Stars & Diamonds win in Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy
Hollie Armitage struck nine fours and a six in her century for Northern Diamonds
- Published
South East Stars and Northern Diamonds both won in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy to boost their chances of making the semi-finals.
In a rain-reduced game, Hollie Armitage's brilliant 101 not out off 76 balls took Diamonds to a six-wicket victory over bottom side Western Storm.
And in Blackpool, Stars wrapped up a convincing 82-run win over struggling Lancashire Thunder.
Sunrisers' hopes of overhauling Southern Vipers at the top of the table were thwarted by persistent rain at Radlett, forcing abandonment of their game with Central Sparks. In the 6.3 overs managed, Sparks scored 27 without loss.
Instead, Northern Diamonds climbed above Sunrisers into second, while fourth-placed Stars are 10 points clear of The Blaze in fifth.
All eight sides have six matches remaining in the group stage with the top four going through to the semi-finals in September.
At Cheltenham, hosts Western Storm made a competitive 200-5 off 30 overs in a rain-reduced innings.
Fran Wilson top scored for Storm with an unbeaten 61 off 63 balls and Amanda-Jade Wellington struck 27 off 14 balls in the final few overs.
Further interruptions in their innings left Diamonds eventually facing a target of 199 off 29 overs.
Sterre Kallis (34) and Bess Heath both fell in quick succession to leave on them on 132-4 with 67 still needed off nine overs.
But captain Armitage completed a magnificent century and Erin Burns hit 21 off 13 balls to take Diamonds to 199-4 with 2.2 overs to spare.
In the other completed game, South East Stars were bowled out for 283 in the 50th and final over, with captain Bryony Smith (67) and Paige Scholfield (56) making half-centuries.
Thunder struggled to keep up with a run-rate of almost six in the chase and were 201 all out with Ryana MacDonald-Gay taking 4-34.