Orla Prendergast, playing only her second Hundred match, took 4-18 to lead Welsh Fire to a three-wicket win over Manchester Super Giants at Emirates Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Manchester Super Giants never got going after Prendergast bowled their captain, Meg Lanning, for a golden duck — out first ball without scoring. The home side stumbled to 85-9 from their 100 balls, with Ryana MacDonald-Gay's 18 not out the top score in an innings where no batter reached 20. In the Hundred, each team faces 100 deliveries; 85 was always going to be a thin shield.

Prendergast arrived in the Welsh Fire squad as an injury replacement for Sophie Devine, the New Zealand all-rounder, and has seized her chance immediately. Four wickets in 20 balls — the maximum a bowler can send down in this format — left Super Giants scrambling from the outset and unable to recover.

The chase was awkward rather than serene. Welsh Fire lost seven wickets getting to 88, crossing the line with nine balls to spare. Heather Graham, an Australian all-rounder, hit an unbeaten 16 and struck the winning runs to settle Fire's nerves after a stuttering middle phase.

For Welsh Fire, the result lifted them above Leeds Sunrisers into fourth place in the table. They sit two points behind Manchester Super Giants, who held on to third despite the defeat — the gap between the sides now tight enough that every remaining fixture carries real weight for both.

What stands out here is the margins. A replacement player, thrust in because of injury, turned the match inside out inside her first 20 deliveries of the competition. Lanning is one of the most decorated batters in the history of the women's game; to dismiss her first ball, and then carve through the rest of the order, is the kind of performance that turns a squad player into a story.

For Manchester Super Giants, the concern is a batting line-up that managed only 85 on home soil. Their bowlers nearly rescued it, taking seven Fire wickets in defence of that modest total, but there is a limit to how often a side can win chasing so little and defending so much. They remain third, but the cushion has narrowed.

Welsh Fire's season, by contrast, has just found a new thread to pull. (BBC Sport)