Greater Northern Raiders: women's squad falls to Clarence in final

Things were looking up for the girls in orange early on, with Latrobe bowler Hannah Magor claiming Roos number two Maddison Brooks.

The next ball saw Raiders keeper Emma Manix-Geeves run-out the dangerous Heather Graham for a duck.

The stiff uppercut delivered by the Raiders only lasted so long, however, as opening Englishwoman Hollie Armitage and Erin Fazackerley started to get things rolling for their side.

Armitage walloped a century, with Fazackerley falling just five runs short of her own, once again demonstrating the high-calibre talent of the number one white-ball team.

Raiders coach Darren Simmonds said his team was well-placed after the Graham duck, however key drops allowed Clarence's top order to continue to roll.

Despite the crushing form of the aforementioned pairing, the Raiders managed to keep a lid on the rest of Clarence's batting order.

This included two more ducks for Olivia McDonald and Jessie Mudalier as Clarence raced for runs in the closing overs.

Raiders captain Caitlyn Webster said her team knew the top order was always going to give them a handful of trouble.

"We were always looking for those key early wickets ... unfortunately, there were a couple of chances that we didn't hang onto," she said.

"They're experienced players and that's what they're going to do: they're going to take that opportunity and run with it."

The Raiders' own top batters struggled mightily early on in their innings.

Manix-Geeves and Sasha Moloney found themselves packing for just 15 and 16 runs respectively.

This was owed to a suffocating bowling attack from a vengeful Graham (3-24) and McDonald (1-15).

Webster (35) and Sascha Lowry (12) managed to give her side hope in the middle order.

The tail also did their best, with Raiders veterans Sophie Parkin and Alice McLauchlan adding 26 and 31 runs respectively.

"There were a few little partnerships, obviously we would've liked to continue them but it didn't go that way," Webster said.

However, the clumping of wickets for Zoe Lowry (5) and key batter Meg Radford (11), as well as those of Sascha Lowry and Ava Curtis (2) as momentum continued shift into Clarence's favour.

A couple of ducks for Magor and Charlotte Layton capped off a 71-run Clarence win.

"We're such a young group and to have the girls make it this far is an awesome achievement," Webster said.

Simmonds said he was proud of his team's resolve throughout the match.

"We showed a lot of fight in our side," he said.

"We fought hard the the entire game, right until the end."

Greater Northern 10-188 (Webster 35, McLauchlan 31, Parkin 26, Graham 3-24, Brooks 2-10, Fazackerley 2-48) def by Clarence 7-259 (Armitage 101, Fazackerley 95, Moloney 3-34, McLauchlan 2-32) by 71 runs