Lancashire Thunder pulled off a shock win over the Loughborough Lightning after an impressive batting performance put an imposing 164/8 on the board. The Lightning had no answer losing early wickets until Paige Scholfield (38) and Thea Brookes (30* ) put together a partnership of 69 for the ninth wicket.
Thunder's impressive total was built around a classy innings from Amy Satterthwaite of 52 from 32 balls. She drove with supreme class and elegance. In contrast Deandra Dottin's equally impressive 42 off 29 balls was all about power. She muscled the ball to the boundary on eight occasions and recorded a 6, but only due to four overthrows from a scampered 2. The only genuine 6 belonged to Satterthwaite, and it was an immaculate straight drive off compatriot Sophie Devine. It was not a great day for any of the Lightning bowlers - Ellyse Perry went for 39 off her four overs and Georgia Elwiss 37 off her four, but she did at least get two wickets. Devine only managed two overs for 22 runs.
In reply Lightning lost the wickets of Dane van Niekerk, Devine and Perry in the powerplay to be 36/3 after the first six overs, and it could have been worse had Sophie Ecclestone not shelled an easy catch off Elwiss at mid-off off Hayley Matthews. It looked like it might be a very costly mistake as Elwiss (20) and Amy Jones (27) looked to be rebuilding the Lightning innings, but Jones's crashing drive was deflected back onto the stumps by bowler Dottin, and Elwiss had to go run out. It was the pivotal moment of the game. Amy Jones battled on for 27 before she hit an Ecclestone full toss straight down deep square's throat. The Thunder were 76/6 with only nine overs to come. It was not a position from which they seemed likely to recover, but that was not to take account of the power hitting of Scholfield and Brookes! They took Lightning to within sight of victory at 157/8 with 7 balls to come, before Scholfield heaved once too often and was bowled by Dottin. It left Hayley Matthews with the last over to bowl and just 8 to win. But Matthews kept her cool removing Grundy and then Langston to bring the Thunder home by 6 runs.
Lancashire Thunder 164/8
(Amy Satterthwaite 52, Deandra Dottin 42)
Loughborough Lightning
(Paige Scholfield 38, Thea Brookes 30*, Amy Jones 27, Sophie Ecclestone 3/23, Hayley Matthews 3/25)
full scorecard here
MD
03/VIII/16
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I was at Loughborough yesterday and felt that at the beginning of the final over, the match could have gone either way. That's what the spectator wants from this KSL and it was such a pity that this game was not televised.
ReplyDeleteFrom a deep hole, two non contracted players, Scholfield and Brookes almost took the Lightning home !.
Aside from the cricket though it seemed to me that the University did not fully embrace the occasion. Firstly, there was no sign to tell you where to park or toilet facilities in the ground. The franchise are the only one between Leeds and London but don't appear to engage with the local population. The Lightning side are (overseas signings apart) an alumni team.
Franchise cricket is new to the UK but did anyone else present feel that Loughborough and it's side can engender a better experience, especially as they should be inspiring local girls to take up the game.
My fear was always that in many ways Loughborough may end up as the poor relations of the SL, even though they may have one of the strongest playing squads. I don't doubt that Loughborough University can run the team more than competently, but the issues are firstly with the name and secondly with the decision to play all matches on the university ground. We have three SL teams named after counties and two after regions, yet the sixth is named after a small town and thus has little chance of attracting cricket fans from across the Midlands. It's also summer vacation so no chance of getting the students down. They also need to start at 4.30 when people are still at work because their ground has no floodlights, and the ground also has no radio broadcast facilities. Could not more be achieved by calling it Midlands Lightning and playing at Grace Road, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston etc? Incidentally, what was the attendance at the match?
ReplyDeleteAttendance was apparently about 500.
ReplyDelete