Wareham, Potts helps Welsh Fire end campaign on winning note

Welsh Fire won their third home game out of four and sealed a fifth-placed finish in the Hundred by beating London Spirit by 15 runs in a dead-rubber at Sophia Gardens.

Fire got off to a fast start when asked to bat first and took advantage of the absence of Marizanne Kapp to go 49 for 1 in the powerplay. Georgia Voll struck four early boundaries and Freya Kemp carried on the form she showed when hitting an unbeaten 45-ball 72 against Sunrisers Leeds on Sunday.

She powered her way to 26 off 14 balls with five crisp fours but her dismissal, followed by that of Sarah Bryce, with the score at 74 at the halfway mark, saw things slow dramatically. In the second half, Grace Harris, Nadine de Klerk, and Charis Pavely all bowled well, but skipper Charlie Dean led the way with figures of 2 for 18 off 20 balls to at least partially put an end to the Fire.

Captain Georgia Wareham ensured the strong start was not in vain, however, dominating the tail end of the innings as she struck a 34-ball half-century - including 22 from her last eight balls - to take her team up to what seemed a defendable 138 for 7.

When Spirt batted there was an end-of-term feel about proceedings, Harris departing for another single-figure score in a disappointing campaign and Marie Kelly following first ball, both falling to Grace Potts who bowled the first ten balls to take 2 for 4. Potts was once more the destroyer after Orla Prendergast bowled five, eliminating Amy Jones to leave herself with a tidy 3 for 9 off 15 balls.

Pavely dented Potts' figures somewhat with three successive fours as she and Dean rebuilt but Fire kept chipping away as the required run rate spiralled.

Seren Smale and Deandra Dottin, in at No. 8, briefly threatened something special as the West Indian deposited Wareham for six but the ask was too great and the Spirit finished a dispiriting campaign by losing by 15 runs, Prendergast, Sophia Smale and Heather Graham all taking two wickets to add to Potts' three.

Potts, named player of the match, said: "It's always nice to start well and put the team in a good position coming out of the powerplay. I just tried to bowl my best ball as there was a little swing up top.

"When we have put a performance in, we have challenged the best teams. I am going to take a lot of confidence from this season. We could not qualify but it was really important for us to put up a nice performance today."