Lancashire secure victory in Women’s T20
Meg Lanning made her second successive unbeaten fifty to guide Lancashire Thunder to their first victory in this year’s Women’s Vitality Blast.
The world-class Australian batter finished on 75 not out off 48 balls as Thunder defeated Somerset by seven wickets in a one-sided match at Emirates Old Trafford
It was Somerset’s first defeat in this year’s Blast but the visitors could harbour no grievances. Having posted a modest 137 for six in their 20 overs, a total in which skipper Sophie Luff made 42, they were powerless to prevent Lancashire reaching their target in 15.3 overs and thereby collecting one bonus point in addition to the four for victory.
Having opted to bat first, Sophie Luff and her opening partner, Bex Odgers, put on 37 in 4.1 overs but this bright start was cut short when Hannah Jones took two wickets in five balls. The left-arm spinner trapped Odgers leg-before when sweeping for 23 and then bowled Anika Learoyd for a single with a quicker delivery.
The visitors’ momentum was further disrupted in the eighth over when Niamh Holland swung the fourth ball of Venus Weerappuli’s senior career to Fi Morris at deep midwicket and departed for two. That wicket sparked great celebrations among the Lancashire players; aged 16 years and 206 days leg-spinner Weerapulli had become Lancashire’s youngest debutant.
Further wickets prevented Somerset recovering their early fluency. Luff was stumped by Ellie Threlkeld off Grace Johnson for a 31-ball 42 and Katie Jones was caught and bowled in Fi Morris’s first over for 16. That left Somerset on 88 for five after 11.3 overs and it quickly became clear Luff’s batters would have to settle for a lower total than they had amassed in their three earlier games.
Alex Grififths became Jones’s third victim when her attempted reverse sweep only resulted in her being lbw for 14 and the innings ended on 137 for six, a total boosted by the 12 runs taken off Kate Cross’s final over, the last two deliveries of which were inside-edged and then swung to the fine leg boundary by Jess Hazell, who finished unbeaten on 23. Jones was comfortably her side’s best bowler, finishing with three for 20 from four overs.
Lancashire’s reply began even better than Somerset’s and suffered no serious setbacks. Lanning and Eve Jones shared nine boundaries during a powerplay that yielded 62 runs and none of Luff’s bowlers were able to put a break on the scoring.
Lanning reached her fifty off 30 balls, eight of which she hit for boundary fours, but her partnership was broken two short of a hundred, when Jones was bowled by Erin Vukusic for 43. Dani Collins then fell first ball when her extravagant drive off Vukusic merely skied a catch to Olivia Barnes at backward point.
Unflustered by these slight setbacks Lanning put on a further 32 with Johnson, who was lbw to Vukusic for 16 just before Lanning smacked a six off Holland and Threlkeld’s single clinched the win. Vukusic finished with three for 30 from her four overs.
Meg Lanning, Lancashire batter, said
“It’s a nice feeling to get the win. I think the first couple of games we’ve played some good patches of cricket, but just probably couldn’t finish it off. So, I think today was a really good all-around performance. I think the bowlers set it up really nicely.
“We were able to take some wickets through the middle there and peg them back and not allow them to build the partnerships to be able to sort of explode at the back end.
“So nice to get a win and hopefully that gives us some good momentum.
“Eve Jones took the pressure off me early. She was really aggressive, took the bowlers on. We felt like with the new ball, it’s probably the best time to bat.
“It was coming on quite nicely, so we wanted to make the most of it. And it was nice to be able to build a few partnerships.
“I think everyone would say they’d want to open in T20 cricket. It’s a good place to bat, especially when the ball comes on pretty well.
“I certainly enjoyed opening again. I actually haven’t batted at three for quite a long time so it was a bit weird the first game. It doesn’t really matter too much. You go out there with a pretty similar approach in both roles.
“I think when you come into a new team and a new comp, you always want to start off well and contribute to the team and win. So, it’s nice today to be able to do that, and hopefully it can continue.”
Erin Osborne, Somerset coach said:
“I don’t think it was horrific. I was happy with our powerplay and Sophie Luff has been outstanding in setting the tone for our innings.
“We just didn’t adapt to a used wicket quickly enough – there were balls that were shooting through – and all credit to Meg Lanning. She’s one of the world’s best batters and she did us in today.
“We’re a young group and we aren’t able to adjust quickly enough at the moment. Our shot-selection let us down at times.
“We’re still in a really good place, playing very good cricket and we’re looking forward to playing Surrey on Sunday.
“I’m still a fan of Meg Lanning. She’s scored runs all round the world and that’s why she was able to score runs out there today. All credit to her.”
