Match Preview and Squad News: Thunder vs Western Storm, RHFT
Squad News
Thunder will look to finish on a high for the 2023 season as they host Western Storm at Emirates Old Trafford.
Head coach Paul Shaw has named an unchanged squad from Wednesday's defeat at Sale in his final game in charge of Thunder.
Squad
Ellie Threlkeld*, Olivia Bell, Alice Clarke, Danni Collins, Naomi Dattani, Laura Delany, Phoebe Graham, Liberty Heap, Laura Jackson, Hannah Jones, Fi Morris, Daisy Mullan, Tara Norris, Seren Smale
Match Preview
Ellie Threlkeld admits optimism is mixed with frustration as she assesses Thunder’s progress throughout 2023.
Thunder will bring the curtain down on their summer on Saturday when they face Western Storm in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Emirates Old Trafford (10.30am).
It will be their 22nd fixture of a season which has yielded some definite highs and obvious lows.
Weather has clearly played its part. Captain Threlkeld and co have had four rainy No Results in 50-over cricket, for example.
In terms of the highs, qualifying for the Charlotte Edwards Cup T20 Finals Day in June was the obvious one, the first time in four seasons the region have progressed beyond the group stage of either regional competition.
Player progression has been obvious. All-rounder Fi Morris has been excellent in her first season with the region. Mahika Gaur burst onto the senior scene and has just made her England debut over the last couple of weeks.
Teenaged left-arm quick Gaur, in theory, could be back in Thunder colours this weekend dependent on workload management.
Gaur, 17, actually made her senior regional debut in the reverse fixture against Storm at Cardiff in late April, taking three wickets in a six-wicket defeat.
Of the lows, their most recent, ultimately season-ending defeat against Northern Diamonds at Sale was one. Thunder tigerishly bowled the defending champions out for 196 and were encouragingly placed at 54-1 in reply, only to fall to 148 all out.
Captain Threlkeld said: "I'm pretty pleased with how we've gone this season.
“You can definitely see how much we've improved, and that's testament to the girls' hard work and the people we've got here.
"Days like against the Diamonds are frustrating because I know we're better than that, and I know how good the group could be.
“On one hand you can look at how far we've come, but on the other hand it's frustrating because I know we can be so much better.”
Thunder will go in search of their seventh win of the summer when they face the Storm in coach Paul Shaw’s last game on Saturday. Of the six they have won, four have been in the T20s and two have been in the 50-over format.
Thunder are seventh in the table and Storm eighth. They are the only two teams out of the eight who can’t finish in the top three for knockout qualification.
A quirk of the final round of fixtures sees the first-placed Blaze play second-placed Southern Vipers, South East Stars in third play Central Sparks in fourth and fifth-placed Northern Diamonds face sixth-placed Sunrisers. Then comes Thunder in seventh versus Storm in eighth.
Thunder’s hierarchy have just advertised for a new head coach to replace Shaw, and hopes will be high they can push on again following another winter of hard work.
"I'm actually excited for another winter together and getting more time under our belts,” continued Threlkeld. “Hopefully we can compete a bit more next year.
“It will be a big winter for a lot of the girls as we look to kick on and compete for silverware.
"The last couple of winters we've worked really hard on the basics, and I think that probably won't change. We still have areas within those basics we have to improve, and a lot of it will be about doing those things for longer.
"A few of the girls might go away and try and get some game time post-Christmas, which I think will be really good for the group.”
This has been Threlkeld’s second season as Thunder captain.
"I'm massively tough on myself,” she added.
“I think it's hard when you're captain, as it's not just your own performance you care about but everyone else’s too.
“I've grown into the role well though, and I'm pretty pleased with how I've gone. I’m always learning, and I'm open minded about the fact that I've got a lot to learn as well. Hopefully I can continue doing the job and getting better.
"Cricket is a weird sport in that it's very up and down, and it's about riding that wave. I've got a really good group of people around me, which helps, and a great support network with the staff. I'm in a good place.”
Opposing player to watch
Former England batter Fran Wilson has had an impressive competition for the struggling Storm, scoring 380 runs in 12 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy matches.
She is one of only nine batters across the regions to have reached the 300-run mark in this summer’s competition, and she has scored three fifties with a best of 74 - against Thunder in victory at Cardiff in late April.
Thirty-one-year-old Wilson played 67 times across all formats for England between 2010 and 2021, including a solitary Ashes Test Match at Sydney in late 2017.
Wilson retired from international cricket almost two years ago having been a part of England’s squad which won the one-day World Cup on home soil in 2017.
She has also played domestic cricket in Australia and New Zealand and getting her cheaply will be key to Thunder’s hopes of a season-ending victory.
Previous meeting
Ireland international Orla Prendergast hit a run-a-ball 115 on debut for Storm as they beat Thunder by six wickets at Cardiff in late April, the hosts gaining an RHF Trophy victory as they successfully chased down 215.
Emma Lamb’s 74 was the feature of Thunder’s 214 all out having elected to bat, them slipping from strength at 160-3 in the 30th over.
The collapse proved extremely damaging for Thunder, with off-spinner Chloe Skelton claiming three wickets.
While Prendergast was on debut, so to was Mahika Gaur for Thunder.
And she gave the visitors hope with two new ball wickets as Storm slipped to 11-2 inside six overs.
But Prendergast shared 186 for the third wicket with Fran Wilson, who made 74 amidst the contest’s deciding partnership. When Naomi Dattani bowled the former to break the partnership, it was too little, too late for Thunder at 197-3 in the 38th over.
There was still enough time for Gaur to remove her prospective England team-mate Danielle Gibson to finish with an impressive 3-39 from 10 overs of left-arm seam in her first senior outing.