Top Performers:
1) Amy Jones – The English wicketkeeper back to her best with 66 not out against Lancashire thunder confirmed Loughborough Lightning a place in finals day of Kia Super League 2019.
2) Jenny Gunn – The Senior pro continued to shine with the ball as she picked up 3 wickets with an economy of less than 4 in 3.5 overs. Which restricted Thunder to a below-par score of 122 All-out.
3) Sarah Glenn – The young bowler from Derbyshire bowled an excellent spell of medium-fast bowling as she picked up the key wickets of McGrath, Threlkeld and also of dangerous player Harmanpreet Kaur. She ended up her spell with 3 for 25.
Summary:
Amy Jones back to her best with a 66 not out helped Loughborough lightning to win over Lancashire Thunder by 8 wickets at Nottingham on Sunday.
Thunder who does not have a single win in this season decided to bat on winning the toss, hoping for a win. Opening the inning for Thunder.
McGrath failed again as she got dismissed for just 5 runs. She was cleaned up on the bowling of Sarah Glenn. Georgia Adams who arrived after the departure of McGrath tried put on a good partnership and they failed as Luus got dismissed to Gunn. Very next ball, Lightning was successful in getting huge of Kaur on the first ball. Kaur was out for a Golden duck, which is a rare sight in women’s cricket.
All the batters who followed next did not last long as Thunder kept on losing wickets. Brown who scored 29 ended up as the highest run-scorer. Lancashire finished the innings with 122 All-out in 19.5 overs. Senior pro-Gunn and youngster Glenn picked up 3 wickets each for Lightning.
Chasing the target of 123, Lightning for a change sent Chamari Athapaththu ahead of the usual opener Matthews. Amy Jones on another side who did not have great season was finally back to her best, she scored a match-winning knock of 66 not out in 52 balls including 8 boundaries and 1 six. It is her best innings of this season, good that for Lightning, she is back to form during the knockout stages.
Chamari too played a decent inning of 26 before she got out to Lamb after having a partnership of 63. Following her, the incoming batter Adams did not spend much time in the crease, she got out soon for 11. Amy Jones, who looked in a great touch finished the inning with 66 and she got good support from freeborn in the end. With the brilliance of Jones, Lightning chased the score in 16.1 overs, with 8 wickets in hand.
With this win, Lightning confirmed their birth for finals day against Vipers, whereas Lancashire remained as a winless team of the season.
Brief score: Lancashire Thunder 122 All-out ( Brown 29, Gunn 3 for 14 ) lost to Loughborough Lightning 123 for 2 ( Jones 66, Hartley 1 for 21) by 8 wickets.
