Thunder hold off Lightning in thriller
Wed 3 Aug 2016
A brilliant eighth wicket partnership of 69 between Thea Brookes and Paige Scholfield saw Loughborough Lightning come close to pulling off an amazing comeback before Lancashire Thunder completed their first win in the new Kia Super League.
Lightning were in trouble at 88-7 in the 13th over at the Haslegrave Ground, chasing a competitive Thunder total of 164-8 built on a hard-hitting half-century from captain Amy Satterthwaite, made off just 30 balls.
But Scholfield, with 38 off 22 balls, and Brookes (30 not out off 22) gave the home team a real chance of victory with a stand of 69 in 6.2 overs before Thunder all-rounder Hayley Matthews (3-25) picked up two wickets in two balls to end the innings.
“Lightning fought back superbly, and credit to them for that, and in the end it was a relief to get over the line,” said Satterthwaite.
“For ourselves, we talked about being positive in our batting, and not panicking if there were a few dot balls. It’s the nature of the competition that there will be wins and losses in the group stage, every side has a lot of strengths.”
Having chosen to bowl first, Loughborough saw seamer Beth Langston pick up the wicket of Matthews in her second over, finding an edge which was well held by Amy Jones diving to her right behind the stumps, but the tall left-hander Satterthwaite hit straight and hard, making the most of the short boundaries.
Lamb, on 26, went down the wicket to the economic slow left arm spin of Rebecca Grundy (3-0-19-1), missed, and was stumped, but Satterthwaite hit nine fours and a six before top-edging a cut at the seam of Sonia Odedra into the hands of Brookes at short third man.
The introduction of the leg-spin of South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk - who matched Grundy's figures - briefly slowed the Thunder charge, but West Indies batter Deandra Dottin (42 off 29 balls) accelerated the scoring rate again.
A series of sweetly timed pulls and sweeps saw her hit seven fours and a six before skying Ellyse Perry into the hands of Lightning captain Georgia Elwiss at extra cover.
Lightning picked up just a single off the first over of their reply, bowled by Matthews, and in the second van Niekerk was run out before scoring. Elwiss lofted Matthews for a straight six, but Sophie Devine chipped a simple catch to mid-wicket off Kate Cross.
Perry went quickly, caught behind thin-edging an attempted cut at the impressive spin of Sophie Ecclestone (4-0-23-3), and Loughborough’s chance of getting close to their target suffered a huge blow when England all-rounder Elwiss (20, 19b) was unluckily run out, stranded at the non-striker’s hand when Jones’ firm drive was deflected on to the stumps by bowler Dottin.
Scholfield and Brookes then shared a highly entertaining alliance for the eighth wicket, with the former injecting momentum with four boundaries in the 15th over bowled by Cross. But Scholfield was dismissed off the last ball of the penultimate over, bowled swinging and missing at Dottin, and Thunder used the wicket to their advantage.
A target of eight runs off the final over, with two wickets in hand, proved just out of Lightning’s reach as Matthews held her nerve impressively.
“I’m devastated right now, but stepping back, to get within seven (of victory) from the position we were in says a lot about the spirit and attitude of our team,” said Brookes.
