In the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy match at Stanley Park last Sunday
South East Stars outshone Lancashire Thunder in all aspects of the
game. Stars’ skipper Bryony Smith won the toss, elected to bat on a
straw coloured pitch and opened the innings with Kalea Moore. The pair
put on 34 quite comfortably until Tara Norris bowled Moore for 13.
This brought in Alexa Stonehouse and she and Smith put on 65
before third change bowler Naomi Dattani had the former caught in the
deep by Kate Cross for 23. Paige Scholfield joined her captain and they
took the total to 117 before Smith’s impressive knock came to an end on
67 made from 71 balls with nine fours and one six when Danielle Collins
took a good catch off the bowling of Fi Morris.
Thereafter Alice Davidson-Richards looked lively while making a
speedy 20 and Ryana Macdonald-Gay struck four fours in a rapid 14-ball
18 but it was Scholfield, 56 from 55 balls with seven fours and 43 from
Aylish Cranstone that helped the Stars to reach their final all out total of
283 with two balls of their 50 overs remaining. Indeed it could have been
worse but Thunder’s bowlers pulled it round towards the end if the
innings as at 221-5 with 10 overs remaining, a total of over 300 looked a
distinct possibility. Hannah Jones with 3-56 was the pick of the bowlers
and there were two wickets each for the Morrises, Sophie and Fi, and
Dattani.
Thunder’s innings got off to a disastrous start as Emma Lamb fell
to a catch behind by Chloe Hill off Phoebe Franklin without a run on the
board. Hill then took two further catches as Katie Mack, 12, and Seren
Smale, 30 and going well, fell off the bowling of Macdonald-Gay and
Stonehouse respectively with the last named seemingly unlucky to be
given out as she went for a leg glance.
So, from 51-3 Ellie Threlkeld and Fi Morris had to try to rebuild and
they partially did so, putting on 67 in 14.3 overs, both making 37. But
thereafter wickets fell cheaply and only a spirited stand of 44 by ninth-
wicket pair Jones, a run-a-ball 26 not out, and Norris, 14, helped the
total to just pass 200. And when Macdonald-Gay, who took an excellent
4-34, took the final wicket it was all over as Thunder, dismissed for 201
suffered defeat by 82 runs; Moore, 3-31, was a more than capable
assistant to Macdonald-Gay.
With six games remaining, the top four, with the Stars in fourth
place, have opened a 10-point gap between them and the remaining
four sides and, it will take a significant turnaround of fortunes from the
other sides for any change to take place. This is particularly so for
Thunder, who, in seventh position with nine points, languish 14 points
behind the top four … who knows though, anything can happen!
Gerry Wolstenholme
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