MATCH PREVIEW AND SQUAD NEWS: Sunrisers vs Thunder, RHFT
Squad news
Head coach Paul Shaw has named an unchanged squad from Tuesday's victory at Northern Diamonds to travel to face Sunrisers at the County Ground, Northampton.
Match Preview
Naomi Dattani. Batter, bowler, barista. A true all-rounder!
At York yesterday, she put in a brilliant match-winning performance for Thunder against arch-rivals Northern Diamonds to help secure a first win of the ongoing Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, claiming 4-16 from 6.5 overs of left-arm seam and then leading the chase of 168 with a measured 46.
It was a performance which has put the Thunder back into knockout contention with six group games remaining, the next of which comes against Sunrisers at Northampton on Friday (10.30am).
Ealing-born Dattani then spoke about how much she has settled into Lancashire life having moved North over the winter, leaving Sunrisers for a new challenge.
“I’m living in a cool place that has a lot of coffee shops - I like my coffee!” she said. “I’m going out for brunch and walks and stuff, so I have settled in really nicely.
“I go for a skinny flat white, sometimes an Americano if I’m being good!”
Dattani, 29-years-old, absolutely deserved to push the boat out and treat herself with a skinny flat white following her dismantling of the Diamonds.
It was her standout display so far of what has been an impressive and enjoyable start to her time with the region, claiming 12 wickets and scoring 220 runs in 14 appearances.
“It’s been really good here at Thunder,” she continued.
“The girls have welcomed me really well, and the coaching staff have been great in trying to get the best out of me and listening to what I need. I’ve really enjoyed it being up North.
“It has brought new challenges for me off the field, but at the same time I’m really happy with the way my cricket is going.
“I didn’t know if it (the move) was going to work, but I just wanted to try sooner rather than later. I think I can probably say that it was the right decision, and I’m looking forward to a future here at Lancashire and Thunder. I’m enjoying the ride.”
Thunder played the Sunrisers in the Charlotte Edwards Cup at Emirates Old Trafford in late May, winning by seven wickets. Dattani struck once with the ball. She missed the rained off RHF Trophy clash with them at Sale a couple of weeks earlier.
She is clearly hoping for the same result as Thunder bid to cut the six-point gap which currently stands between themselves and third-placed South East Stars.
“Playing against my old team on Friday, that will be a good game,” she said. “We have some momentum now to take into that one.
“If we keep doing the things we’ve been speaking about, I think we can get over the line. But it’s a new day, so we just have to go again.”
She continued: "I think it will be ok this time (against Sunrisers).
“When I played against them for the first time, it was a bit weird. But I guess when you cross the boundary line, it’s a competition at the end of the day. I have a lot of good friends there, so it will always be a little bit weird, but I’m looking forward to it at the same time.”
While Thunder sit sixth in the table with 13 points from eight games, Sunrisers are seventh with 11 points. They have won twice so far, though lost against the Stars earlier this week. They are captained by South African legend Dane van Niekerk.
Part of Dattani’s settling in process in the North West has seen her sign to play club cricket for Newton-le-Willow in the first division of the Liverpool Competition.
She’s played three times for the club sandwiched in between Warrington and St Helens, playing alongside Lancashire women’s coach Chris Chambers and Red Rose men’s all-rounder Tom Aspinwall.
“It’s been good,” she added. “Just in terms of settling in up North, I thought joining a club was going to be really cool to meet some different people and have that family vibe that I was missing.
“That was really nice to have that pressure-free cricket as well.
“The guys at Newton have been great, and we’ve had some thrilling games the last couple of times I’ve played for them. We won a last ball thriller against Ormskirk in a T20 a couple of weeks ago.
“I got to face a guy from overseas who was like 80mph, so that was really fun.”
Opposing player to watch
England Under 19s captain Grace Scrivens is an all-rounder with a high ceiling.
She is a left-handed opening batter and an off-spinner who was the player of the tournament as England reached the final of the the U19s T20 World Cup against India in South Africa back in January, hitting 293 runs and taking nine wickets.
Kent’s Scrivens has been more of a presence with the bat in the ongoing RHF Trophy, hitting a pair of fifties in five innings, including 59 against Stars earlier this week.
She also scored two recent half-centuries, including a best of 87, in England A’s series of T20s and ODIs against their Australian counterparts.
Previous meeting
Only 15 overs of play were possible when these two met in the RHF Trophy at Sale on May 10, with Thunder reaching 60-2 thanks largely to Emma Lamb’s 38 not out.
It means that two of the three 50-over meetings between the two regions since 2021 have been abandoned due to rain, with Thunder winning the first by 36 runs at Chester two seasons ago.
As aforementioned, Thunder won by seven wickets in the Charlotte Edwards Cup at Emirates Old Trafford in late May.
Kate Cross and Lamb struck twice apiece in limiting Sunrisers to 116-8 before Liberty Heap opened with 46 in a routine chase completed inside 17 overs.