Report & Reaction: Lancashire Thunder v Hampshire Hawks Women, Vitality Blast

Lancashire Thunder 130-7 v Hampshire Women 133-2, Vitality Blast W. Hampshire win by eight wickets.

Hampshire 5 points, Lancashire 0 points

By Jamie Bowman, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay

Hampshire Women cruised to an eight wicket victory against struggling Lancashire Thunder with opening batter Maia Bouchier scoring an unbeaten 74 runs at a windy Blackpool.

Bouchier, who was overlooked by the England selectors for the forthcoming Women’s T20 World Cup, showed her class, along with Hampshire skipper Georgia Adams, as the pair put on a second wicket partnership of 114 runs to seal the win.

Australian star Meg Lanning had earlier scored 64 but her efforts were in vain as the hosts slumped to their fifth defeat from the opening six games with Hampshire registering their third win of the competition.

Hampshire got off to a brilliant start with former Lancashire player Naomi Dattani bowling Eve Jones with the third ball of the opening over before skipper Adams accounted for Tilly Kesteven the same way with her first ball to leave the hosts 23-2.

In the fifth over of the game the heavens opened forcing the players off the field for just over an hour with Dattani striking with the first ball after the resumption as Grace Johnson was bowled for two.

Lancashire needed a partnership and they got one between captain Ellie Threlkeld and the in-form Lanning who counter-attacked in style with repeated sweeps and some energetic running.

Lanning brought her half-century up off 41 balls with five boundaries and one towering six before she top-edged a Bex Tyson delivery to wicketkeeper Rhianna Southby for 64 and ending the partnership on 80.

Danielle Collins was out first ball caught in the deep off Amanda Jade Wellington but Threlkeld saw her side through to the final over before she was bowled by Poppy Tulloch for 45 with Fi Morris departing off the last ball of the innings.

Bouchier took the game to Lancashire, hitting Kate Cross’ first over for 10 but Grace Potts struck with her first ball to remove Ella McCaughan bowled without scoring.

Cross had Adams dropped in the deep by Johnson with the skipper on five and it proved costly as the second wicket pair began compiling the partnership that would win the game.

Bouchier’s half-century came off 37 balls with one six and six fours as the visitors eased their way to the target in the 16th over against a demoralised looking Lancashire with the winning runs coming soon after Adams was run out for 48.

Georgia Adams, Hampshire Hawks captain, said: "I have known Maia for such a long time and what I am sensing this year is that there is an element of growing up - she seems really clear and the most clear she's ever been about how she wants to play her game and what that looks like for her.

"It's never easy coming back into a side and she has come back in and been a top teammate, an amazing human in the dressing room and pretty much done everything we have asked of her.

"I get the sense she's got a lot of clarity around how she wants to go about her cricket and it's so pleasing to see her do what we've all known she is capable of - when she gets going she's so hard to stop.

"We've played some really good cricket and there have just been small moments where we haven't been able to get over the line which obviously resulted in us tying two games but we're happy with where we are at and hopefully we can get on a bit of a run now."

Ellie Threlkeld, Lancashire Thunder captain, said: "We probably left a few runs out there but credit to the way Hampshire bowled - the pitch was on the slow side and it made it hard for us to find boundaries and get some momentum going.

"They got off to a flyer and we probably weren't at our best with the ball and in the field but again credit to how they batted and Maia (Bouchier) was brilliant.

"We need to find a way to get some more momentum in those middle overs with the bat and then be able to defend a score.

"Meg (Lanning) has been brilliant and her cricket speaks for itself. She's scoring a high volume of runs for us but it's what she offers off the field as well - she's been amazing and great for the younger girls and she's given me some great advice as captain as well but other players need to step up as well and we can't be reliant on just a few players to score all our runs.

"We have definitely got the quality in the dressing room and we've got to keep belief - we won two trophies last year and we need to find a way to come through this tough patch and there's still plenty of time to turn the season around."