The third leg of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy got underway with Thunder taking on Central Sparks at Worcester from the North Group. With both teams winning a game each, a win would help the team to get their noses in front in the competition.
Thunder won the toss and elected to bat first. Without the services of the England international players which they were heavily reliant on so far in the competition, they were forced to bring in their other players in the fray. Laura Marshall got to open the innings with Georgie Boyce and got things rolling with a half-century opening partnership for the Thunder side. However, they suddenly lost 3 wickets in a clutter, including that of the openers, to reduce them to 62/3. Elanor Threlkeld and Natalie Brown tried to get the Thunder side back in the game with a partnership of 44. But the run-out of Threlkeld against the run of play brought the curtains on her innings for 27. Natalie Brown followed soon after in which they again crumbled from 121/4 to 123/7. Rebecca Duckworth and captain Alex Hartley ensured that they batted out their quota of overs but they had an under-par score of 166/8 that they had to contain with. Their batters had got starts but no one could go on to make a big score to give them a defendable total, the top-score only being 27. Among the bowlers, Clare Boycott impressed with a four-for.
In response, Central Sparks got to an even better start with a century opening stand which they reached by the end of the 24th over. Evelyn Jones had already reached her half-century at that point as they looked for a comprehensive win. Gwenan Davies, her opening partner was given lbw off Olivia Thomas for 37 with the score on 114/1 but Marie Kelly, coming in next, maintained the pressure with a fifty-run stand with Evelyn Jones. Jones eventually fell to a run out at the score of 90 but Thunder was already on course to complete the run chase which they eventually did in the 39th over to win the game by 8 wickets and more than 11 overs to spare. The win got them 5 points, including a bonus point for such a commanding performance. Evelyn Jones top-scored with 90 runs.
Central Sparks now has 2 wins from 3 games and sit on 9 points, including a bonus point, whereas Thunder has just 1 win now from 3 games. Thunder faces Northern Diamonds next on the 10th whereas Central Sparks meet Lightning at the same venue the very next day.
BRIEF SCORES
Thunder: 166/8 in 50 overs (G Boyce – 27, N Brown – 27, C Boycott – 4/40)
Central Sparks: 167/2 of 38.1 overs (E Jones – 90)
Central Sparks won by 8 wickets