Smriti Mandhana lights up The Hundred 2023 women’s season opener with a sparkling fifty

Stylish opener Smriti Mandhana commenced her The Hundred 2023 women’s campaign on a dominating note, earning the Player of the Match award for a 36-ball 55 that helped the Southern Brave beat Trent Rockets by 27 runs. 

Put into bat by Rockets skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt, Brave raced away to 45/0 from the first quarter of their innings, mainly fuelled by Mandhana’s onslaught as she collected back-to-back boundaries off Naomi Dattani before launching Katherine Sciver-Brunt way over deep mid-wicket for the first six of the tournament. 

Mandhana’s opening partner Danni Wyatt departed on the 42nd ball of the innings but that did little to deter the former from continuing on with the charge, and in the company of Maia Bouchier, the southpaw collected two fours and a six before she chugged along to her fifty off 32 balls. 

Although Mandhana couldn’t kick on and add much after getting to the landmark, her 56 played a major hand in the Brave getting to 157/6 from their 100 balls, setting a steep total for the Rockets to chase.

The Rockets were dented as early as the first ball of the chase, with Bryony Smith run out off a wide ball that trickled down to short fine leg. Nat Sciver-Brunt (49) and to some extent Harmanpreet Kaur (22) were the only two batters who offered some hope for the home fans, but once the former departed off Anya Shrubsole’s bowling, the game was as good as done for the Rockets.