You've got to keep swinging in T20 cricket.
But turns out you can swing too much.
Otago Sparks captain Suzie Bates got out in bizarre fashion in Queenstown today.
The in-form opener was dismissed hit wicket for 10.
She knocked her bails off in the follow through of her swing.
The home side rallied to reach a useful tally of 130 for seven.Kate Ebrahim (40), Polly Inglis (29) and Caitlin Blakely (25) all made valuable contributions.
Auckland left its run late but Katie Perkins hit the winning runs with three balls to spare.
But it was Lauren Down’s composed and undefeated knock of 44 which made the difference.
Otago spinner Eden Carson sat out the game. She was resting a niggle and was replaced in the line-up by Molly Loe.
Sparks opener Olivia Gain completed a couple of rough days at the top of the order. She collected her second golden duck.
Fran Jonas trapped her lbw before she could open her account. A day earlier she nicked her first ball and had to trudge back with a hollow feeling as well.
Inglis replaced her at the crease and immediately pulled out the reverse lap.
It was a bold opening gambit, but she got her innings underway with a boundary.The game took an unfortunate turn for the home side when the in-form Bates perished hit wicket.
You could put it down to a momentary lapse of concentration.
It was a big blow. She scored an unbeaten century to help set up a 20 run win against Northern Districts the day before.
With Bates having vanquished herself, the Sparks rebuild through a good partnership between Inglis and Ebrahim.
The pair added 58 before Inglis holed out for 29.
The home side was nicely-placed to push on and press for 140-ish.
Ebrahim was the key. The talented all-rounder was timing the ball well but tried to hoof a delivery from Jonas to the leg side and was bowled.
Auckland slammed the brakes on more with three wickets in three balls.
Arlene Kelly snaffled the wickets of Felicity Leydon-Davis (7) and Bella James (0).
The hat-trick escaped her but Blakely was run out returning for a second.
Auckland opener Anna Browning cracked a couple of early boundaries off White Ferns seamer Hayley Jensen to get the chase off to bright start.
Bates had the opportunity to remove the promising 19-year-old in the powerplay, but dropped a return catch.
Shortly after she redeemed herself, running around to catch out Saachi Shahri for five.
Despite and initial scoring burst, the Hearts settled into a collection phase. The require run rate climbed to eight an over with 10 overs remaining.
Browning exhausted her lives on 42 and spooned a catch back to the bowler Blakely.
Auckland had eight wickets in hand but what it needed was someone to take the game on. That someone was Izzy Gaze with 26 runs from 25 balls.
Down had taken her time to settle before lifting her tempo. She struck back-to-back boundaries in the 17th over to tipped the balance firmly in favour of the visitors.
It was a classy innings by the White Fern.
