MATCH PREVIEW: The Blaze v Lancashire Women, Metro Bank One-Day Cup, Semi-Final
The Blaze v Lancashire Women
Metro Bank One-Day Cup, Semi-Final
Tuesday September 16, 2025, 10.30am
Trent Bridge
Lancashire have already beaten The Blaze in one semi-final this year, en-route to the early-summer Vitality County T20 Cup title, and now they aim to repeat the trick.
The Red Rose are still on course for what would be a fabulous season’s double, two steps away from glory in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
They head to Trent Bridge to tackle a Blaze side who finished second in the group table, one place above them.
Lancashire, like The Blaze, have won nine of 14 group games, including beating their hosts this week convincingly twice in April and May.
The winners of this tie will play the winners of the other semi-final between Hampshire and Surrey at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday. The final is at the same venue on Sunday.
Captain Ellie Threlkeld and her players have shown impressive fortitude in the last few weeks given they have been hit with injuries and England unavailability issues.
This final block of group matches saw them lose their first one back immediately after the Hundred to Somerset, but they bounced back to beat Surrey and Warwickshire before Saturday’s final-day washout against league leaders Hampshire at Arundel Castle.
Head coach Chris Read said: “It’s a real shame that we've come out of The Hundred with two injuries that have curtailed the seasons of Eve Jones and Tara Norris.
“They've been big contributors in this competition all year round.
“We lose Emma Lamb (to England World Cup duty) for this back end as well.
“You have players come and go for England selections, and for injury etc, and we're probably down to the fewest players we possibly could have to select from.
“Equally, the girls that are here probably shows the strength and depth in our squad.”
That Read describes Lancashire’s 50-over progress this year as “a real team effort” will give him confidence ahead of a return to the ground where he is so popular following his exploits as a player with Nottinghamshire’s men.
“Looking back to last winter, we signed some players that we knew were going to help us in both formats of the game,” he continued.
“Looking from the outside, we probably look a better 50-over team than a T20 team, and so it's potentially proven.
“We came fourth in the Blast, but here we are with a chance in the knockout phase with this semi-final.”
Lancashire’s Arundel washout opened the door for The Blaze to seal second spot in the group behind leaders Hampshire. They won at Essex on Saturday, sealing home advantage for this last-four tie.
Both counties - The Blaze are, effectively, Nottinghamshire - have fielded Irish overseas players for the last few weeks.
The Blaze have all-rounder Orla Prendergast at their disposal, with opening batter Gaby Lewis donning Lancashire red.
Lewis has posted scores of 8, 39 and 75 in her three innings - the latter superbly helping to secure a rain-affected win over the Bears against Sale last Wednesday when set a challenging revised target of 172 in 22 overs.
“Gaby coming in, she’s shown her class,” said Read. “It’s been great to see.
“We’re really lucky that we've got the services of an overseas professional - someone of her experience and ability - at the back end of the season.
“We looked to get her this time last year and she had an injury. So it's great to be able to welcome her in this year, and she's been great and has played fantastically well.”
Lancashire have already beaten The Blaze three times this year, as aforementioned, while the Nottingham side won both meetings in the Vitality Blast.
The Blaze are captained by spin-bowling all-rounder Kirstie Gordon and have former Lancashire Thunder player Georgie Boyce opening the batting.
Talismanic Scottish international all-rounder Kathryn Bryce has scored 508 runs in this competition in 2025 alongside taking 18 wickets with her seamers. She is The Blaze’s leading run-scorer and wicket-taker.
They are coached by former New Zealand men’s international batter Craig Cumming, in his first year in charge, while ex-Lancashire development coach James Cutt is their director of cricket.
Opposition player to watch
This wasn’t a hard choice!
Kathryn Bryce is enjoying a superb summer and has been a consistent performer at international and domestic level for quite some time now.
She would be one of the first names on the team sheet of every county.
Her younger sister Sarah keeps wicket for The Blaze.
Aged 27 and born in Edinburgh, Kathryn has played 59 times for her country in ODI and T20I cricket and captains the Scots.
She was part of The Blaze team which won last year’s regional Charlotte Edwards Cup T20 title.
If Lancashire are going to win this semi-final, they really could do with keeping quiet a player who was named by the ICC as their Associate women’s player of the decade between 2011 and 2020.
How’s Stat!
You can bet your bottom dollar that Lancashire’s captain Ellie Threlkeld is not one for keeping up with personal stats. After all, she fits the phrase of, ‘No I in Team’ perfectly.
But it would be lovely if the Red Rose got to Sunday’s final because that would mark her 100th career List A appearance, all of which have come for Lancashire’s women and Thunder since debuting in 2014.