Lancashire Thunder vs Northern Diamonds at Southport & Birkdale Cricket Club (Lancs) on 1 September 2024 (10h30)
Top-of-table Diamonds beat their Roses rivals to leapfrog the defending champions, to qualify for the semi-finals with just two matches remaining ‘ceteris paribus’ – all things being equal. As was customary, Thunder came beefed-up with at least one new recruit. This time, Eve Jones (newly-signed from Sparks): said by commentators to have played for Thunder ‘a number of times before;’ (and wasn’t playing ‘on debut’ – as mentioned elsewhere.) Batting first, Diamonds opening partnership between Emma Marlow and Lauren Winfield-Hill banked 95; followed by a century fifth-wicket stand between Sterre Kalis (pictured). Sterre Kalis ‘played a fine innings’ when scoring her maiden ‘List A’ century [100 runs(from 95 balls)]; partnered by Beth Langston who scored her career-best unbeaten ‘fifty.’ Turning to Thunder’s run-chase, home-team commentators sounded convinced that Thunder looked well-placed to win. Thunder were indeed a ‘nose-ahead’ by mid-way 130/2 (vs 116/2) thanks to a ‘good foundation’ with Eve Jones making top-score with ‘fifty,’ partnered by Seren Smale who fell two runs short of her ‘fifty’. Thereafter, the match slipped away from Thunder when two Diamonds bowlers each took three pairs of wickets during the same over. Phoebe Turner took Thunder’s final wicket, bagging her career-best 6-fer’ (6 wickets, conceding 20 runs.) Thunder’s defeat reduces their chance to ‘wafer-thin’ to qualify for the semi-finals. Commentators were Michael ‘Mike’ Perkins with Allyson ‘Ally’ Byrne (Women’s Cricket Chat, West Midlands, former Lancs & Cheshire Women.) Weather was cooler with cloud-cover and a light breeze 15C.
Diamonds’ innings: *Skipper Hollie Armitage, with Lauren Winfield-Hill (recently arrived from the Caribbean); Beth Langston (ECB Development XI) and international players Sterre Kalis (NL) & Erin Burns (Australia Big Bash – recently arrived from the Caribbean) *Also Katherine Fraser & Rachel Slater (Scotland) *Without Bess Heath (England) [*Ellie Threlkeld keeping wicket for Thunder]; *After 10 overs Power-play 45/0; *During the 20th over Lauren Winfield-Hill who’d scored ‘fifty,’ was bowled by Hannah Jones; *Three balls later Hollie Armitage was bowled by Naomi Dattani for a second-ball duck; *Drinks taken at mid-way (25 overs) on 116/2; *Next ball, Emma Marlow went aerial, caught by Emma Lamb from Phoebe Graham, commentators lauding her as ‘pick-of-the-seamers’; *Erin Burns was caught ‘in-the-deep’ by Tara Norris, from Hannah Jones; *’Good moment for Dutch cricket’ when Sterre Kalis scored her maiden ‘class-A’ ‘century.’ *Next ball, Sterre Kalis was caught at ‘cover’ by Seren Smale from Naomi Dattani, ending 111-run partnership with Beth Langston; *Next over Katherine Fraser was caught aerial by Eve Jones at ‘extra-cover’ from Fi Morris; *Beth Langston struck the only ‘six’ of the innings with 4 ‘fours’from Fi Morris’ death over’ to score her career-best ‘fifty;’ *Diamonds’ batting: Sterre Kalis 100(95), Beth Langston 58*not out(53), Lauren Winfield-Hill 50 (60), Emma Marlow 45(66), Erin Burns 10(14), Katherine Fraser 10(7); *Thunder’s bowling: Hannah Jones 2/37, Naomi Dattani 2/48, Phoebe Graham 1/52, Fi Morris 1/64;
*Thunder’s innings: skipper Ellie Threlkeld (who received her 100th cap); with Eve Jones (Sparks loan until end-of-season) ‘who’d played ‘on-and-off’ with Thunder for a number of years;’ Emma Lamb (England), Alice Clarke (u19s); Announced that Phoebe Graham replaced Kate Cross (England); Also Tara Norris (former US); *Without Sophie Ecclestone; [*Lauren Winfield-Hill keeping wicket for Diamonds] *Alice Clarke went ‘leg-before’ to Rachel Slater; *Emma Lamb was bowled by Rachel Slater; *After 10 overs Power-play 60/2 (vs45/0); & 130/2 (vs 116/2) by mid-way (25 overs); *Seren Smale was bowled by Phoebe Turner; *Next over Eve Jones was caught by Hollie Armitage, from Beth Langston; *Two balls later Ellie Threlkeld was bowled for a second-ball duck; *Naomi Dattani was bowled by Phoebe Turner; *Three balls later Tara Norris was caught behind by Lauren Winfield-Hill for a third-ball duck; *Fi Morris was bowled by Phoebe Turner; *Three balls later Hannah Jones was bowled by Phoebe Turner for a third-ball duck; *Finally, Phoebe Graham was bowled by Phoebe Turner, chalking-up her career-best 6-fer; *Thunder’s batting: Eve Jones 57(76), Seren Smale 48(59), Fi Morris 27(18), Emma Lamb 19(25), Alice Clarke 14(19); Diamonds’ bowling: Phoebe Turner 6/20, Rachel Slater 2/24, Beth Langston 2/55;
*Match result: Northern Diamonds 290/6 (@5.8 runs-per-over from 50/50 overs) beat Lancashire Thunder 204/10 (@5.3 r-p-o target 291 from 38/50 ov) by 86 runs
*Scorecard and video highlights when available courtesy of ECB (via NV Play) @url https://www.ecb.co.uk/rachael-heyhoe-flint-trophy/match-centre/104463#scorecard *AppleMac users may need to scroll down on left margin to select a match
*Full match free-to-air courtesy of Lancs TV (NV Play) via YouTube <06h29m35s> @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmvDqGY6mrg
*Updated fixtures and results @url http://4theloveofsport.co.uk/2024/08/23/updated-rachael-heyhoe-flint-trophy-fixtures-and-results-2/
