page_title: 2016 Women's Cricket Super League
section_title: League stage
hierarchical_section_title: 2016 Women's Cricket Super League / Tournament summary / League stage
caption_attribution_description: English: Natalie Sciver on her way to top scoring with 31 for Melbourne Stars (WBBL) against Perth Scorchers (WBBL) at Lilac Hill Park, Perth, Australia.
context_page_description: The 2016 Women's Cricket Super League, or 2016 Kia Super League for sponsorship reasons, was the first season of the Women's Cricket Super League, a semi-professional women's cricket competition in England and Wales. The competition, run by the England and Wales Cricket Board, consisted of six franchise teams playing in a Twenty20 format. Each team featured three or four players contracted to the England women's cricket team and three overseas international players. Three teams qualified from the league stage of the competition; the Southern Vipers went directly into the final, while the Loughborough Lightning and Western Storm met in a semi-final.
  The Southern Vipers became the first WCSL champions, defeating Western Storm by seven wickets in the final. Stafanie Taylor, a West Indian overseas player for the Western Storm, was named as player of the tournament, after she finished as both the leading run-scorer and leading wicket-taker in the competition.
context_section_description: The tournament began on 30 July at Headingley in Leeds, where the Loughborough Lightning faced the Yorkshire Diamonds. The Lightning batted first and scored 128 for nine, led by 52 runs from their New Zealand international, Sophie Devine. The Diamonds began their response well, and their captain, Lauren Winfield scored 23 runs from just 13 balls before she was run out. There was some controversy regarding the dismissal; Winfield felt that she had been impeded by the bowler, but the umpires upheld the dismissal. Regular wickets and miserly bowling from the Lightning attack restricted Yorkshire's batsmen, and they were eventually all out for 85, giving the Lightning a 43-run victory. The following day saw two low-scoring matches; the Surrey Stars were restricted to 85 runs from their 20 overs by a economic Southern Vipers bowling attack. Nat Sciver managed to score 36 runs for the Stars late in the innings, but the Vipers scored 66 runs from their opening partnership, including 41 runs from 43 balls for Georgia Adams to help them towards their target. They won with six wickets and 28 balls to spare. In the other fixture that day, the Lancashire Thunder reached 65 for four, but then a spell of bowling from Heather Knight and Stafanie Taylor for the Western Storm saw the Thunder dismissed all out for 83 runs. Taylor finished with four wickets, while Knight took three. In their batting response, Knight and Taylor were again the best performers; Knight scored 23 and Taylor 14 as the Storm chased down the total with 27 balls remaining.
  The Lancashire Thunder took on the Loughborough Lightning in the fourth match of the tournament, and the two teams combined to score over 300 runs. Amy Satterthwaite scored a rapid 52 runs from 32 balls for the Thunder to help them reach 164 for eight. A combination of good bowling from the Thunder bowlers, and some poor run outs hindered the Lightning's batting. Sophie Ecclestone took three wickets with her spin bowling as the Lightning collapsed to 77 for eight. A partnership of 69 runs between Thea Brookes and Paige Scholfield gave Loughborough a chance at chasing down the total, but late wickets for Hayley Matthews saw Lancashire win by six runs. The next day, Yorkshire batted first against Surrey and scored 134 for five, largely due to runs from Hollie Armitage (43) and Lauren Winfield (29). Surrey's Alex Hartley was the pick of the bowlers, taking two wickets and restricting the Diamonds to 18 runs from her four overs. In their reply, Tammy Beaumont, Bryony Smith and Nat Sciver all made good starts to help their side chase down the total and give the Stars a six wicket victory with 11 balls remaining. Lancashire Thunder hosted the Southern Vipers in their third match of the tournament. The Vipers batted first and scored 132 for 4, helped by a score of 54 not out from Sara McGlashan. The Thunder lost Matthews from the fourth ball of their batting innings, but then recovered with a 57-run second wicket partnership between Satterthwaite and Emma Lamb. The pair were dismissed two overs apart, and Lancashire failed to score the runs they needed, falling 11 runs short of the Vipers' total.
  A fourth-wicket partnership of 83 runs between Amy Jones and Ellyse Perry rescued Loughborough from 31 for three against the Western Storm, and they posted 158 for eight. Storm's captain, Heather Knight, scored 74 runs in the chase, but received little batting support from her teammates. After Knight was run out, the Storm faltered to eventually lose the game by five runs. Western Storm were in action again two days later, when they hosted the Stars in Bristol. The Stars batted first and scored 161 for six, propelled by an innings of 90 not out from Nat Sciver. In their chase, Stafanie Taylor scored 74 not out, and Lizelle Lee got 53 to help the Storm to victory. In Southampton the next day, the Southern Vipers beat the Diamonds by 54 runs; Suzie Bates and Arran Brindle each scored 45 runs for the hosts, and Linsey Smith then took four wickets to help bowl the Diamonds out for 64. Only Beth Mooney reached doubl
caption: During the group stage, Nat Sciver scored 90* during one match for the Surrey Stars.
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