DAVINA Perrin made a superb 70 as Bears Women clinched a place at their first Vitality Blast finals day.
Bears won by 16 runs against Hampshire Hawks at the Utilita Bowl on a day of celebration for the newly-formed Birmingham squad.
Teenager Perrin held Bears’ innings together after they had slumped to 41 for four in the powerplay.
It was an innings that showed why she is the second top-scorer in the Women’s Blast.
Her 70 in 48 balls sent her side to 165, which Hampshire threatened to overhaul with Ellyse Perry’s exceptional 58.
But the Hawks could not keep up with the rate and only managed 149 in their 20 overs.
That sends Bears to the showpiece event at the Kia Oval next Sunday.
Perrin told the Bears’ official website: “Oh my goodness is my reaction to qualifying for Finals Day. Amazing. I am so proud of the group.
“We came into this as underdogs. We have a really young group, with ‘Veteran’ Laura Harris being the only exception. I did the average age of the squad the other day, and it’s 22. So to get to Finals Day with such a young squad is credit to our coaches, staff and team.
“To be going to Finals Day is a big achievement.
“We’ve done it our way and played some really exciting cricket. I think the future of the game lies within the Bears women.
“It’s never easy when you lose a fair few early wickets. At that point the messages coming out to me were clear to anchor the innings and take it as deep as possible.
“That was all I tried to do, and it helped that we had a few batters down the order that stuck in for a bit, which was really important and helped me too.
“Spending time in the middle is the best place to learn and fortunately I’ve had a bit more time than I’ve had previously – and I have used everything I have learned through each game to do that.
“It is nice to be in a bit of form. I have just got to enjoy the highs while they are here as there are plenty of lows in cricket.”
Perrin was the mainstay through the Bears’ innings, with her persistence allowing an average score to become a defendable total at the death, having chosen to bat first.
While Perrin was tight and in control from the start, her top-order colleagues were not.
Meg Austin was excellently caught and bowled by Daisy Gibb – who was a force with the new ball – before Amu Surenkumar tipped and ran to Georgia Adams at cover, who ran her out with a direct hit.
“Caught Ellyse Perry, bowled Bex Tyson” was copied and pasted for Sterre Kalis and Katie George, with Bears 41 for four at the end of the powerplay.
Australian import Laura Harris made a boundary-frenzied 32 off 15 before Perry fired an unplayable yorker to dislodge her compatriot, as Nat Wraith’s leading edge saw her caught and bowled by Tyson first ball.
Bears were facing a sub-100 score when Millie Taylor missed a sweep and was bowled, but the tail growled, and Perrin got the rewards for her graft in the sun.
Perrin, just 18, has been the Bears’ stand-out player in the Blast, and now stands behind just Suzie Bates in the leading run scorer tally.
She hit powerfully down the ground, brought out the sweep when appropriate and ran hard to reach a gallant half-century in 34 balls.
Perrin bunted a full toss to mid off to depart in the penultimate over, but Bears walloped 44 runs in the last four overs to spin the momentum – Georgia Davis and Hannah Baker’s 15 and unbeaten 12s crucial to the late surge.
In reply, Perry was exceptional to pepper the boundary from ball one – admittedly that was with an uncontrolled edge.
Perry had shown glimpses of her superstardom with a 40 against Somerset but this was vintage stuff, with her trademark two-step and swing down the ground seen almost on repeat.
Rhianna Southby simply ticked the strike back to Perry in a 75-run partnership before she was excellently caught by Perrin at long off, with Freya Kemp bowled soon after.
Hannah Baker caught and bowled Abi Norgrove has the Hawks fell from 75 without loss to 86 for three and from there they lost control of the chase.
Perry reached a 36 ball fifty but plinked to mid-on with five overs to go, with 63 still needed.
Megan Sturge and Mary Taylor also fell at the death as Bears eased home.
