Suzie Bates hit a sensational unbeaten 119 as champions Southern Vipers thumped Loughborough Lightning by 46 runs in Derby to make it two wins from two in defence of their Kia Super League title.

The 29-year-old New Zealand captain hit 15 fours and four sixes as Lightning paid a heavy price for Australian star Ellyse Perry’s dropped catch when she was on 39.

For good measure, Bates took two wickets with her medium pace and held a brilliant catch on the boundary as Lightning were bowled out for 134.

The innings is among the biggest in women’s Twenty20 cricket at the highest level. Australian Meg Lanning’s 126 against Pakistan in 2014 is the highest individual score in international T20s, while the biggest so far in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash is Sophie Devine’s 103 no.

Perry put Bates down off her own bowling, throwing out her right arm in her follow-through as the ball was driven back down the pitch but failing to hold on.

It was a sharp opportunity but Perry was furious with herself for letting it slip.

And how Bates made Perry and her teammates suffer as Vipers amassed 180-2, the biggest total so far in the Kia Super League, which is in its second season.

The tall right-hander raced to 53 off just 30 balls as Vipers broke the KSL’s Powerplay record at 63-0, Bates launching sixes big enough to clear even the deeper boundary marker in position for the men’s game in the NatWest T20 Blast that followed.

It was not until the tenth over that Lightning made a breakthrough as Hayley Matthews holed out to Elyse Villani at long-on.

The only other moment of celebration for the home side came when Thea Brookes ran out Georgia Adams with a direct hit from extra cover.

But there was no stopping Bates, who passed Dane van Niekerk’s 91 for Loughborough Lightning last year as the fledgling competition’s highest individual score.

It came during a Perry over which saw Adams caught off a full toss that was ruled a no-ball for height.

Soon after hitting her 15th four, Bates completed a 63-ball century with a push into the offside off Kristen Beams before celebrating with her fourth six.

Lightning’s reply began disastrously as Villani, their key top-order batter, was run out at the non-striker’s end off just the fourth ball as left-arm seamer Tash Farrant deflected a drive by Amy Jones into the stumps.

Southern Vipers
SW Bates not out 119 (72)
HK Matthews c Villani b Higham 12 (18)
GL Adams run out (Brookes) 12 (13)
DN Wyatt not out 21 (19)
Extras: 16 (lb 4, nb 2, w 10)
TOTAL 180/2 (20 overs)
     Did not bat: A Thompson, M du Preez, CM Edwards (c), CE Rudd †, LCN Smith, NE Farrant, KL George
     Bowling: KM Beams 4-0-19-0, BA Langston1-0-16-0, RL Grundy 2-0-28-0, SB Odedra 3-0-29-0, EA Perry 2-0-22-0, GA Elwiss 4-0-36-0, LF Higham 4-0-26-1
    Fall of wickets:1-87 (HK Matthews, 9.4 ov), 2-130 (GL Adams, 13.5 ov)

Loughborough Lightning 
AE Jones † b Matthews 11 (9)
EJ Villani run out (Farrant) 1 (1)
EA Perry run out (Adams) 6 (10)
GA Elwiss (c) b Bates 32 (29)
SB Odedra st †Rudd b George 6 (11)
TF Brookes c Wyatt b Brindle 24 (11)
S Glenn run out (du Preez) 25 (21)
LF Higham lbw b Bates 0 (1)
BA Langston c Bates b Brindle 3 (11)
KM Beams not out 7(8)
RL Grundy st †Rudd b Bates 12(8)
Extras 7 (b 1, w 6)
TOTAL 134 all out (20 overs)
    Bowling: NE Farrant 3-0-22-0, LCN Smith 4-0-25-0, HK Matthews 4-2-9-1, KL George 2-0-15-1, SW Bates 3-0-15-3, A Thompson 4-0-27-2            Fall of wickets:1-6 (EJ Villani, 0.4 ov), 2-14 (AE Jones, 2.4 ov), 3-25 (EA Perry, 4.3 ov), 4-55 (SB Odedra, 8.6 ov), 5-77 (GA Elwiss, 11.2 ov), 6-87 (TF Brookes, 12.6 ov), 7-87 (LF Higham, 13.1 ov), 8-106 (BA Langston, 16.4 ov), 9-113 (S Glenn, 17.3 ov), 10-134 (RL Grundy, 19.6 ov)