KIA Super League Finals Day Preview

THE MATCH

Western Storm have qualified for their third successive KIA Super League Finals Day.

Finals Day will be held at the 1st Central County Ground Hove.

Storm finished as runners up in the group stage and will therefore play Surrey Stars in the semi-final which is due to begin at 12pm.

The winner of that semi-final will face Loughborough Lightning in the final at 4pm.

HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?

You can keep up to date with the action on Twitter. The game is also being broadcast on Sky Sports

In addition to this a report on the day’s play along with quotes will be posted after the close.

HEAD TO HEAD

Western Storm have faced Surrey Stars on five occasions.

Storm have won twice with Stars coming out on top three times.

This will be the third meeting between the two sides this year with Surrey Stars having triumphed on the previous two occasions.

However, Western Storm have a 100% record in KSL semi-finals.

The two teams met at this stage of the competition last year and Western Storm won by three wickets.

Surrey captain Natalie Sciver won the toss but the Stars found run making difficult against tight bowling from the Storm as they were restricted to 100 for seven. Anya Shrubsole was the pick of the bowlers, claiming three for 22.

The Storm also struggled, slipping to 17 for four with Marzanne Kapp returning figures of 4-0-11-4. However, Stafanie Taylor guided her team to the final with 37 not out.

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

Ahead of the semi-final Head Coach, Trevor Griffin said: “At the start of the season our first aim was to qualify for Finals Day and we’ve done that. I think every team in the competition would like to have finished top of the group, but there are pros and cons to both going directly in to the final and having to play in a semi-final. If you finish first it’s a very long day with a lot of sitting around whereas if you play in the semi-final you can get going early and get used to the pitch. However, two games in one day does take a lot out of the players. The main thing is that we are at Finals Day and we have experience of that that we can draw upon. Having played in semi-finals before should stand us in good stead.

“The recent game against Surrey at the Oval was really close and I think it could have gone either way. We just didn’t quite execute our plans at a couple of crucial moments and I think it will be an exciting semi-final.

“Obviously we need to prep for Loughborough Lightning as well as Surrey and we will go through the same processes that we normally do. When it comes to game day our focus will be very much on Surrey and if we make it through to the final we will turn our attention to Loughborough and refresh what we have worked on in the week.

“When we signed Smriti Mandhana we knew that she wouldn’t be available for Finals Day. She did exactly what we wanted her to do, which was to help us get to this stage, but it’s not been a one-person team. Heather Knight has been outstanding, our bowlers have stood up whenever they’ve needed to and it genuinely has been a real team effort. We’ve always had plans in place to accommodate Smriti’s absence. It also gives someone the chance to come in and make a name for themselves.

“We haven’t really had to change our starting XI and that’s down to both the performance of the players and the work of everyone behind the scenes. The coaches and the backroom staff have introduced a number of new processes to ensure that the players have been able to get through such an intense campaign without us having to make many changes due to injury issues.

“I know that a lot of Storm supporters will be making the trip to Hove for Finals Day and I just want to thank them and everyone who has supported us this year. Their support is once again one of the main factors behind our success and I hope that we can give them something to cheer again on Monday!”

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

If you are planning to attend this match you can find out everything that you need to know by clicking here