Lancashire Thunder v Hampshire Hawks, Vitality Blast

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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. 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.

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.

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.

Ellie Threlkeld, Lancashire 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."