Knott unleashes for whirlwind maiden ton

Queensland rising star Charli Knott has slammed her maiden List A century in rapid fashion in England.

Knott got her Southern Vipers side off to a blistering start in their Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy match against Western Storm with boundaries from the first two deliveries of the match and added a third later in the over.

She barely lifted her foot from the pedal as she hit a superb career-best 102 from 112 balls that included 12 boundaries.

In a high-scoring match, Knott's century helped the Vipers to 5-295 and they held on to win the match by four runs at Bristol's County Ground.

After taking 14 from the opening over, Knott continued to play positively and raced to her half-century from 37 balls, bringing up the milestone with her tenth boundary.

Although unable to score as freely once the ball had softened, Knott continued to work the field on both sides of the wicket, pushing a delivery from fellow Aussie Amanda-Jade Wellington in front of point and scampering a quick single to register her maiden hundred from 107 balls in the 35th over.

But the Storm bowlers retained their discipline, kept plugging away and were rewarded for their persistence when slow left-armer Sophia Smale claimed the key wicket of Knott, who was bowled in the 38th over with the score on 206.

Knott set a club record with her 107-ball century, the fastest by a Vipers player, beating the 108 Georgia Elwiss had taken to reach the mark twice previously.

"It's definitely pretty special. I was very stoked with my effort," Knott said after, and paid tribute to the tight-knit Vipers group for making her quickly feel settled on her maiden stint playing in England.

"Coming into a new group is a bit nerve-wracking and overwhelming but everyone's been really supportive of me which is definitely a big factor to success."

Knott admitted the wicket was friendly for batting and enjoyed the "freedom" she had been given.

"It was nice to just go out there and play my shots. It's always nice to score runs and to have a win like that just tops it off, so very happy with the overall performance.

"It was hard for the bowlers – if you missed your spots it was quite easy to hit through the line of the ball which is probably where we found our success.

"Tough on the bowlers, but we got a few more balls in the areas where we wanted to hit which is why we got off to such a good start."

The 21-year-old who has been tipped for higher honours in the coming years dominated in partnerships of 91 and 115 with England international Maia Bouchier and captain Georgia Adams respectively for the opening two wickets.

Knott underlined her all-round credentials with a key wicket from her off-spin, having Western Storm's Nat Wraith caught at deep mid-wicket for 28.

Wellington finished with 1-52 from her 10 and was eight not out at the end.

Crowned the WBBL|09 Young Gun for a crusading season with the Brisbane Heat last summer as a middle-order aggressor and finisher, Knott has been in hot form in England at the top of the order.

Her previous career-best List A score came when she hit  73 from 61 balls for Queensland in last season's WNCL final, from No.5. Used either as an opener or at first drop by the Vipers, Knott has produced scores of 41, 58no, 40 and 7 before yesterday's maiden century. She's also claimed seven wickets in the five games.

"It's definitely been nice to contribute in a few of the games now, hopefully I can keep doing so and get some more wins," Knott added.

Elsewhere, Erin Burns top scored with 49 for the Northern Diamonds and took a wicket in her first over as they held on for a thrilling one-run victory against Central Sparks.

Burns' 63-ball knock helped the Diamonds post 216, but the Sparks looked well placed for the win – with Courtney Webb adding 15 at No.4 – even when Katie George holed out from the first ball of the final over when they needed just four.

That became three when Holly Armitage sent down a wide but followed that with two dot balls. A single left Ria Fackrell on strike with two needed from the final two balls but Armitage pinned her lbw and then ran out Hannah Baker from the final delivery to secure the win.

At Northampton, Nicola Hancock scored a steady 16 from 29 balls to help her Sunrisers side to 9-222, but it wasn't enough to halt South East Stars from taking a five-wicket win, with Hancock hit for the winning runs as she returned 1-45 from her 8.5 overs.