Superchargers 46-1published at 35 balls
Great start for Sophia Dunkley, whose bowling has been a real asset for Welsh Fire during this campaign.
Australia youngster Phoebe Litchfield is in at three for Superchargers.
Summary
Superchargers win by 16 runs to give themselves chance of reaching final directly
Fire will play in the eliminator
Superchargers post 144-4 after Kelly hits unbeaten 69 off 46 balls
Kelly first woman to bat through entire Hundred innings
Nicholas takes superb one-handed return catch to dismiss Litchfield for 40
Fire can only reach 128-8 in reply
Superchargers 46-1published at 35 balls
WICKETpublished at 32 balls
Rodrigues c & b Dunkley 14 (Superchargers 44-1)
Sophia Dunkley takes a stunner off her own bowling!
Jemimah Rodrigues tries to take down the leg-spinner but can only drill the ball firmly back at the bowler. Dunkley takes a smart catch, diving low to her left, and gets Welsh Fire a much-needed breakthrough.
Superchargers 43-0published at 30 balls
Georgia Elwiss' medium pace is introduced and Rodrigues and Kelly just tick over five runs from a tidy start.
Postpublished at 15:17 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
And it was a tough chance, but Jemimah Rodrigues was dropped on 0.
Superchargers 38-0published at 25 balls
Another crunching pull shot from Marie Kelly completes a dominant powerplay for the Northern Superchargers.
Welsh Fire need to break this partnership.
Superchargers 33-0published at 20 balls
The home side are dealing in boundaries!
Claire Nicholas starts with a couple of dots before Marie Kelly has enough of that, and clubs one down the ground for four more.
Nicholas then sends down a full toss that Kelly gratefully accepts, and it gets the same result.
Superchargers 24-0published at 15 balls
An aggressive start from the Superchargers.
Marie Kelly skips down the pitch and smacks Freya Davies over her head for another boundary.
Superchargers 18-0published at 10 balls
Nothing streaky about the next two.
Rodrigues helps herself to back-to-back boundaries off Hartley, one down the ground and the next over cover.
Beautiful timing from the India superstar.
Rodrigues dropped on 0published at 6 balls
Superchargers 9-0
Oh!
Jemimah Rodrigues smacks Alex Hartley's first ball to mid-off, where a leaping Freya Davies gets two hands to it but can only parry it up like a goalkeeper tapping it over the bar.
To make matters worse, the ball ends up going for four.
Superchargers 5-0published at 5 balls
The home side get off the mark with a lovely drive for four from the bat of Marie Kelly.
Postpublished at 14:59 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
Alex Hartley leads out the Welsh Fire, which is a nice touch.
They have a huddle, and are followed by Superchargers openers Jemimah Rodrigues and Marie Kelly.
How's stat?!published at 14:57 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
There are a couple of good match-ups that Tammy Beaumont can exploit with her bowlers today.
Freya Davies v Jemimah Rodrigues Head to head in T20s: 4 innings, 19 runs, 21 balls, 3 dismissals, Average 6.33.
Shabnim Ismail v Phoebe Litchfield Head to head in T20s: 2 innings, 1 run, 7 balls, 2 dismissals, Average 0.50.
Hartley to retire from cricketpublished at 14:55 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
Image source, Getty ImagesIn case you haven't already seen, Alex Hartley has announced that she will retire after The Hundred.
The 29-year-old was part of England's 2017 World Cup-winning squad.
Hartley took a break from cricket in May to focus on her mental health before returning for The Hundred with Welsh Fire earlier this month.
She spoke about her decision on the No Balls podcast, which you can listen to here.
The Teamspublished at 14:53 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
Northern Superchargers: Marie Kelly, Jemimah Rodrigues, Phoebe Litchfield, Hollie Armitage (capt), Alice Davidson-Richards, Bess Heath (wk), Georgia Wareham, Kate Cross, Leah Dobson, Lucy Higham, Grace Ballinger.
Welsh Fire: Tammy Beaumont (capt), Sophia Dunkley, Hayley Matthews, Sarah Bryce (wk), Georgia Elwiss, Laura Harris, Freya Davies, Alex Griffiths, Shabnim Ismail, Claire Nicholas, Alex Hartley.
Postpublished at 14:51 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
Welsh Fire captain Tammy Beaumont on Sky Sports: "We wanted to bat first too, but if you want to win competitions, you've got to win by doing things both ways around.
"There's a lot at stake for us. It's either a rehearsal for the eliminator on Saturday or a chance to get straight to Lord's.
"We are focused on maintaining our winning run."
Postpublished at 14:49 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
Northern Superchargers captain Hollie Armitage on Sky Sports: "It's always a good pitch here so we're happy to put a total on the board. The home crowd always helps us.
"They are great here, and we love putting on a show for them. It's a big game. It would be nice to have Saturday off and get straight into the final but we're fully focused on today and not looking too far ahead."
Northern Superchargers win the toss and batpublished at 14:47 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
Hollie Armitage gets her way at her home ground of Headingley, and Northern Superchargers are going to bat first.
Welsh Fire captain Tammy Beaumont admits she'd have done the same.
Postpublished at 14:45 British Summer Time 22 August 2023
Good afternoon!
Welcome to today's Hundred action as Welsh Fire and Northern Superchargers continue their scrap (with Southern Brave) to secure direct entry into the final on Sunday.
All three have already qualified so it's just about nailing down that final spot. Brave look most likely to claim it because of a superior points tally, so this is looking most like an Eliminator warm-up for both sides.