Southern Vipers 157 for 3 (Elwiss 65*, McCaughan 49) beat Western Storm 156 (Wilson 34, Adams 3-17, Taylor 3-32) by seven wickets
Southern Vipers completed a comprehensive bonus point victory at the 1st Central County Ground to keep them well in the running for the semi-final places in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
The visitors started slowly thanks to tidy bowling from Freyas Davies and Kemp, the former returning to bowl after building up her strength having suffered successive stress fractures, with the left-armer claiming her first wicket back in the fifth over.
Storm skipper Sophie Luff steadied the ship with Emma Corney as they put on 40 runs before Taylor cleaned up the opener for 20 with a heatseeking top-of-off delivery.
That brought Fran Wilson to the crease who kept the scoreboard ticking over but chipped a simple catch straight to Elwiss, with Luff trapped lbw by Charli Knott three overs later.
Nat Wraith then looked to take the attack to Vipers, but couldn’t find anyone to stay with her as wickets tumbled at the other end.
Amanda-Jade Wellington lasted just nine ball before she was rapped on the pads by Adams, with two wickets falling in the 32nd over as Niamh Holland was bowled for 8 and Alex Griffiths was involved in a horrible mix up in the middle which saw her run out without troubling the scorers.
Wraith then chipped a catch to Linsey Smith for 31 and the Storm found themselves 148 for 8 at the end of the 34th over.
The final two wickets fell in successive balls, as Chloe Skelton edged a wide delivery to Rhianna Southby before Mollie Robbins was castled by a pitch perfect yorker from Taylor – Storm all out for 156.
Vipers started their reply positively, with 33 runs coming off the opening five overs, McCaughan and Knott ticking along at the same pace. But the Australian feathered an edge behind to Wraith off Wellington which saw her walk back to the pavilion in the eighth over.
This brought Elwiss to the crease who, along with McCaughan, batted calmly in their 73-run stand for the second wicket.
McCaughan pounced on anything wide and short, with five of her boundaries coming behind square of the wicket, while Elwiss in particular favoured the off side.
With the score on 112 and Vipers needing just 45 for victory, McCaughan was trapped lbw by Wellington on 49, playing her first game in three weeks.
Elwiss then upped the ante taking three boundaries off Griffiths and followed it up with another trio of fours off Wellington to take the home side within 15 runs of the win.
Adams skied a catch straight to Griffiths to give Skelton her wicket, but a boundary from Kemp took the Vipers to single figures required with a single off the fourth ball of the 30th over sealing a bonus point win for the reigning champions.
