VicSpirit rookies lead the way

Leg-spinner King claimed 4-28 from 7.3 overs while Dempsey top-scored, for the second successive match, with 43 (58).

After being sent in by Victoria, ACT got off to a flying start, racing to 2-101 before King entered the attack.

She removed ACT’s key player, WNCL and WT20 representative Zoe Cooke, for 61 (85) during her spell and was supported by five other bowlers who claimed a wicket each, Gemma Gibbins (1-14), Nicola Hancock (1-25), Sarah Chancellor Goddard (1-29), Sarah Tatchell (1-32) and Julia Crockett-Grills (1-33), as ACT were dismissed for 185 in the 43^rd over.

Dempsey held the innings together early in the Victorian chase as wickets fell around her before she too was dismissed with the score at 4-80.

The wickets of Hancock and King, both for 14, saw the home side in trouble at 6-107 but the two Sarahs, Tatchell (20) and Chancellor Goddard (34), combined for a crucial 63-run partnership.

In a tight finish, Crockett-Grills struck an unbeaten six, as Victoria got across the line in the 41^st over with only two wickets remaining.

Assistant coach and VicSpirit WT20 captain, Emma Inglis said the side fought back well after a shaky start.

“It looked like they were headed for 250 before Kingy took a few in the middle order,” Inglis said.

“She just missed a hat trick – the ball missed the bat and the stumps by a centimetre.”

Inglis said it was a team effort with the bat.

“Dempsey batted well again but everyone else chipped in which was promising to see,” Inglis said.

Victoria play two Twenty20s today against South Australia (10am) and Tasmania (2.15pm).

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To see full results from the Under-18 National Championships, click here.