Associate players in The Hundred – Week 2: Bryce sisters continue form

Scotland’s Bryce sisters have continued to shine for their respective teams in The Hundred, alongside Scotland spinner Abtaha Maqsood. Dutch all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe made important contributions for the spirit and counterpart Colin Ackermann made his debut in the 2^nd week of the competition.

Men’s tournament

Dutch all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe has been playing a key role for London Spirit with both ball and bat. Van der Merwe was first in action against Trent Rockets on Thursday night, taking 1/29 from his 20 balls and then making 25* from 18 balls with the bat. Despite this effort, Spirit came up seven runs short against top of the table Rockets. In the weekend fixture against Southern Brave at Lords, van der Merwe again played a strong hand in a losing game. He claimed the wicket of Devon Conway caught and bowled. His five balls went for 5 runs, before making 7* off 6 balls as Spirit fell short by four runs.

Fellow Dutch all-rounder Colin Ackermann got his first taste of hundred ball action in Manchester Originals’ weekend fixture against Welsh fire. Ackermann played a strong hand with the bat, scoring 17 off 13 balls to help Manchester to their second win of the tournament.

Women’s tournament

Scotland spinner Abtaha Maqsood continues to perform for Birmingham Phoenix. Although she went wicketless in Friday’s game against Southern Brave, she did affect the run out of Sophia Dunkley off her own bowling. However, it was not enough to prevent defeat for the Birmingham side.

Maqsood would complete a similar run out in Sunday’s fixture against Trent Rockets, deflecting a shot from Rachel Priest onto the non-strickers stumps to run out Sammy-Jo Johnson. Although she would again go wicketless, Maqsood was economical with the ball, conceding 23 off her 20 balls. However, Phoenix fell short with the bat again, as Rockets won by 11 runs.

Elsewhere the Bryce sisters continued to play integral roles for their sides. Kathryn Bryce had mixed fortunes across her three games last week. As well as being expensive in her bowling efforts against Maqsood’s Phoenix (0/25 from 10 balls), she also went wicketless against Northern Superchargers (0/12 from 10). Her standout performance came against London Spirit. Bowling a single 10-ball stint, Bryce claimed the wicket of Tammy Beaumont and conceded only 5 runs. She also completed the catch to remove Spirit’s Deepti Sharma.

Finally, Sarah Bryce continued her strong form for Oval Invincibles. The Scotland wicketkeeper claimed a further 5 dismissals in two games in the last week. Among these were three catches and two run outs including the dismissals of international stars Jemimah Rodrigues and Laura Wolvaart. Invincibles lost both of their matches in the run chase, with Bryce scoring 3* from 3 in their defeat to Welsh Fire.

The Hundred has now reached its halfway point, with each team playing 4 of their 8 matches.

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