Thunder 119 for 3 (Heap 46) beat Sunrisers 116 for 8 (Griffith 36, Cross 2-20, Lamb 2-24) by seven wickets

England trio Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone and Emma Lamb impressed with the ball and the latter with the bat as nicely to assist Thunder safe a commanding Charlotte Edwards Cup victory over Sunrisers at Emirates Outdated Trafford – the area’s first success of 2023.

All three are in rivalry to play on this summer season’s residence Ashes from subsequent month and shared 5 wickets to restrict Sunrisers to 116 for 8 having elected to bat, laying the platform for a seven-wicket win with 21 balls remaining.

They have been miserly with both seam or spin, with Cross’s 2 for 20 from 4 overs of seam essentially the most encouraging having battled towards a tropical illness in latest weeks. Ecclestone struck as soon as together with her left-arm spin and Lamb twice together with her offspin.

After her 2 for twenty-four, Lamb then added 31 in Thunder’s aggressive chase. But it surely was her opening associate Liberty Heap who shone with a profession greatest 46 off 49 balls. It was additionally the 19-year-old’s highest rating in senior regional cricket.

This was Thunder’s first victory in eight 50-over and T20 matches in 2023, together with back-to-back defeats in the beginning of the Charlotte Edwards Cup. For Sunrisers, they’ve now performed three and misplaced three on this competitors.

Cross, who just lately revealed that she needed to undergo 9 programs of antibiotics to deal with an sickness picked up overseas in pre-season, set the tone with the second ball of solely her fifth match of the season.

She uprooted the off stump of former South Africa worldwide Dane van Niekerk for nought, a peach of an away-swinger leaving Sunrisers at 0 for 1.

Cordelia Griffith got here in and performed positively for 36 off 35 balls, together with two boundaries in as many balls towards the offspin of Fi Morris – the primary lofted over mid-off and the second seared via cowl. However she was the second wicket for Cross when she miscued excessive to mid-off, leaving the rating at 64 for 3 within the twelfth over.

Crucially, just one different batter, Flo Miller from No. 7, reached 20. She was bowled by former team-mate Naomi Dattani within the ultimate over an innings which noticed Thunder captain Ellie Threlkeld chop and alter…

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