Preview: Bears Women vs Lancashire Thunder

Bears Women are targeting a return to winning ways against Lancashire Thunder after back-to-back defeats dented their strong start to the Women’s Metro Bank One Day Cup.

Ali Maiden’s side fell to a narrow three-wicket loss at Durham on Sunday following last Wednesday’s 48-run reverse at home to Somerset Women.

Thunder come into the game having won four of their six matches – but Maiden says spirits are high in camp and that fine margins have been decisive in the recent setbacks.

“Durham was a tight game, an even contest,” he said. “We did lots right and did well to reach the score we got. Having lost wickets early on we got good lower order scores from Charis and Issy. But we didn’t get many partnerships which was key.

“We bowled well and had glimpses in the game where if we could have got two new batters in we could have really squeezed.

“But every time we got a new batter in they got away pretty well, got settled. We couldn’t quite build enough pressure.

“We could have still won that game, though, we scored enough to win it. In tight games it is just that little bit here and there that makes the difference.”

Maiden said his players have bought into Bears Women’s style of positive, attacking cricket but accepts it’s a new mindset for some of his players and will take time to develop.

He added: “I’m asking our batters to play differently than perhaps they’ve done in the past. Previously taking responsibility might have meant being more defensive, especially early on, taking less risks.

“But I’m asking them to be positive and aggressive, to take on bowlers, and to do that for any length of time takes a lot of skill. Skills that the players are developing.

“We’re enjoying the way we’re going about our cricket, spirits are high in the dressing room, and we’re serving up some entertaining cricket for the spectators.”

Maiden has named a 14-player squad for the visit of Thunder with Chloe Brewer (hamstring)  the only injury absentee.

Lancashire bring with them two familiar faces in former Central Sparks captain Eve Jones and allrounder Grace Potts.

Jones played 74 times for Sparks, including 45 List A games in which she averaged 46.84, and Maiden knows that her opening partnership with Emma Lamb could be critical in deciding the outcome of the game.

He added: “We Eve and Grace well from their time at Edgbaston with Central Sparks. They’re both good performers. It’ll be nice to see them, we’ll welcome them back, but then we’ll get into the game and put them under as much pressure as we can.

“Lancs are a good side; we won’t take them for granted. But if we put on a strong performance, put them under pressure early on, we can come out on top. It’ll be a good game.”

Squad

Georgia Davis (c)
Em Arlott
Meg Austin
Hannah Baker
Bethan Ellis
Abbey Freeborn
Katie George
Hannah Hardwick
Sterre Kalis
Charis Pavely
Davina Perrin
Amu Surenkumar
Issy Wong
Nat Wraith

How to follow

Members and supporters can follow the match live in our Match Centre at edgbaston.com, which will include a free-to-watch stream and a live text commentary. You can also see a ball-by-ball feed and watch highlights of all the action.

Supporters can get involved by sending their match-day comments and thoughts on X via @WarwickshireCCC and we’ll publish the best ones on our live text commentary in the Match Centre.

Supporters can also watch the Live Stream and get instant push notifications of all wickets, innings and match results via the Edgbaston app, which is free to download on iOS and Android.

Match updates will also be available across the Club’s social media accounts, simply search for @WarwickshireCCC.