Match Preview: Lancashire Thunder vs Surrey, Vitality Blast Women
Lancashire Thunder v Surrey Women
Vitality Blast
Saturday June 7, 2025, 1pm
Emirates Old Trafford
Squad to face Surrey Women: Ellie Threlkeld* (wk), Darcey Carter, Danielle Collins, Phoebe Graham, Liberty Heap, Grace Johnson, Tilly Kesteven, Alana King, Ailsa Lister, Fi Morris, Sophie Morris, Tara Norris, Grace Potts, Seren Smale
Chris Read believes Alana King’s arrival is not just a good thing for Lancashire but for the county game as a whole as the Australian star prepares to debut this weekend.
Leg-spinner King landed in Manchester earlier this week and will make her first appearance for Thunder in the Vitality Blast against Surrey at Emirates Old Trafford tomorrow (1pm).
King’s signing, announced in early April, is without doubt one of the standout signings in women’s county cricket for 2025, with her now replacing the excellent batter Katie Mack.
King will now remain with Lancashire for the rest of the Blast, including Finals Day should the county qualify. The international twirler will also play two games in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup competition late next month.
Another eye-catching recruit is King’s compatriots, the legendary all-rounder Ellyse Perry, who will play the final six Blast games plus Finals Day for Hampshire. Their international powerful batting colleague Grace Harris is also featuring for Surrey and will likely play on Saturday.
Red Rose head coach Read said: “It’s exciting, isn’t it.
“When you look at the Hundred competition, you look at most of the best overseas players wanting to come over here and be a part of that.
“If we can extend that to the Blast, and even 50-over cricket, and start getting high-quality, top-tier overseas players playing in domestic county cricket for six months of the year, it would be awesome for the development of our girls.
“And I think we’re starting to see that with the likes of Katie and Alana here, and obviously someone like Ellyse Perry at Hampshire.
“Alana’s a hugely exciting player.
“I've worked with her for a couple of years at Trent Rockets in the Hundred, and she's a proven match-winner and a highly competitive individual.
“But the impact these internationals and senior-type players can have off the field is as great as it is on the field.”
King, 29-years-old, has taken 98 wickets across all formats for Australia.
She also took a hat-trick for Trent Rockets in the Hundred at Emirates Old Trafford in 2022, at the time speaking emotionally about the connection at this ground with her hero Shane Warne, who famously bowled the ball of the century here to Mike Gatting in the 1993 men’s Ashes Test Match.
King joins a Lancashire side who are having an excellent summer, highlighted by a title triumph in the Vitality County T20 Cup late last month.
However, they have made a stuttering start to the Blast, winning one and losing two of their three matches so far, the latest by eight wickets at home to Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon.
Thunder stuttered to 122-8 batting first before the Hawks chased with comfort.
Captain Ellie Threlkeld said: “We've played some really, really good cricket, especially in the 50-over stuff.
“We can't be too down about it in these games. They come thick and fast.
“We know we've not been at our best these last couple of games (including victory over Durham on Sunday), and there’s plenty of stuff we can put right.
“It’ll be a tough game at the weekend, and we’re struggling a bit with injuries at the moment.
“But, as players in that dressing room, we know we've not been at our best these last couple of games. And I know there's players there dying to put that right and to stand up and win us games. Hopefully that can happen at the weekend.”
As Threlkeld mentioned, Lancashire do have some injuries to contend with, including England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who missed the Hampshire game with a quad injury.
So it may be that Red Rose fans have to wait for the chance to see a mouthwatering spin bowling partnership of Ecclestone and King.
Surrey have played two, won two at the start of the Blast.
They beat Somerset away in their opener last Friday and beat Hampshire at the Kia Oval yesterday.
Captained by opening batter Bryony Smith, they have England trio Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Paige Scholfield and Ryana MacDonald-Gay at their disposal along with Queenslander Harris, who top-scored with 63 off 45 balls against Hampshire as Surrey totalled 213-4 and comfortably defended it.
Harris also took three wickets with her part-time spin.
Lancashire are aiming for a third successive win over Surrey this season. They beat them in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup at Southport early last month and then, at the end of the month, beat them in the final of the County T20 Cup at Taunton.
Opposition player to watch
Batter Paige Scholfield is a five-time England international who has just been in their squad for the T20 series against the West Indies without making an appearance.
The 29-year-old, who bats at three in T20s, posted an excellent 63 off 48 balls in Surrey’s opening Blast win over Somerset. Her only other half-century of the season was 87 in a losing cause in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup against Lancashire at Southport last month.
Scholfield is calm at the crease and just gets the job done. But she is not lacking in power, as 11 boundaries in that 63 suggest.
She likes batting against the Red Rose.
In 11 matches against Thunder between 2021 and 2024, during the regional era for the South East Stars, she scored two centuries and two fifties against them, averaging 64.42 across the formats.
In their win against Hampshire, she hit 49 not out off 18 balls, including five fours and three sixes.
How’s Stat!
Alana King was the leading wicket-taker in the winter multi-format Ashes series in Australia, taking 23 wickets from seven matches, including a 9-98 match haul in the Test victory at Melbourne in late January.