Thunder felled by Storm
CRICKET WESTERN Storm reaped the benefit of some quite brilliant fielding at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, to kick off their Kia Super League season with a four-wicket victory over Lancashire Thunder.
The west country women, led by England captain Heather Knight, were sublime in the field as Lancashire slipped, unceremoniously, from 67 for five to 83 all out.
Knight, dived full length to her right to snap up a caught and bowled of the highest quality.
With Knight leading the way, as expected, with the bat, the Storm withstood a concerted bowling effort from the Thunder to eventually reach their target in the 16th over.
Having chosen to bat first, Thunder lost their opening wicket in the fourth over when Lee plucked a wonderful catch from the afternoon sky to bring about the downfall of 18-yearold Bajan Hayley Matthews.
New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite followed Matthews back to the pavilion in the ninth over when she was bowled by Jodie Dibble for 13. Emma Lamb and Deandra Dottin added 24 for the third wicket before the former became Stefanie Taylor’s first victim for 25.
Thereafter, Storm turned the screw with Taylor and Knight bowling well in tandem.
In the end they were bowled out for 83, in the 19th over, with Knight helping herself to 3 for 11 and Taylor weighing in with the figures of 4 for 14.
Dottin (three for 8) picked up the wickets of Fran Wilson (16) and Lee (0), in her first over and Sophie Ecclestone bowled Knight for 23 at 65 for 5.
It took a sixth wicket partnership of 15, between Sophie Luff and Georgia Hennessy to settle the nerves and help the hosts towards a four-wicket win with 27 balls to spare. ●● Ramsbottom professional Daryn Smit SHELDAN KEAY
RA M S B O T TOM Cricket Club continue to go from strength to strength as they kept up their unbeaten run in the Lancashire League with a six wicket win over Lowerhouse.
The victory means that top of the table Ramsbottom are still yet to lose so far this season, having won 10 and had eight no results from their 18 matches.
Lowerhouse won the toss at Acre Bottom and decided to bat, but they lost opener Adam Hugill when he was dismissed by Tom Booth.
The visitors looked like they were on track for a decent score after that blip, with Charlie Cottam (56), Ben Heap (55) and professional Dieter Klein (26) helping their side to 128-2 at one stage.
Once those three men lost their wickets, a collapse soon followed though, with five Lowerhouse batsmen managing just four runs between them.
Only Chris Bleazard (10) and Dominic Stuart (11 not out) were able to reach double figures out of the remaining batsmen, meaning that Lowerhouse finished on 166-9 at the end of their 50 overs.
Professional Daryn Smit was the pick of the bowlers for Ramsbottom as he took figures of 4-44, while Jonathan Fielding also ended with an impressive 3-36.
Ramsbottom got off to a shaky start with their response, as Martin Cropper (2) and Michael Howarth (6) could only manage small scores.
Tom Parton and Smit managed to steady the ship though, as both men hit big scores to put their team firmly in the driving seat.
Parton reached his halfcentury before he was bowled by Klein, while Smit finished unbeaten on 65.
Callum Kay (16) and Dale Gabriel (10 not out) also chipped in as Ramsbottom reached their target inside 43 overs to pick up the six wicket win.
While it was a good day for Ramsbottom, none of the other local sides had anything to cheer about as they all suffered defeats.
Bacup’s miserable year in the Lancashire League continued after they were beaten by six wickets at Nelson.
Bacup won the toss and decided to bat first at Seedhill, but lost openers Adam Highley and Tim Farragher for cheap scores after they made just 11 and 10 respectively.
Professional Haseeb Azam led from the front as he smashed an unbeaten 87 to try and get his side back on track.
His team-mates struggled to score anything significant alongside him, with only Matt Collinge (20) managing to post a decent score as Bacup finished on 197-8 at the end of their 50 overs.
Nelson got off to a shaky start in their reply, and found themselves 21-2 after Matthew Ramshead and Azam combined to get rid of David Crotty (14) and Russell Bradley (2).
Harrison Phelan scored 31 for the hosts before he was caught and bowled by Matt Thompson, while professional Ryan Bailey only made 17 as Nelson moved to 105-4.
It looked like it would be an extremely tight match, but Neil Thompson (67 not out) and Toqir Hussain (40 not out) both put in superb performances to help their team over the line.
They reached their target with just four balls to spare, condemning Bacup to their 12th defeat of the season.
It means that Bacup stay bottom of the Lancashire League table, 32 points behind their nearest rivals.
Their nearest rivals are ●● Bacup professional Haseeb Azam hit an unbeaten 87 against Nelson Rawtenstall, who were also beaten during the weekend after losing by eight wickets at Church.
Rawtenstall won the toss and decided to bat, and looked like they might be able to post a reasonable