The Queensland Fire have claimed a bonus-point victory over the Vic Spirit in the Women's National Cricket League, triumphing by nine wickets.
Beth Mooney (67), Jodie Fields (61) and Sammy-Jo Johnson (3-32) were the match-winners for the Fire as they cruised to a simple win at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.
The Spirit batted first after winning the toss but failed to bat out their 50 overs as Queensland knocked them over for 173 and then chased down the visitors' total in 27 overs.
The Vics started strongly with the bat with Elyse Villani and Meg Lanning combining to take their side to 31 without loss off the opening five overs.
But tight bowling from Kirsten Pike, Jude Coleman and then Johnson meant the Spirit's run rate dropped from 6.2 per over to 2.8 from overs six to 10.
With the pressure on, the Spirit cracked and in the 13th over Johnson trapped Villani lbw for 33 to make the score 1-54.
Johnson broke through again two overs later when Lanning (21) played the ball onto the stumps.
The Queensland bowler made it three dismissals in as many overs when she snagged Jess Cameron for 23.
While Emma Inglis (21) and Emily McIntyre (31) added crucial runs in the middle order, the Spirit generally struggled after Johnson's intervention and were all out in the 41st over when Kirsty Lamb was stumped off Jess Jonassen's bowling.
The Fire had few problems chasing down the Victorians' total with Melissa Bulow (26) the only player on the home side to lose her wicket; caught by Villani off Molly Strano's bowling in the 10th over.
Mooney and Fields took over from there, scoring at almost 7.5 runs per over to claim victory.
Fields hit 13 boundaries during her unbeaten 61, while Mooney managed 11 fours.
First Posted 08 December, 2012 7:10PM AEST
