Match Preview: Western Storm v South East Stars
THE MATCH
Western Storm welcome South East Stars to the Bristol County Ground tomorrow (Friday) in the 2020 Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy.
Western Storm are currently second in the South Group with 10 points from three matches whilst South East Stars are third with five points.
Play is due to get underway at 10:30am.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
There will be a live stream of this match via this website.
You can keep up to date with the action on Twitter.
In addition to this a report on the day’s play along with quotes will be posted after the close.
TEAM NEWS
17-year-old all rounder Olivia Churcher from Devon has been added to the squad.
Head Coach, Mark O’Leary will pick the starting XI from the following players: Sophie Luff (c), Fi Morris, Danielle Gibson, Claire Nicholas, Alex Griffiths, Georgia Hennessy, Nat Wraith, Lauren Filer, Steph Hutchins, Lauren Parfitt, Emily Edgcombe, Niamh Holland, Emma Corney, Abbie Whybrow, Olivia Churcher.
LAST TIME OUT
The two sides met in the opening fixture of the tournament with Western Storm coming out on top by six wickets.
Sophie Luff won the toss and elected to field.
From the moment the game started, the Storm bowlers were on top and South East Stars slipped to 55 for five in the 19th over.
Susie Rowe (38) and Tash Farrant (37) offered good resistance but in the end the home side were dismissed for 166 in 48.1 overs.
Georgia Hennessey was the pick of the bowlers with four for 31 from 8.1 overs whilst Fi Morris was also in good form taking three for 36.
The Storm reply started strongly with Heather Knight and Morris adding 78 for the opening wicket.
Knight went on to make 91 as Western Storm cruised to the required total with 10.1 overs remaining.
VIEWS FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Ahead of the match, Western Storm Captain, Sophie Luff said: “We’ve got some momentum behind us after last week’s win. We turned over South East Stars in the opening fixture so we’ll be going in to this game with a lot of confidence.
“We need to keep that going and make sure that the girls go out there and back their skills.”
Head Coach, Mark O’Leary said: “We’re really starting to come together well as a team and hopefully we can come away from this weekend with another two wins.
“If we do all the basics right I’m sure we can come away with a win.
“This is an exciting competition because we don’t really know too much about our opposition because all the teams have got young squads.”
NEXT MATCH
Western Storm are next in action on Sunday when we travel to the AGEAS Bowl to take on Southern Vipers.
