Backing up half-tons from opening bats Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes, Orange's Phoebe Litchfield played a crucial role in helping her NSW Breakers to a Women's National Cricket League victory over Queensland at Hurstville Oval on Thursday.
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Healy (53) and Haynes (53) piled on 101 for the first wicket to set the tone for the Breakers' dig but after a mini-collapse Litchfield, batting six, was charged with salvaging the innings and lifting NSW to a competitive total.
She came to the crease at 4-132 and promptly banged out 44 at better than a run-a-ball, hammering a handful of boundaries along the way in her valuable middle-order dig.
She combined with Ashleigh Gardner (34) to add 65 for the fifth wicket and push her side back into the box seat before being trapped in front two overs later by Jess Jonassen (3-47).
It's her highest score for the Breakers in her debut season.
Rene Farrell (22 not out) picked up where Litchfield left off though and Lauren Smith added a handy, unbeaten 11 as well as the Breakers eventually posted 7-241.
From their start it still looked sub-pair but considering their middle-order collapse it was a good result, and a tally which in the end proved more than enough.
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Beth Mooney (34) and Kirby Short (24) kicked off the Fire's chase well in adding 57 for the first wicket and even at 3-80 the visitors were still well on track, considering they were ticking along at almost six-an-over.
Laura Harris and Georgia Redmayne (5) lifted the score to 111 but after the latter became the fourth wicket to fall, Queensland rolled over. Including Redmayne's scalp the Fire lost 7-43 to meekly finish with just 154 in reply.
Hayley Silver-Holmes (3-18) and Gardner (3-28) combined to do the bulk of the damage.
The win was the Breakers' second from their three starts this summer, they'll look to add a third on Monday when they host the ACT Meteors in a rescheduled clash.
It was initially slated for last Monday but the Meteors' travel to Hurstville Oval was disrupted by the impact of the bushfire crisis, and it was postponed as a result.
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