Match Preview: Lancashire Thunder v Hampshire Hawks Women, Vitality Blast

Lancashire Thunder v Hampshire Hawks Women

Vitality Blast

Wednesday 4^th June (2:30pm start)

Old Trafford

Hampshire Hawks Women travel to Manchester to take on Lancashire Thunder at Old Trafford.

The Hawks got off to a belting start at Utilita Bowl against Essex where Maia Bouchier’s 92 and Ella McCaughan’s 68, and a stand of 158 between the two, set the platform for a mammoth total of 215 – the sixth highest T20 score ever at Utilita Bowl.

Bex Tyson’s 3-40, with wickets from Daisy Gibb, Freya Davies, and Ava Lee, helped restrict the visitors to 190-7 to give the Hawks a 25-run victory to begin their Blast campaign.

Lancashire Thunder have so far played two with one victory and one defeat against Durham and Blaze respectively.

Australian Katie Mack recorded 59 runs against Blaze whilst pacer Grace Potts claimed 4-33 against Durham in their most recent match.

Hampshire Squad

Hampshire have named a 15-player squad for their match against Lancashire Thunder.

All-rounder Freya Kemp has been rested whilst Naomi Dattani returns from her short-term loan at Middlesex and could feature for the first time in Hampshire colours tomorrow.

Full Hampshire squad

Lancashire Thunder

Captain: Ellie Threlkeld

Overseas player: Katie Mack (Australia, first three group matches), Alana King (Australia, from match four onwards)

Key winter moves: Lancashire were busy ahead of 2025. Eve Jones arrived and is currently one of county cricket’s in-form batters. She’s been joined by England fringe fast bowler Grace Potts and Scotland spinner Darcey Carter. Batter Katie Mack will start the Blast before being replaced by one of the competition’s standout overseas signings, her fellow Australian Alana King, the superstar leg-spinner. 

The big question: Lancashire have started the summer brilliantly, winning six of eight matches in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup. Can they transfer that momentum into the Blast? If so, they will definitely be a force. They look to be well balanced, with strength across all disciplines. In the regional era, Thunder’s only knockout cricket came courtesy of a 2023 Charlotte Edwards Cup Finals Day appearance.

Wildcard watch: Left-armer Sophie Morris is another one off a Lancashire spin-bowling conveyor belt which has nurtured Sophie Ecclestone, Olivia Bell and Hannah Jones in recent times. The 21-year-old played in the regional Charlotte Edwards Cup during the last two summers and, in a 2022 Academy T20 friendly, returned an astonishing 6-0. Her maiden senior five-for came against Durham earlier this month.

Final thought: Ashes rivals, Thunder team-mates. You could well see a spin bowling partnership of Sophie Ecclestone and Alana King during this summer’s Vitality Blast. Aussie leggie King loves Emirates Old Trafford. In 2021, she took a hat-trick there whilst playing for Trent Rockets in The Hundred, a particularly proud moment given it was at the scene of her idol Shane Warne’s ball of the century to Mike Gatting in 1993.

Tickets

Tickets for Hampshire Hawks Women’s Vitality Blast match against Lancashire Thunder are available here.

Coverage

A live stream will be available for the match and a link to this stream will be available in the at www.utilitabowl.com/cricket, along with a live match centre with the scorecard, statistics and insight available throughout the match.

Weather Forecast

Please follow the link to view the latest weather forecast for Old Trafford: https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/6691246.