KIA Super League Preview: Western Storm v Yorkshire Diamonds
THE MATCH
Western Storm begin the defence of their Kia Super League title when they take on Yorkshire Diamonds at the Cooper Associates County Ground on Sunday.
Play is due to get underway at 2:30pm
Tickets are still available for this match and can be purchased here.
Tickets will also be available from the St James Street and Priory Bridge Road gates on Sunday at a cost of £5 for adults and £1 for Under 18s.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
You can keep up to date with the action Twitter
The match is also being shown live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Mix with coverage starting at 2pm.
In addition to this a report on the day’s play along with quotes will be posted after the close.
HEAD TO HEAD
The two sides have met on two occasions in the past with Western Storm coming out on top in both encounters.
In 2016 the teams faced each other at Headingley and after winning the toss and electing to bat the hosts were all out for 118. Beth Mooney top scored for Yorkshire with 56. Anya Shrubsole was the pick of the Storm bowlers, claiming five for 23 from her four overs.
In reply Stafanie Taylor and Rachel Priest shared an opening stand of 101 as Western Storm reached their target from 16.3 overs to win by six wickets.
Last year the match took place at Clifton Park, York and once again it was the Storm who emerged victorious.
58 from Lauren Winfield and 41 off 21 balls from Sophie Devine helped the hosts to post a total of 160 for seven from their allotted overs.
Western Storm’s openers once again took a liking to the Diamond’s bowlers and Priest helped herself to a stunning 106 not out from 65 balls whilst her opening partner Heather Knight scored 48 not out as the visitors won by 10 wickets.
TEAM NEWS
Head Coach, Trevor Griffin will pick the starting XI from the following squad:
Heather Knight, Anya Shrubsole, Fran Wilson, Stafanie Taylor, Smriti Mandhana, Rachel Priest, Sophie Luff, Freya Davies, Claire Nicholas, Lauren Parfitt, Danielle Gibson, Lissy McLeod, Amara Carr, Naomi Dattani and Rebecca Silk.
VIEWS FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
On the eve of the new tournament Head Coach, Trevor Griffin said: “It’s an exciting time and with 10 games this year it promises to be an extremely interesting competition. With the T20 World Cup now just around the corner the international players in the competition will be wanting to show that they deserve a place in their national squads.
“It’s important to build on what we achieved last year. The players are determined to repeat that success and I’m excited about the prospect of Smriti Mandhana and Rachel Priest opening the batting for us this year. We’ve made some changes that I think will make us stronger and I think there will definitely be more competition for starting places, which is great for us.
“Yorkshire Diamonds will certainly be up for it and, just like us, they will want to get their season off to a good start”.
WHAT TIME DO GATES OPEN?
Gates will open at 11:45am with play due to get underway 2:30pm.
PLANNING YOUR JOURNEY
All the information that you need about getting to the Cooper Associates County Ground can be found by clicking here
KIDS ZONE
A Kids Activation Zone will be set up in front of the Cricket Museum on Sunday. Make sure you visit the Somerset Cricket Board Coaches and try out your skills!
KIA SUPER LEAGUE TROPHY
The KIA Super League Trophy will be on display in the ground for the duration of the match.
