Source: Bruce Perkins

KSL Picks of the Week – A busy Spell

  • +1

Nine matches have been squeezed inside a week, to leave players and staff gasping for breath.

Western Storm have continued their serene progress, claiming five wins out of five, but in the process they have shown up the weaknesses of the competition as well as its strengths.

For their latest contest they travelled up to York to take on the Diamonds, who had got off the mark by beating neighbours Thunder.

Despite putting up the decent total of 151-9, the hosts lost by a whopping 9 wickets, as two overseas players, Rachel Priest (New Zealand) and Smriti Mandhana (India) completely dominated proceedings after the break. They were together for 55 minutes; in that time they added 133 runs in just under 14 overs.

Three young English hopefuls: Katie George (newly transferred from the Vipers), Helen Fenby and Linsey Smith (newly transferred from Lightning), were the first invited to bowl. Together they bowled 7.5 overs and were hit for 91 runs.

The official argument is: English cricketers will only improve if they face up to the best players in the world. Let’s hope these three have derived positive vibes from this experience.

But the shape and nature of the KSL place most of the trump cards in the hands of the overseas players. At least Alyssa Healy hasn’t yet produced the runs that the Diamonds must have expected from her.

It’s rare to find three consecutive wickets falling to run-outs by the same player. Even rarer to see her name appearing a fourth time. but it happened to Sophie Luff. How often has this happened before?

Scores:
Diamonds: 151-9 (Hollie Armitage 59)
Storm : 152-1 (14.5 overs)

At the other end of the table Lancashire Thunder came to Hove without a point to their name, to take on Southern Vipers.

This turned into the most nail-biting drama of the season. Thunder’s fragile batting managed to reach 132-7. Harmanpreet Kaur and Emma Lamb added 64 much needed runs, but the total looked inadequate.

Thunder, led admirably by Kate Cross, responded at once, taking 4-24 and removing the dangerous Wyatt, Bates and Beaumont cheaply. Maia Bouchier supported Stafanie Taylor well to add 94 runs, but the overs were eating up. Under this sort of pressure bowling is not for the weak-hearted, but first Sophie Ecclestone, then the skipper and finally Emma Lamb produced the goods, Ecclestone including a remarkable run-out as her delivery was skied just out of reach – she had to field it, turn and aim at her own bowler’s stumps, and she hit.

It was left to Lamb to bowl the final over.  Her third ball had Amanda-Jade Wellington stumped by Ellie Threlkeld and the fifth bowled Tash Farrant. Vipers couldn’t manufacture the extra run they need at the death, so this turned into the most exciting finish since…ah! a World Cup final at Lord’s.

Scores:
Thunder: 132-7 (Stafanie Taylor 51)
Storm : 132-8 (20 overs)
Tie

Another less surprising performance at Guildford as Lightning beat Stars to gain some sort of revenge for their loss on last year’s final’s day at Hove. The team that finished in top position in the table were able to re-establish their dominance by beating the hosts by a cool seven wickets.

As Lizelle Lee cuffed four fours in the first over off Tara Norris, the Stars were looking at a total zooming towards 200. But once she was dismissed for 27, no-one else managed to pass her score. 120-7 was a dismal total for the locals to read on the board. Sarah Glenn and Kathryn Bryce, Scotland’s skipper, were the pick of the bowlers, keeping things tight with spin and pace respectively, and picking up valuable wickets.

Lightning looked vulnerable after the break, losing three valuable wickets (Matthews, Atapattu and Jones) early on. But Mignon de Preez, late of Vipers, played a masterful innings of 70* to shift the game firmly in Lightning’s favour. Georgia Adam (34*) supported her admirably in adding 92.

Scores:
Stars: 120-7
Lightning: 123-3

Lancashire Thunder v Yorkshire Diamonds Aigburth
War of the Roses

Both sides had yet to claim a point.

Three overseas players out of four opened the batting McGrath, Luus and Healy; Lauren Winfield was the odd Englishwoman out and she top-scored with 56.

Sophia Dunkley bowled Healy for 30 to claim a prized conquest.

The 22-year-old Hollie Armitage impressed again for the Diamonds with 33. Her other recent scores have been 12, 23 and 59 (v Storm).

Once more the Thunder batting proved too fragile to overtake a relatively modest total of 151, but Emma Lamb confirmed her all-round promise by scoring 32 off 14 balls after opening the bowling and taking 1-14 in her three overs.

At least Sophie Ecclestone added another 6 to her collection.

Result:
Yorkshire Diamonds 151-6
Lancashire Thunder 142
Diamonds win by 9 runs

Other Matches:
Yorkshire Diamonds 121-6 lost to Loughborough Lightning 122-1 by 9 wickets

Southern Vipers 142-5 lost to Western Storm 143-7 with one ball to spare!

There were six scores between 30 and 44, but it needed Heather Knight and Fran Wilson’s experience to squeeze the leaders over the line. This might prove a decisive result in the series.

Surrey Stars vs Southern Vipers Abandoned without a ball bowled – rain

Western Storm 158-4 beat Loughborough Lightning 118 (Freya Davies 4-27) by 40 runs.

Davies produced one of the few outstanding bowling performances to dent Lightning’s hopes of a place on final’s day. She became a very rare bowler to win a Player of the Match award this season.
​​​​​

Table

Team

W

L

T

N/R

Points

Western Storm

5

0

0

 0

22

Southern Vipers

2

1

1

1

13

Surrey Stars

2

1

0

1

11

Loughborough Lightning

2

3

0

0

10

Yorkshire Diamonds

1

3

0

0

4

Lancashire Thunder

0

4

1

0

2

Stars and Diamonds have one game in hand

 

One Comments

  1. Post By Julian Thompson

    Highlights from Western Storm’s 158-4 versus L’boro Lightning’s 118, can be viewed via the following link:
    https://www.ecb.co.uk/video/1311199/highlights-western-storm-beat-loughborough-lightning-in-kia-super-league

Comments are closed.