Trent Rockets 92 for 2 (Dunkley 41, Mooney 31*) beat Sunrisers Leeds 91 (Sutherland 25, Adams 2-9, Phillips 2-12, Bates 2-17, Garth 2-18) by eight wickets

However, the result had scarcely been in doubt at any stage of an afternoon in which Rockets stitched together three distinct collapses – 3 for 7 in nine balls, 4 for 6 in 12, and 3 for 9 in 15 – into one almighty meltdown.

Garth the Rockets path-finder

The final moments of the match proved to be an all-Australian affair, but that was a recurring theme of a contest featuring five of the 11 Aussies who crushed England in last month’s T20 World Cup final, at this same venue.

Although Garth leaked the day’s first boundary, when she dropped short to Bryony Smith, it was Litchfield who seemed primed to lay down the day’s big marker. Having made 48 from 35 balls in that previous final, she followed a first-ball four off her pads with a sweetly timed launch for six over the covers off Bates to breeze along to 10 from three balls.

Garth, however, instantly transformed the mood for Rockets. Smith tried to clear the inner ring but chipped a tame catch to cover, where Nat Sciver-Brunt held on well over her shoulder, before Lauren Winfield-Hill – on her 36th birthday – poked her first legitimate delivery to backward point as Garth surprised her on the back foot with extra bounce.

And, to cap a collapse of 3 for 7 in nine balls, Litchfield then succumbed to Phillips, courtesy of a smart piece of thinking from Adams at gully. Sensing the batter was sizing up a ramp shot, Adams shuffled finer as the bowler began her run-up, and was perfectly placed to intercept the deflection, as Sunrisers limped to 26 for 3 at the end of the powerplay.

Adams stars in mid-innings squeeze

Of course, it isn’t just the Aussies who are familiar with that big-match feeling. Adams had won two, lost two of her previous four Lord’s finals, but that personal record offered precisely the sort of equanimity needed to ensure there’d be no let-up through the middle overs.

First though, Phillips stepped up once more with a guileful piece of bowling to bowl the dangerous Deepti Sharma for 12, who had made room to leg but deflected the full length onto her own stumps. Four balls later, Sunrisers were all but sunk at 58 for 5, as Adams extracted the critical scalp of Annabel Sutherland for 25 from 23 balls, stumped by a mile as her loopy offbreak dipped and gripped past an ambitious wipe.

Adams would finish with the exceptional figures of 2 for 9 in 15 balls, bowling Kate Cross off an inside-edge moments after Beth Mooney had grassed a second stumping chance, but arguably her finest piece of work came in the field – a full-length dive at cover and pinpoint return to Georgia Elwiss, as Jess Jonassen was run out for a duck.

It was a display that epitomised the dominance of a team had come into the final with six wins in a row, as well as the relaxation that a week of down-time had built into their preparations.

Darcy Carter played all round her first ball, from Bates, to provide the third duck of the innings, and literally the only flicker of late resistance came from Sunrisers’ captain, Dani Gibson, whose four fours included three in a row as Garth and Gardner briefly strayed too close to her pads. One ball later, the same pair combined to make amends: Gardner adjusted her line, and Garth timed her leap well to cling on at point.

Dunkley, Mooney leave no room for fightback

Sunrisers needed everything to go their way to have any hope of defending their meagre target. The writing was on the trophy by the end of Cassidy McCarthy’s first five balls. Beth Mooney, Australia’s player of the match in that aforementioned T20 World Cup final, inside-edged her first ball inches past off stump, and Carter then fumbled at fine leg to gift Dunkley the first boundary of the chase.

Dunkley then added her first six over wide long-on to dent Kate Cross’ figures, and thereafter it was aggression to the fore. Dunkley creamed a second slog-sweep for six to deny Jonassen any traction, Mooney added two fours in a row to deepen McCarthy’s gloom, and as they hurtled along to 45 for 0 at the end of the powerplay, the only moment of alarm was self-induced. Indecision on a miscue to cover left Mooney stranded mid-pitch, but the shy at the bowler’s end went wide.

Dunkley eventually holed out to short cover for an entertaining 41 from 23 balls, but the speed of her onslaught meant there was no hope whatsoever for Sunrisers – even when Sutherland, the Player of the Tournament, belatedly got in on the act by trapping Sciver-Brunt lbw for a two-ball 4. Gardner’s winning boundary came with a whopping 46 balls left unused. It was a fitting margin for a team that has seemed head and shoulders above the competition.