Southern Brave won seven and lost just one of their eight Hundred group games to reach Saturday's Lord's final; Anya Shrubsole's side will face Oval Invincibles; Shrubsole and head coach Charlotte Edwards delighted with their player recruitment
Saturday 21 August 2021 14:25, UK
Southern Brave captain Anya Shrubsole has urged her side not to be "overawed" by the Lord's experience as they look to win The Hundred.
Brave won seven of their eight group games to top the table and secure immediate progression to Saturday's final, in which they will play Oval Invincibles after the London side beat Birmingham Phoenix in Friday's Eliminator at The Kia Oval.
Seam bowler Shrubsole starred at Lord's in the summer of 2017, taking 6-46 as England Women beat India to win the 50-over World Cup, while her Brave team thumped London Spirit at the venue earlier in The Hundred.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of The Hundred final, the 29-year-old said: "My main message will be to try and enjoy it.
"I know that sounds like a really basic thing to say but it's going to be a great day to be a part of.
"The thing you don't want to do is get to the end of it and for it to have passed you by because you were too nervous.
"It helps that we played a group game there. That will definitely be a massive plus point for us on a ground you can get overawed by. Win or lose, to be part of the first final in The Hundred is going to be special."
Sophia Dunkley has scored 244 runs for Brave in the tournament, with Danni Wyatt hitting 208, India's Smriti Mandhana - who will be unavailable for the final having linked up with her national side - making 167 and West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor contributing 164.
Bowling-wise, Australia leg-spinner Ananda-Jade Wellington has picked up 14 wickets, 20-year-old English seamer Lauren Bell 10 and Shrubsole seven.
Shrubsole said: "One of our major strengths is that everyone has a role and I'd hope by now they are pretty clear what that is.
"We have had contributions all the way through - I could run you through one to 11 and tell you when they have contributed to a win.
"You look at the big names - Danni, Smriti, Sophia - but [wicketkeeper] Carla Rudd does a job for us time and time again behind the stumps and never makes a mistake."
Brave head coach, and former England captain, Charlotte Edwards, said: "When I first started looking at this team two years ago, first I wanted a really good captain and I got that person.
"Anya was a massive part of us selecting and then gelling a team, which I knew would be really important when we first got together.
"We have kept a lot of the domestic players who play down here with Southern Vipers and then added good characters and match winners. That all came into our thinking.
"We couldn't be happier with the team we put together and I think that showed on the field. Hopefully they can put one more big performance in."
Edwards has also enjoyed seeing young girls become inspired by The Hundred and believes the tournament will do "wonders" for women's cricket moving forward.
She added: "I have had the best seat in the house to watch the cricket, see the fans and experience the players' reactions.
"They have loved the experience of playing in front of big crowds and the fans we have created over the last few weeks.
"A big thing is looking around and seeing young girls thinking cricket is really cool now. This competition has done that instantly, when I probably didn't think it was going to be quite as instant.
"It's been an incredible experience, better than we expected. It's going to do wonders for women's cricket in this country.
"We are on a crest of a wave, we don't want it to end. But it will end on Saturday and hopefully with us wining a trophy. Even if it doesn't, it has still been the most incredible few weeks."
Watch the finals of The Hundred live on Sky Sports from 2.30pm on Saturday.
