Back to back defeats for Loughborough Lightning
Mountain to climb in Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy
LOUGHBOROUGH Lightning have a mountain to climb in the Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy after slipping to defeat in their opening two matches of the competition.
The tournament - featuring the eight England and Wales Cricket Board regional hubs - was set up after the coronavirus pandemic thwarted this year’s planned introduction of The Hundred.
The eight teams have been split into two regional groups and will play each other twice, with the two group winners contesting the final on Sunday, September 27 at Edgbaston.
Lightning narrowly lost their opening game against Thunder by four runs under the DLS calculation.
Batting first Thunder made 206-9 with England bowler Sophie Ecclestone offering a rare glimpse of her ability with the bat smashing an unbeaten 60 off 61 balls, plundering 21 runs in the last over of the Thunder innings.
Lightning’s hopes of overhauling that total were dealt a major blow when their England opener Tammy Beaumont perished for just two. Sarah Bryce hit nine fours in her 52 but once she had succumbed to Ecclestone’s bowling the home side’s chances always looked slim.
After 14 overs were lost to rain, a revised target of 151 left Lightning needing 32 off five overs once play resumed, but the combined experience of Ecclestone, England team-mate Kate Cross and World Cup winner Alex Hartley enabled Thunder to prevail in a tight finish with Lightning all out for 146.
On Monday, Lightning lost by nine runs to the Northern Diamonds.
The Diamonds batted first and were 24-4 but recovered to post a total of 226-9 with Natalie Sciver hitting 104.
In reply, Lightning began making 117 for the opening wicket but once the openers were gone the Lightning struggled to score.
Kathryn Bryce held the innings together for Lightning, notching a vital 66-ball fifty. She upped the ante by dispatching a four and a six from backto-back deliveries, however, it was not enough as the Diamonds prevailed.
Lightning’s Kathryn Bryce said: “We did a lot of things right and a lot of people stood up today and put in good performances. We didn’t quite push on to get over the line, but I was pleased with the performance against a strong team.
“It was definitely a good day for myself, but it’s disappointing when you do it in a losing cause. We’ve put in some good performances, we just need to find that extra 10% in different parts of the game we can get over the line.”