The Blaze v Lancashire Women, Metro Bank One-Day Cup

Match result - Blaze won by six runs DLS
Points: The Blaze 4 Lancashire 0

Report by Jon Culley on behalf of the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay

The Blaze avenged last season’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup semi-final defeat against Lancashire, prevailing by six runs by the Duckworth Lewis Stern method in a rain-affected opener to their Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competition campaign.

Lancashire, who went on to lift the 2025 trophy, had begun their season with a thumping win over Durham at Chester-le-Street last Saturday but were bowled out for 223 after being asked to bat first at Trent Bridge, despite Emma Lamb’s fine 77.

The Blaze’s left-arm seamer Grace Ballinger took three for 30.

Forced off by rain at 91 for three in the 21st over of their reply, The Blaze resumed with a revised target of 171 from 32 overs.

More rain meant the contest had to be abandoned after 28.3 of those overs but thanks to Marie Kelly (44) and Orla Prendergast (40), the home side were six ahead of the DLS requirement at that moment.

Lancashire head coach Chris Read said

“I don't think we were at our best today. I felt like we nearly set up our batting innings how we wanted to. To get through the powerplay unscathed and in a reasonably good position, I thought was good.

"Emma Lamb, in particular, battled really well and you felt that if she kicks on into the last 10 overs, there’s another 100 in the making. But we fell away in the last 10 overs or so and were probably 30-40 runs short of where ideally we'd like to have been. 

“That said, I think we had a total that was defendable on a wicket that had a little bit in it for the bowlers. It was one of those where we nearly got over the line. I thought Blaze managed the DLS situation pretty well at the end. You could see the ground staff were ready to come on with the covers for a while. Even though they lost a couple of wickets, they were just about ahead.

“It wasn’t to be today but I’m pretty pleased with the way we have started the season.

"We had a really good lead into the season and a really positive first game up at Durham on Saturday. We weren’t at our best today but there were still positives to take away from the performance.”