T20 Warm Up: Western Storm v Southern Vipers
THE MATCH
Western Storm were due to take on Southern Vipers in two T20 warm up matches at Arundel Castle CC today (Tuesday).
Unfortunately, rain this morning meant that there will now be only one match which got underway at 2pm.
Southern Vipers won the toss and elected to field.
Sophie Luff top scored for Storm with 45 from 39 balls as they posted a total of 127 for five.
The Vipers chase got off to a good start and opener Danielle Wyatt made 70 from 56 balls as her side reached their total for the loss of just two wickets.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
You can keep up to date via the Western Storm website.
In addition to this, a report on the day’s play along with quotes will be posted on this website.
HEAD TO HEAD
The two sides have met on 13 occasions in all competitions. Western Storm have come out on top on six occasions, Southern Vipers have also won six times and one match ended in a no result.
The last time that the two sides met at Arundel Castle was in the KSL in 2018 when Western Storm triumphed by nine wickets.
Storm Captain, Heather Knight won the toss and elected to field.
Suzie Bates, Danielle Wyatt and Mignon du Preez all fell cheaply and the Vipers were all out for 91 from 18.1 overs. Claire Nicholas was the pick of the bowlers, claiming two for 17 from her four overs.
The only Storm wicket to fall was that of Rachel Priest who made 30 from 14 balls, and it was left to Smriti Mandhana (43 not out from 27 balls) and Heather Knight (18 not out) to take Storm to their target in just 9.3 overs.
TEAM NEWS
Lauren Parfitt is unavailable for this match so Head Coach, Mark O’Leary will pick the starting XI from the following players: Sophie Luff (c), Fi Morris (vc), Georgia Hennessey, Danielle Gibson, Nat Wraith, Alex Griffiths, Nicole Harvey, Lauren Filer, Mollie Robbins, Emma Corney, Steph Hutchins, Emily Edgcombe, Niamh Holland and Bethan Gammon.
VIEWS FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Ahead of the match, Head Coach Mark O’Leary said: “These games are a great opportunity for us to use the skills that we’ve worked on throughout the winter. The 50-over competition hasn’t really gone the way that we had hoped and tomorrow is a fresh start.
“The players have played T20 cricket for their counties already this summer, so it’s not like they’re going into the format fresh.
“Although these are warm up games, we go into every match wanting to win. We want to win both these games and take that momentum into the main campaign.”
NEXT MATCH
Western Storm’s next match is on Saturday June 26th when we take on Sunrisers in the women’s regional T20 competition.
