MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire Women vs Warwickshire Women, Metro Bank One-Day Cup
Lancashire v Bears
Metro Bank One-Day Cup
Wednesday September 10, 2025, 10.30am
Sale Cricket Club
David Thorley says Lancashire are building towards something “special” and that “repeatable success” is the next step on the county’s journey after their early-summer T20 triumph.
The Red Rose county’s director of women’s cricket has been reflecting on the Vitality County T20 Cup triumph in late May and its impact on their development whilst also looking ahead to the final few weeks of a summer which could bring more glory.
Lancashire are currently third in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup standings with eight wins from 12 games and assured of semi-final qualification with two to play having beaten fellow challengers Surrey at Beckenham on Sunday.
The first of those remaining fixtures is against Bears at Sale on Wednesday, starting at 10.30am, before they travel to face league leaders Hampshire on Saturday.
They are very much in the hunt for a top-two finish and a home semi-final next week, just one point behind The Blaze with a possible 10 still available.
Of the aforementioned T20 success, Thorley said: “It was huge for us.
“Finals Day was a long day but a great day.
“To perform against two of the best teams in the country in The Blaze in the semi-final and Surrey in the final was really exciting for us.
“We’ve had players and staff come and go over the years, but we’re building towards something special here where we want repeatable success.
“For us, that’s getting to the knockout stages of competitions on a regular basis.
“Sometimes matches go in your favour or go against you in knockout cricket, but you need to be there to have a chance. So this season has been a really big deal.
“Finals Day, it wasn’t just Emma Lamb scoring centuries like she’s done so many times this year. It was other players stepping up, our bowling unit doing really well.
“Then, obviously, in the final, a Pathway and Academy product in Tilly Kesteven playing the knock that she did (77 off 60 balls opening the batting versus Surrey) was fantastic.
“There were so many positives from that day.
“I think we probably needed that, getting the monkey off our back of winning a trophy.
“It’s the confidence of knowing that we can beat any side in the country, which is not something we’ve had in previous years as Thunder in regional cricket.
“Those are the moments that stick with you. And we want more.”
Lancashire beat fourth-placed Surrey by four wickets chasing 226 on Sunday to complete the double.
New-ball seamer Grace Potts impressed with 3-31 from 6.5 overs to bowl Surrey out for 225 before Emma Lamb (59) and Seren Smale (67 not out) both contributed half-centuries to a successful chase completed with four overs left.
Given the teams directly below them in the table - Surrey in fourth, Durham in fifth - play each other in the final group game, it means the Red Rose can’t drop out of the top four.
Next up are a Bears side out of semi-final contention having only won two of their 12 matches.
They sit second-bottom in the table.
Coached by Ali Maiden, they are captained by off-spinner Georgia Davis, who is the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 21 to her name. She could well bowl to the competition’s leading run-scorer in Lancashire’s Lamb (790).
The Bears, their moniker for Warwickshire, were beaten last time out by Essex at the Edgbaston Community Ground on Sunday, by 27 runs DLS.
The competition’s bottom side posted 235-7 from 32 overs and defended it comfortably.
Opposition player to watch
Eighteen-year-old top-order batter Davina Perrin is seen as a star in the making.
The Bears homegrown product - Wolverhampton-born - has just won the Hundred with the Northern Superchargers, alongside Kate Cross.
Opening the batting in that competition, she hit a stunning 101 off 43 balls in the Eliminator win - effectively a semi-final - over London Spirit at the Oval a couple of Saturdays ago.
It was her second senior century having hit 113 for the Bears in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup against Surrey earlier this summer.
An England Under 19s international, right-handed Perrin is likely to bat at either three or four against the Red Rose.
How’s Stat!
Lancashire opener Emma Lamb hit 59 in Sunday’s win over Surrey at Beckenham, taking her tally of runs for the county this summer to a 1,246 from 23 innings across all competitions with 11 fifties and two hundreds.
She is the most prolific batter in county cricket in 2025.