Durham Women v Lancashire Thunder, Vitality Blast

Durham 80-3, Lancashire Thunder 79

Durham 5pts, Lancashire Thunder 0pts.

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Durham boosted their chances of appearing in the Vitality Blast Finals Day when they defeated Lancashire Thunder by seven wickets at Banks Homes Riverside.

Medium-pacer Grace Johnson led they way, taking a career-best three for 7 as Thunder were dismissed for 79 in 19.3 overs,

No3 Darcey Carter offered the only prolonged resistance with an unbeaten 32.

In reply, Hollie Armitage made 44 not out as Durham coasted home in 13.3 overs, thereby earning five points for their convincing victory, although young leg-spinner Venus Weerappuli offered visiting supporters some consolation and finished with two for 18 from her four overs.

Lancashire captain, Ellie Threlkeld, said:

“It was a really tough pitch to bat on and runs weren’t flowing for us. We lost a few too many wickets too early and struggled to gain any momentum. Our reflections as a batting group will be that we need to bat smarter on pitches like that and realise that getting to 120-140 would be a really good score on that pitch.

“We’re used to thinking about how we get to 180 but we need to be smarter and read conditions better. That’s something they did very well but I think if we’d got 120, it would have been a good game of cricket.

“We’ve got some experienced cricketers in our line-up that didn’t see what we needed to do today and one of our younger cricketers, Darcey Carter, did that the best out of anybody.

“Venus has been absolutely amazing. She’s 16, she spins the ball both ways and she can bowl under pressure in T20 Blast matches.

“But what’s more impressive is her attitude and her willingness to learn. I’ll be very surprised if she’s not playing for England in however many years’ time."