'JJ' helps Sunrisers into women's decider as Marsh's men miss out

Evergreen Jess Jonassen has proved a super-cool finisher for Sunrisers Leeds at the Oval, steering them into the final of the Women's Hundred.

After her former Australian teammates had missed the boat and a straightforward-looking run chase turned a bit complicated against Sophie Molineux's Southern Brave, the ever reliable 33-year-old guided Leeds home by five wickets alongside Indian star Deepti Sharma.

Their victory in Friday's 'eliminator' set up the champions, who've been rebranded as the Sunrisers after winning as Northern Superchargers last year, to face Ash Gardner's Trent Rockets in the final at Lord's on Sunday (Monday AEST).

The Sunrisers had been reliant on the tournament's two leading run scorers, Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland, in their recent run of stellar form but, chasing the Southampton-based Brave's paltry 7-114, on-song opener Litchfield was bowled leg-stump by Izzy Wong for just four. 

When Sutherland then fell to a fine leaping catch by Molineux off Sarah Glenn for a quickfire 17 off 12, leaving Leeds at 3-54, it needed Sharma and Lauren Winfield-Hill to steady the ship.

But Winfield-Hill (37) and captain Dani Gibson (0) fell to Wong in successive balls, requiring allrounder Jonassen, who's had a fine season in Yorkshire, to call on all her experience, hitting an unbeaten 10 off five balls, including the thumping winning boundary to the cover fence.

With Sharma having been every bit as good, slamming 28no off 22, the Sunrisers got to their target of 115 with 11 balls to spare and five wickets in hand. It was a fifth win in a row and they will likely start as favourites against the Rockets, despite the Nottingham-based side having lost just once all tournament.

It was a disappointing end to a triumphant summer for Molineux, who led Australia to T20 World Cup glory at Lord's and had hoped for another visit to the home of cricket.

The Victorian allrounder batted well but not quickly enough (22no off 24) after the Brave, put in by Leeds, struggled to break the shackles following Lizelle Lee's brisk early 32.

Another Australian, Queenslander Charli Knott, hit 25 off 21, but Jonassen proved her worth with the ball too, giving away just 13 runs off her 15 wicketless deliveries.

Sutherland, rarely out of the headlines, finished her 20-ball stint (2-31) by almost grabbing a hat-trick in her final five-ball 'over' when Gibson dropped Wong in the deep after the Aussie star had dismissed Jodi Grewcock and Naomi Dattani with the previous two deliveries.

Marsh's dazzling Hundred summer ends in anti-climax

Scorecard

Mitch Marsh has lit up The Hundred in thunderous style over the past month but his magic touch deserted him at the tournament's penultimate hurdle at the Oval.

Australia's T20 skipper has been in rampant form for Sunrisers Leeds, the top scorer in the whole event with 416 runs amassed at 46.22 per knock and at a tremendous strike-rate of 169.79.

But chasing Manchester Super Giants' formidable 4-186 in Friday's eliminator, opener Marsh crashed one six – his tournament-leading 29th in 2026 – and a four before he departed for 10 off six balls.

Trying to send England paceman Josh Tongue's offering out of the ground, Marsh succeeded only in steepling it into the London night sky before Sonny Baker got underneath it, holding on at square leg after the ball had been in orbit for an eternity.

With Marsh gone, it was largely down to his England counterpart Harry Brook to lead the chase and his 49 off 31 balls did give Leeds some hope before he was trapped lbw by Baker while attempting a reverse ramp.

Brook had been struck outside the line, but, calamitously for the Sunrisers, they had already used up all their reviews – thanks to an earlier wasteful one from skipper Zak Crawley.

From there, there was no way back for Leeds, and even though Ryan Rickelton did his best to make 54no off 34 balls, batting throughout the innings, Tongue's 4-26 and Baker's 2-39 ensured the Yorkshire outfit, at 7-166, were never in the hunt, losing by 20 runs. 

Earlier, the foundations of the Super Giants' victory had been laid by 32-year-old Englishman Paul Walter, the old BBL-winning Brisbane Heat cult hero, who smashed 80 off 46 balls, while South African Heinrich Klaasen cracked 63 off 26.

One of Walter's eight sixes came as a UK Government wildfire alarm warning rang out on the mobile phones of thousands inside the ground.

Captain Jos Buttler chipped in with 33 off 20 and amid the carnage, Nathan Ellis did well to go for only 1-28 off his 20 balls.

In Sunday's (Monday AEST) final at Lord's, Manchester will face a Trent Rockets side which boasts Tim David as a middle-order destroyer, although the Aussie has only mustered 90 runs in seven knocks to date in the tournament.