Hampshire Hawks Hurry Home

Gerry Wolstenholme

On a somewhat chilly day at Stanley Park on Tuesday Hampshire
Hawks, who won the toss and put Lancashire Thunder in to bat, justified
the decision by winning a one-sided game quite comfortably.
Lancashire’s 130-7 never really seemed enough on a track that gave the
bowlers very little assistance and the Hawks cantered home by eight
wickets at 133-2, the second wicket coming as captain Georgia Adams
ran herself out with just three runs required for victory.
The tone was set when Naomi Dattani opened from the south end
with a wicket-maiden over. Thereafter the Hawks’ bowling was very tidy
and Lancashire struggled to regularly find the boundary; indeed, only
Meg Lanning, six fours and a six in her splendid 64 from 51 balls,
skipper Ellie Threlkeld, two fours in her 39 -ball 48 and Kate Cross, with
a defiant hit for six as she made a speedy 11 towards the close of the
innings, struck boundaries.
It was 29-2 when there was a rain break, before it became 29-3
from the first ball thereafter. And despite Lanning’s brilliance and some
determined efforts by Threlkeld, the score could only reach that 130 as
apart from Cross, nobody else reached double figures. The five bowlers
Hampshire used shared the wickets with Dattani’s 2-19 being the best
return with Poppy Tulloch’s 2-33 being the only other two-wicket haul.
Unlike in the Hampshire innings, Lancashire conceded 14 runs
from the first over and although Grace Potts bowled Ella McCaughan
with the first ball of the second over. It was the only bowling success that
Lancashire had as the disastrous run out of Adams late on was the only
other wicket.
In between it was simply Maia Bouchier, giving one chance on the
boundary early on and finishing with 74 not out with nine fours and one
six from 53 balls and Adams, 48 from 40 balls with five fours, who
dominated proceedings with a fine partnership of 114 off the same
number of balls. It rather looked like a net session as the pair scored at
will., with only Threlkeld’s astute field placing managing to extend the
game.
It was more or less a cakewalk as, apart from the wicket and the
four wides conceded it was difficult to recall the ball beating the bat
throughout the innings and I cannot recall any appeals. With the victory
almost assured the ball did hit the pad and Adams set off for an
impossible single which Bouchier politely declined and the Hampshire
skipper was unable to regain her ground as Potts returned the ball to
Threlkeld. Nancy Harman made a single from her one ball received

before Bouchier completed the inevitable with a delightful straight drive
for four.
Let us hope for more success in the three remaining Stanley Park
Women’s games, Metro Bank One Day Cup matches against The Blaze,
17 June 10.30, and Essex, 23 June 10.30, plus another Vitality Blast
fixture against Warwickshire Bears, 28 June 14.30.