Wellington Blaze went through the T20 summer undefeated en route to their fourth crown in five years while Northern Brave’s men outclassed the Canterbury Kings in two dominant displays at Seddon Park on Dream11 Super Smash Grand Finals day.
A power start with the bat from Blaze star Sophie Devine (92 off 62 balls), backed up by a slick team effort with the ball, saw the Wellington women defeat Suzie Bates’s Otago Sparks by a whopping 75 runs in the women’s Final, with Devine winning her second Domestic title of the summer after success across the Tasman in the Big Bash League earlier this season.
The men’s Grand Final followed a similar template, with the top qualifiers in the respective competitions finishing on top.
Sent in, Northern Brave belted an imposing 217/5 after T20 career bests from both 21-year-old rising star Katene Clarke (71 off 34 balls, his maiden T20 half-century and the second quickest of all time for the Brave) and Mitch Santner (92 not out off 40).
Northern’s quality spin trio of Santner, Ish Sodhi and Joe Walker then claimed six wickets between them in the space of eight overs through the middle to knock the stuffing out of the Kings’ innings and reclaim the trophy they last held in 2018, taking the victory by 56 runs.
