Match Preview: Hampshire vs. Lancashire, Women's Metro Bank One Day Cup
Hampshire v Lancashire Women
Metro Bank One-Day Cup
Wednesday August 26, 2026, 10.30am
The Utilita Bowl, Southampton
“We’ve still got a really good chance in the One-Day Cup.”
That’s the view of Lancashire assistant coach Mattie McKiernan ahead of the return of 50-over cricket to the Red Rose schedule this week.
County cricket has been in hibernation for the last month or so due to The Hundred, but Lancashire returned to action on Sunday with a Vitality County T20 Cup quarter-final defeat against The Blaze at Lady Bay in Nottingham.
Champions of that competition in 2026, they were unable to defend their title. But McKiernan is confident that it can be a different story in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Tomorrow sees a repeat of last year’s final; Hampshire versus Lancashire at the Utilita Bowl, 10:30am start.
Lancashire are seventh and eight points off the third knockout qualifying position with a game in hand on Warwickshire and six left to play. It’s a maximum of five points per win.
Hampshire are second and all but already qualified having won nine of 12 games so far.
“If we can hit the ground running, there’s still a hell of a lot to play for,” said McKiernan.
Lancashire have so far won four and lost seven games in this competition, although those statistics could quite easily have been reversed.
“We’ve been so close on a lot of occasions,” said McKiernan. “I just think we need to hold our skills for that little bit longer.
“We’ve come up against some quality opposition. But had one or two of those results gone a different way, it would be a completely different story for us.
“We know we’ve got the quality in our dressing room.”
McKiernan joined Lancashire from The Blaze ahead of the new season alongside fellow assistant Scott Boswell. McKiernan leads on the spin bowling side of things at the club.
The 32-year-old Leigh CC legend came through the Lancashire pathway system, played second-team cricket for the county before going on to sign for Derbyshire, where he spent five years between 2018 and 2023.
“I’ve actually been back involved with the club for the last 18 months to two years, just doing some Academy and County Age-Group coaching stuff,” he explained.
“There’s always been a soft spot for Lancashire given it’s where I grew up, and it’s been very nice to be back.
“It’s a really exciting place to be at the moment.
“We’ve got a highly talented group of girls at the top level, and then you look at the EPP and the Academy and there’s a lot of spinners coming through.
“We have a couple of good off-spinners and slow left-armers and a couple of good leg-spinners to follow someone like Venus Weerappuli.”
That the production line is strong at Emirates Old Trafford is indicated by the second team winning their national T20 competition just prior to The Hundred.
“It was a really good mix of the pros who played in that but also the younger Academy and even a few of the older Academy players as well,” added McKiernan. “That was really good for that group of players.
“Everyone had a part to play through the season and at Finals Day as well.”
Hampshire are captained by all-rounder Georgia Adams and have Australian all-rounder Amanda-Jade Wellington as their overseas player.
They returned to One-Day Cup action last Wednesday with a win over Surrey at Guildford, while - like Lancashire - they were beaten in the Vitality County T20 Cup quarter-finals on Sunday at home to Somerset.
Opposition player to watch
Hampshire captain Georgia Adams returned impressively to county action following The Hundred.
In last week’s four-wicket win over Surrey at Guildford, Adams claimed three wickets with her off-spin and then opened the batting with a brilliant 115 to underpin a successful chase of 229.
Adams, 32, is unlucky not to have been capped more than twice by England throughout her career - two T20Is in Ireland in September 2024.
She is a serial domestic trophy winner, both in England and Australia. She has captained New South Wales to success Down Under in recent years.
Adams is the daughter of former England men’s batter Chris.
Previous meeting
A good all-round performance with bat and ball saw Lancashire win their second One-Day Cup game of the season, at the start of May, and inflict a first defeat on Hampshire as they chased 154 by six wickets with 16.3 overs to spare at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Groung.
Kate Cross took 3-31 to lead a dominant bowling performance as Hampshire were bowled out for 153 in 42.1 overs, with Amanda-Jade Wellington, batting at number eight, top-scoring with 32.
An opening partnership of 93 between between Eve Jones and Emma Lamb broke the back of the Lancashire run chase.
Jones made 47 and Lamb 56, while Australian overseas batter Maddie Penna helped wrap things up with an unbeaten 36, including a winning six.
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