Lancs aces get the nod

FOUR Lancashire Women players have been selected by Manchester Originals to play in the first season of The Hundred this summer, including World Cup winner Alex Hartley.

Hartley – who was in the Team of the Tournament after taking 10 wickets across England’s successful 2017 campaign – will be joined by wicketkeeper Ellie Threlkeld and all-rounders Emma Lamb and Georgie Boyce, all of whom played for Lancashire Thunder in the Kia Super League.

Lamb was named Thunder’s Player of the Tournament in 2019, scoring 115 runs and taking 10 wickets, while Threlkeld grabbed headlines the previous year, when she struck an unbeaten 53 before claiming four stumpings and a run-out during a victory over Yorkshire Diamonds at Emerald Headingley.

Boyce, 21, finished at the top of the runscoring charts for Lancashire’s county side in 2018, with 383 to her name and also opened the batting for Thunder in the Kia Super League. The quartet are the first of Manchester Originals’ domestic signings to join the alreadyannounced England Women’s Centrally Contracted players and overseas stars: Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone and South African duo Mignon du Preez and Lizelle Lee.

Hartley said: “I’m really excited about getting out there for Manchester Originals. We’re putting together a strong squad with a good mix of experienced internationals and young players who are hungry to improve.

“We obviously all know each other really well and many of us have played with each other since we were young so hopefully we can use that to our advantage.

“There’s a lot of focus on the competition and it will be good to play in front of crowds, hopefully with lots of kids watching and maybe some people who are new to the game.”