A star-studded Lancashire Thunder side made history as they claimed the first silverware of women’s cricket’s new era, overcoming fellow Tier One side Surrey with a 32-run victory at the inaugural Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup final in Taunton on Monday.
Lancashire appeared to be in pole position at the halfway stage of the match, scoring 172-6 from their 20 overs – opening duo Emma Lamb and Tilly Kesteven putting on 48 from the powerplay. A brief rain delay at the start of the seventh over failed to halt their momentum, as the pair went on to add 38 runs by the end of the 10th over, reaching 86-0. Tilly Corteen-Coleman then provided much-needed relief for Surrey, breaking the 86-run partnership with the wicket of Lamb for 27.
As the sun broke through the clouds, young star Kesteven was the shining light for Thunder, scoring 77 from 60 balls before being bowled by Kalea Moore. Following her dismissal, the runs kept flowing, as Thunder scored 49 from their last five overs. Moore prevented further damage in the final over of the innings, taking the wickets of Morris and Ecclestone to end as the pick of Surrey’s bowlers, with figures of 4-27.
With a daunting 172-run chase, Surrey openers Bryony Smith and Kira Chathli got off to a positive start, scoring 17 off the opening two overs. However, after hitting Bury’s England international Kate Cross for two sixes, Chathli was bowled for 21. The story was similar for captain Bryony Smith, after hitting pacer Grace Potts for four consecutive fours, an uncontrolled drive saw her caught at mid-off by Cross for 25.
A further flurry of runs for Surrey again led to wickets for Lancashire as, after a productive ninth over off the bowling of Sophie Morris which produced 13 runs, Thunder responded as Ecclestone took the wickets of Scholfield and Jones in consecutive balls to end the 10th over.
Despite late contributions from Phoebe Franklin (41) and Kalea Moore (22 not out), Lancashire absorbed the pressure to restrict Surrey’s run rate, helped by their consistently tight fielding.
England duo Sophie Ecclestone (4-12) and Kate Cross (2-27) ended as the pick of their bowlers as Lancashire completed a comfortable 32-run victory.
Thunder’s victory under the floodlights in Taunton makes them the last team standing of the 37 that entered the inaugural Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup – an ‘FA Cup’ style knockout tournament created by the ECB to allow all three tiers of the domestic women’s game to compete with one another.
In their semi-final earlier in the day, Lancashire overpowered fellow Tier One side The Blaze in a rain-affected clash.
The Blaze looked to be on top of an international-studded Lancashire bowling line-up before the rain delay, reaching 73-5 from 13.2 overs.
After losing the toss and being put into bat first, the East Midlands outfit got off to a flyer as opener Marie Kelly scored a quickfire 23, before being bowled by Sophie Morris. Sarah Bryce was second top scorer for The Blaze, hitting 18 from 22 before being caught and bowled by Cross.
However, the break in play stalled their momentum, as Thunder restricted them to 13-3 off their remaining 2.4 overs as the game was reduced to 16 overs a side. Lancashire’s spin duo of Sophie Morris (2-16) and Ecclestone (3-19) took the bulk of their wickets, after all three of Ecclestone’s wickets came after the rain delay, helping to restrict The Blaze to 86-8, setting Thunder 90 to win after DLS was calculated.
Requiring less than a run-a-ball to advance to the evening’s final, Thunder entered the chase as clear favourites.
However, the run-out of Kesteven for a diamond duck on the second ball of their innings, taking on the arm of McCarthy, created some nervousness for the rest of their chase. Lamb was caught off the bowling of Ballinger by Claridge in the next over, also for nought, before Fi Morris was run-out in identical fashion to Kesteven for nine, leaving the team at 19-3 from 4.3 overs.
The Blaze’s bowling attack did well to restrict Thunder to 45-3 after the opening 10 overs, six runs behind their 51-4 at the same stage. Cassidy McCarthy and Kirstie Gordon were the pick of the bowlers during this stage, with economies of 2.00 and 2.33 respectively.
However, a 72-run partnership between wicketkeeping duo Ellie Threlkeld (34) and Seren Smale (35) allowed Thunder to fight back, chasing down the target with an over to spare.
Threlkeld was naturally thrilled to lift the trophy after a great day for the Red Rose women.
She said: “I actually feel pretty weird to be honest, I feel quite emotional. I feel like it’s been a long time coming.
“I’ve never really won any silverware and yeah, it’s really nice to get over the line and take some silverware back – so I’m so pleased.”
On Till Kesteven’s display in the final, Threlkeld added: “I think to see Tilly play like that after the unfortunate run-out in the semi-final was so good and I’m so glad she got the opportunity to show what she can do.
“We’ve seen her perform so many times and to do it after only playing a few games for us on the big stage in a final is just incredible.
“I’m so proud of her. That set the game up for us really.”
Meanwhile, Ecclestone was also singled out for praise.
“I feel like obviously she’s the best in the world isn’t she, and I think she’s proved that today on multiple occasions,” Threlkeld continued.
“It’s amazing to have her on your side. She can bowl at any stage of the game and is so reliable.
“Overall, I’m really proud. I guess it’s not down to me, it’s down to the players in the dressing room and a number of the girls have been on that journey with me and I’m so pleased for them as well.”
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