Storm end with close win
Western Storm ended their season on a high with a narrow two-wicket victory over Thunder in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Emirates Old Trafford.
An 81-run partnership between Danielle Gibson and Nat Wraith midway through the Storm innings looked to have proved decisive in chasing a DLS target of 239 in 48 overs after a half-century by Seren Smale and Libby Heap’s explosive 36 had helped the hosts reach 242-5 in 50.
But Thunder hit back with late wickets to produce a tense finish before Chloe Skelton hit the winning run with 21 balls to spare. Storm’s third win means they finish fourth in the group on 15 points, while Thunder end seventh with six.
Storm made a good start to their innings with a 53-run partnership inside ten overs between Emma Corney (23) and Alex Griffiths, ended when Phoebe Graham bowled the former.
Fellow opener Griffiths (33) edged behind off Sophia Turner, the first of three catches for wicketkeeper Ellie Threlkeld, who also snared Fran Wilson (28) off spinner Heap and Storm captain Sophie Luff to give the excellent Turner a second wicket and leave the visitors in a spot of difficulty on 115-4 in the 25th over.
But Wraith and Gibson took 22 runs off a wayward 27th over from Deandra Dottin to put the run chase, delayed briefly by rain, back on course and the pair went on to produce that vital fifth-wicket partnership of 81 inside nine overs.
Gibson hit eight boundaries in an eye-catching innings of 56 off 40 balls with wicket-keeper Wraith providing great support with 32 off 30 before being well caught at longon by Daisy Mullan off Laura Jackson (3-50) with 43 required.
Jackson bowled Niamh Holland and had Gibson caught at short fine-leg before Lauren Filer departed to Graham to set Storm nerves jangling. But, in a tense finale, Sophia Smale (9*) and Skelton (6*) edged their way to victory in the 45th over.
After the match, Gibson said: “It was good to finish with a win.
“We performed really well with the ball but lost it a bit at the end of both innings.
“But because we had done so well at the start, we managed to make it a score we could chase down at the end. I kept looking at DLS and was a bit nervous about it. But that over (22 from Dottin) did help. That gave us the momentum to just keep going with it.
“We’ve got so much talent in our group. We’ve got a lot of youngsters. The average today was 20 years old, so it shows that if we work hard in the winter, next year could possibly be a good year for us.
“It’s always good to get a score on the board and a win for Storm at the end. I feel like I played well – played the pitch well – and had some good support with me to keep me going.”