The return to the cricket schedule of the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy
sees not only the stars of Lancashire Thunder returning to Stanley Park
on Sunday 8 July but opposing them will be the aptly named South East
Stars side.
The fortunes of the two sides are quite different in that while both
teams have played seven games, the Stars are in a more healthy
position than Thunder in that they sit in fourth place with four victories
and three losses. Meanwhile, Thunder languish in sixth position with just
two wins as opposed to five losses.
Thunder’s two wins came by a hefty 142 runs against Sunrisers in
their second game when Katie Mack made 100, her sixth List A century,
and she was well supported by Fi Morris with 89 out of their total of 292-
5. Then the bowlers did their job by dismissing Sunrisers for 150 with
Kate Cross, 3-21, and Sophie Ecclestone, 3-40, leading the way.
The only other victory came against The Blaze who were defeated
by one wicket in a dramatic finish. Emma Lamb, 44, and Seren Smale,
58, put on 89 for the first wicket but a middle-order collapse saw
Thunder slip to 161-9 before Phoebe Graham and Hannah Jones put on
15 runs to win the game at 176-9. Prior to that, Blaze had been
dismissed for 174 with Mahika Gaur, 3-33, and Jones, 3-37, the main
wicket takers.
But those two games were Thunder’s only successes. An opening
loss came against Northern Diamonds by nine wickets, thanks to Lauren
Winfield-Hill and Hollie Armitage, with 69 and 67 respectively, who put
on an unbeaten 106 for the second wicket to secure the win. In
Thunder’s 165 all out, Smale with 32 was the only player to pass 20.
In their third game, Western Storm posted 252-6, with Sophie Luff
making 66 not out, despite Ecclestone taking a parsimonious 3-16 off
her 10 overs. Lamb, 38, Cross 36 and Ellie Threlkeld were the only
significant contributors as Thunder were dismissed for 186 to lose by 66
runs.
Then Southern Vipers overhauled Thunder’s 206-9 with Smale
making a career-best 99 before being unfortunately run out. Tara Norris
replied with 3-45 but could not stop Vipers reaching 208-7 thus winning
by three wickets as skipper Georgia Adams made top score with 51.
And the last two games of their campaign to date went south by
three wickets in a high scoring contest against Central Sparks and by 30
runs against Sunrisers. In the former game, Lamb, with 104 her fourth
List A century, and Smale, 67, put on 140 for the first wicket before the
final total of 284-7 was reached. But a career-best 136 not out, her sixth
century, by Eve Jones led Sparks to victory at 287-7 with two balls
remaining. Then there was a Duckworth/Lewis defeat by 30 runs.
Sunrisers’ innings had ended at 253 all out with Jo-Anne Gardner, 63,
and Grace Scrivens 53, being the main runscorers and Jones with 4-50
taking the bowling honours. Chasing 255 off 48 overs after rain, Lamb
made 48 and there were 30s for Smale, Mack and Naomi Dattani but it
could not prevent Thunder being dismissed for 224 with Sophie Munro
taking 5-25.
On the other hand Stars opened their account with three
successive victories, Vipers being beaten by four wickets, Blaze by eight
wickets and Sparks by 71 runs. In the first match, an opening
partnership of 165 by Bethany Smith, 50, and Tash Farrant, 94, set them
well on their way before Sophie Dunkley’s 48 not out took them home.
Ryana Macdonald-Gay’s 5-31 helped demolish Blaze for 126
before Tarrant’s 68 not out helped take the Stars home and it was 54
from Tarrant and 65 by Paige Scholfield that helped Stars to post 268
before rain intervened and, chasing 191 in 30 overs, Macdonald-Gay’s
4-18 prevented Sparks from progressing past 119-6, which was an
improvement from their 58-6 but was still not enough to win the game.
Three defeats from their last four games did not help their chase
for honours; their one victory came by five wickets against Sunrisers
whose 222 was not enough as Dunkley, 67, and Alice Davidson-
Richards, 50, helped engineer a victory by five wickets at 223-5.
The first defeat was by Western Storm in a close DLS finish by
eight runs, despite making 298-5 in their 50 overs with Scholfield, 74,
Aylish Cranstone, 63 not out, and Davidson-Richards, 50, making the
majority of the runs. Storm’s reply was cut short when they had made
236-5 from 36 overs when it was deemed that they had required 229 for
victory. Fran Wilson with 65 and Luff with 59 were Storm’s main run
getters.
Then in a high scoring game Northern Diamonds triumphed by just
three runs after posting a massive 311-9, Armitage 66, Beth Heath 59
and Sterre Kalis 52 while Phoebe Franklin snared 3-49. Dunkley led the
counter-attack but was run out for 130 with two balls remaining so the
Stars ended on 308 when the ninth wicket fell from the final ball.
Finally, in another DLS game, Blaze defeated the Stars by 133
runs after posting 318-8 with Sarah Bryce making 81, Ella Claridge a
career-best 71 and Marie Kelly 52. In reply Stars fell for 185 from 32
overs having been set 319 from 44 overs. Davidson-Richards made top
score of 44 while Heather Graham took a career-best 6-39 from just six
overs.
So as Thunder take on the Stars, the prospects for the two
sides are quite different. While Thunder will require a bizarre
series of results elsewhere for them to qualify, the Stars will be
looking to improve their chances of reaching the semi-finals; it
is definitely all to play for, so don’t miss the excitement!
Gerry Wolstenholme
Comments