Another tidy over from Shrubsole, just three runs coming for it, as she bowls a fuller length. Both Matthews and Bates stay circumspect.

Alison Mitchell
BBC Test Match Special

It feels like Southern Vipers have gone off very hard here.

Image source, Rex Features

Suzie Bates, itching to take on the bowlers, gets down low and taps the ball away for a single. Hayley Matthews, who has got the pace of this pitch better than her partner, then takes a flat delivery from Claire Nicholas and carves it through cover for another boundary. Anya Shrubsole dived to cut it off but there was so much pace on that shot. Oh, and again! That's an even better shot from Matthews, down on one knee and sweeping hard to clear the close fielders and send the ball careering into the ropes.

Here's Anya Shrubsole and a delivery flies off the edge of Suzie Bates' bat and away for a single. There's a cracking crowd inside Hove - tickets are £5 for adults and £1 for kids, which is great value. Ooh, Bates comes down the wicket, Shrubsole sees her coming and spears the ball into the body - and she gets a streaky edge down to third man for another single! Hayley Matthews then cracks a drive straight at her international team-mate Stafanie Taylor, who ends up clutching her thigh as she goes down in installments.

Katherine Brunt
England bowler on BBC Test Match Special

I was impressed by that over by Claire Nicholas. She went for a boundary but there is little margin for error in the powerplay for a spinner with only two fielders out. She pulled it back nicely.

She knows who she is bowling at but it has not fazed her.

Suzie Bates chips an easy single to get off the mark, and Hayley Matthews watches for three balls before she hops onto the back foot and cracks a cover drive away to the boundary. What a shot! Claire Nicholas keeps targeting the stumps and Matthews, watchful, pats away the rest of the over. She tries a sweep to the final delivery, gets it all wrong and ends up being struck on the shoulder by the ball. Is there a touch of extra bounce there?

Heather Knight puffs out her cheeks as she leads her team out onto the field. Suzie Bates and Hayley Matthews will open for Southern Vipers. Claire Nicholas will open the bowling once again.

Here we go...

Southern Vipers have only ever lost two Super League matches - one against Western Storm in 2016, and the other against Surrey Stars in this year's competition.

How fitting...

In possibly my favourite cross-sport meeting of minds, Southern Vipers bowler Tash Farrant posted this snap, external of her and a few team-mates bumping into Chris Eubank last night on the Brighton seafront.

Image source, Twitter/Tash Farrant

Kalika Mehta
BBC Sport at Hove

Image source, Getty Images

The crowd at Hove is continuing to grow following an electric first match on Finals Day.

With the pitch basked in sun, the ice cream truck at the Sea End is doing a roaring trade.

It may have been a tense match but the spectators are in fine voice and are clearly enjoying themselves in Sussex.

It seemed almost inevitable that Southern Vipers would reach Finals Day in some capacity.

Captained by Charlotte Edwards, they also have New Zealand skipper Suzie Bates and South Africa batsman Mignon du Preez in their ranks.

Bates scored the first century in Super League history in the Vipers' second match of the tournament, tonking 119 from just 72 balls against Loughborough Lightning.

Vipers also have West Indian Hayley Matthews to call on, and a bowling attack consisting of Natasha Farrant, Bates and the evergreen Arran Brindle helped the Vipers top the group.

Image source, Getty Images

The final begins at 18:00 BST and it'll be Western Storm to field first after Heather Knight won the toss.

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Image source, Rex Features

And if that's not enough - especially for the Western Storm fans out there - take a read of Kalika Mehta's semi-final report from Hove.

The match swayed this way and that, with Storm losing wickets fairly frequently, but Anya Shrubsole strode to the crease and thumped this almighty six to swing things back in the Storm's favour.

Surrey perhaps offered Storm too many chances to nab the singles and, guided by Stafanie Taylor, they reached the final for the second year in a row.

Rachel Priest came out aggressively for Western Storm but Heather Knight's side ran into a problem when Marizanne Kapp took two wickets in two balls...

Western Storm were accurate with the ball and tight in the field, too.

And Anya Shrubsole, who bowled England to World Cup victory earlier this year, struck again at the death as she claimed three wickets in the final over to restrict Surrey Stars to 100-7.

Surrey Stars opted to bat first but Western Storm made the initial breakthrough as they dismissed opener Tammy Beamount cheaply.

They lost wickets at regular intervals, although Nat Sciver stuck around long enough to show off her trademark shot.

A re-run of least season's final between Southern Vipers and Western Storm - and a meeting of England captains past and present - is now just under 45 minutes away.

Let's just remind you about how Storm reached the final after edging a low-scoring thriller against Surrey Stars.

Ebony Rainford-Brent
Ex-England batter on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

I'm gutted and it's worse when the games are close. The girls fought so hard.

When you only put 100 on the board you can't expect to win but they fought hard. I'm really proud of them.

Western Storm captain Heather Knight, speaking to Sky Sports: "Claire Nicholas has been a real find for us. She bowled brilliantly up front. We started really well - we wanted to be aggressive and get through their top four early."