Northamptonshire Steelbacks Women secured a convincing 71-run victory to secure their spot in the next round of the Vitality T20 County Cup.
The side defended 137 and made it 2 wins out of 2 in the competition, as well as four wins from five this season.
The day started with Shropshire winning the toss and electing to field, Gemma Marriott and Abby Butcher headed out to the middle to open the batting.
Steelbacks Women got off to a bumpy start as Shropshire had the visiting side 25/4 after the end of the powerplay.
After the powerplay, runs were hard to come by for the Steelbacks women, as they found themselves in a challenging position with the bat at the halfway point of the innings. Amelia Kemp and Lenny Sims were in the middle looking to progressing to scoring.
Shortly after the halfway point, Kemp (25) and Sims (7) were both dismissed, leaving Mabel Reid and Ella Philips to help guide the innings in the right direction. The pair progressed brilliantly, taking the Steelbacks women from 55/6 to 137/6 after the 20 overs. They put on an 87 run partnership with Reid scoring 54 and Phillips 31.
Steelbacks Women took to the field looking to defend 137, with Phillips taking the ball.
It was Bethan Robinson who made the first breakthrough as she picked up the wicket of Mathews in the 2nd over.
By the time the powerplay came to an end, the Steelbacks women managed to limit Shropshire to 22/2.
At the halfway point the Steelbacks were in command of the tie and had the home teams where they wanted them. 37/5 heading into the second half of the innings, the tie only looked like going in one direction.
In the 17th over, Reid wrapped up the victory for the Steelbacks with 2 wickets in 2 balls.
The Steelbacks sealed a convincing win by 71 runs and they will play the next fixture in the competition on Saturday 17th May.