfield-Hill and rammed home by the experience of Jenny Gunn.

Winfield-Hill struck 65 off just 49 balls, before fellow World Cup winner Gunn hit sixes off successive balls in the last over to give Hollie Armitage’s side momentum heading into the second half of a game that would hinge on the bat of Vipers captain Georgia Adams.

But when she was the second batter out in the powerplay – just four deliveries after Ella McCaughan was cleverly stumped by Bess Heath – Vipers were up against it and never quite recovered, with Diamonds’ varied bowling attack turning the screw: Georgia Elwiss, Paige Scholfield and Tara Norris managed just a single boundary between them.

Earlier, Vipers, coached by the trophy’s eponymous figure, had begun impressively and were well placed after dismissing Leah Dobson – run out – and Heath – bowled by Lauren Bell – in the opening five overs on a hybrid pitch.

Thereafter, Diamonds took control: Winfield-Hill and Armitage added 59 and, when Sterre Kalis was bowled by Elwiss as she attempted a ramp, Gunn joined her former England teammate in a streetwise stand that set up a late rally that brought 21 runs in 13 balls.

Vipers needed Adams, their prolific captain, to go big in reply, but she slapped a delivery from Gunn straight into the hands of short midwicket, with Elwiss, Scholfield and Norris all strangled by Diamonds’ varied bowling options. Only Emily Windsor, who hit Katie Levick beautifully over extra cover, was able to put the pressure back on the fielding side.

She top-scored with 32 but her efforts were ultimately in vain as Edwards’ hopes of watching her side hold both domestic trophies at once – at least until the Heyhoe Flint Trophy comes to its conclusion on September 25 – went up in smoke. Gunn finished with figures of 4 for 26, while Linsey Smith impressed in the powerplay and at the death, taking the wickets of Elwiss and Windsor – the latter with an outstanding catch of her bown bowling.