Satterthwaite's swansong soured as Blaze beat Magicians in final

Amy Satterthwaite has been denied a fairytale finish to her stellar cricket career with the Wellington Blaze pipping her Canterbury Magicians in the final of the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield this afternoon.

The Blaze won by just four runs after Canterbury put up a courageous chase, led by none other than Satterthwaite who top-scored for her side in her 323rd and final A List game with 66 off 72.

After Wellington won the toss and elected to bar first, Lea Tahuhu struck early for Canterbury with the wickets of Rebecca Burns [eight runs] and Georgia Plimmer [11].

However, that allowed opener Jessica McFadyen to settle into a groove with Maddy Green as the pair put on 86 runs for the third wicket before McFadyen departed for 53.

Green was just getting started though, eventually finishing with 106 runs from 106 balls as she anchored her side's innings; Wellington posting 258/8 from their 50 overs with Gabby Sullivan the best of the Canterbury bowlers taking 4-54.

That set Canterbury a target of 259 to win the title and despite half centuries from Satterthwaite and Jacinta Savage [58 from 54], it wasn't enough as they finished 254/7.

Leigh Kasperek played a big role in Wellington's attack, finishing with figures of 4-46 while Jess Kerr and Nicole Baird contributed valuable maidens in their spells.

In fact, it was 19-year-old spinner Baird who was handed the ball for the final over of the thrilling contest with Canterbury needing 13 runs to win.

After giving up eight runs from the first four balls, Baird managed to snare the wicket of experienced all rounder Tahuhu to effectively seal the match, denying Canterbury the domestic double after they earlier won the Super Smash T20 crown.