MATCH REPORT: Mack century takes Lancashire Thunder to emphatic first win
A century from Australian Katie Mack and a record-breaking partnership of 191 runs for the third wicket ensured Lancashire Thunder got off the mark in style with a commanding 142 run victory over Sunrisers at Emirates Old Trafford in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
Thunder had lost their opening game in the competition by nine wickets to Northern Diamonds but there was no apparent hangover from that error-strewn performance with Mack and third wicket partner Fi Morris, who hit 89, taking the hosts to a daunting total of 292 for five before Sunrisers were bundled out for just 150 in reply.
With Saturday’s loss fresh in the memory, Thunder would have been forgiven for having a sense of déjà vu when opener Emma Lamb fell early, mistiming a pull shot to Maddy Villiers at midwicket off Kate Coppack for five and things got worse when Seren Smale missed a full, straight one from Jodi Grewcock to be bowled for 21 and leave the hosts 32 for two.
But where Saturday’s defeat to Northern Diamonds saw Thunder fail to recover from the loss of early wickets, here they seem galvanised by the challenge as Mack and Morris set about a stunning rebuilding project.
Full of inventiveness, skill and some excellent running between the wickets, the partnership began to build with the third wicket pair never allowing Sunrisers’ spinners to settle into any kind of rhythm.
While Mack’s knock was full of ramps, sweeps and late cuts, Morris frequently walked down the pitch to meet the spinners’ deliveries with the combination of finesse and power between the two working perfectly as the total began to build.
Mack reached her half-century off 67 balls with Morris passing hers off 66 as the pair’s partnership went beyond 100 runs and into record-breaking territory.
Eventually Morris was dismissed by the returning Coppack who trapped her lbw for 89, but the damage was done and the third wicket partnership of 191 was the second highest for any wicket by any side in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
Mack deservedly reached her century soon after with a characteristic late cut to the boundary before she was stumped off Villiers for exactly 100 – her fourth century in List A cricket.
The stage was set for Ellie Threlkeld and Sophie Ecclestone to have a swing and they extended the score to 285 before the England spinner was caught at long on for a breezy 24 which contained two sixes and helped Thunder reach their highest ever score in the competition as they closed on 292 for five with Threlkeld unbeaten on 26.
Faced with the daunting total and the returning Ecclestone and Kate Cross, the task always looked a daunting one for Sunrisers and it was Cross who immediately hit the mark producing five overs for just eight runs and the wicket of Ariana Dowse caught by Lamb at short midwicket for ten.
At the other end, Sunrisers skipper Grace Scrivens was stuck in an almighty rut and had reached just nine off 46 balls when she skied one to bowler Hannah Jones to make it 36 for two which became 36 for three after Cordelia Griffith departed for 11 after another caught and bowled for Ecclestone.
The longed-for partnership just would not materialise for the visitors with Mady Villiers and Amara Carr falling to Morris and Ecclestone as the run rate continued to climb.
The one bright spot for Sunrisers was Grewcock who stood firm in reaching 38 as she and Florence Miller compiled 50 runs for the sixth wicket before the former was bowled by Jones and the latter edged Phoebe Graham behind for 19.
Ecclestone picked up her third when Nicola Hancock was caught on the boundary by Norris for 15 and her England teammate Cross made quick work of the rest of the tail in dismissing Joanne Gardner for six and Coppack without scoring to end with three for 21 off 8.1 overs as Sunrisers failed to score a run off the bat off the last 30 balls of the innings.
Katie Mack, Lancashire Thunder, said:
"After Saturday it was nice to come back with a win - we had to learn from that pretty quickly when you have a game four days later and we had to make sure we learnt from the loss.
"We didn't do the same things so that was really nice. It was the first game of the season so you don't look to hard at it because those games happen but we did have a pretty clear plan of how we wanted to play today and everyone did really well at sticking to that.
"I never felt super comfortable out there and I made a pretty slow start so felt like I was chasing my tail a little bit. Having not played here much I was unsure what a good score was and what might be a winning total but I'm glad that I stuck it out and made the century.
"It's different pitches and different bowlers that I haven't faced so mentally it's about making sure I give myself as much time as possible and after Saturday I thought that maybe I could play a little bit of an anchor role and let everyone else come in and play around me - I think that's something that could be really beneficial to the team."