Seven wicket defeat by Northumberland as Lincolnshire Women take centre stage
With the Lincolnshire men's team taking a weekend break, it was the turn of county’s Women’s side to take centre stage on Sunday as they welcomed Northumberland to Louth Cricket Club in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.
But it ended in a seven wicket defeat for the home side.
The visitors have enjoyed a successful season so far and, with a side featuring a number of Durham registered players and academy players, Lincolnshire knew that they would have to be at their best on the day.
In splendid conditions, Lincolnshire won the toss and elected to bat first and immediately found it difficult to get on top of the Northumberland opening attack.
Runs were at a premium and Lincolnshire soon found themselves in trouble, reaching 50 for the loss of four wickets.
Amongst the wickets, Hannah Hughes did her best to steady the ship.
Continuing her fine form this season, Hughes brought up her 50 from 71 balls.
But Hughes struggled to find partners and, left with little option but to hit out, she became the ninth wicket to fall, finishing on a superb 57 from 82 balls.
Lincolnshire’s innings closed on 145 all out from 41 overs.
In reply, Northumberland came out of the blocks quickly, attacking the Lincolnshire openers and getting well above the required rate.
Lincolnshire did manage to pull back the rate and put the brakes on with some disciplined bowling from Luren Tuffrey (six overs, one wicket for 15 runs) and Molly Rebanks (four overs for 18 runs), but the visitors never really looked in danger of not reaching the target, eventually getting home for the loss of three wickets in 25 overs.
For Lincolnshire, there were positives to take from the fixture, and Hannah Hughes continues to impress at this level, as does the bowling of Tuffrey.
Lincolnshire Cricket paid tribute and gave thanks to Louth CC for staging the game, saying that Louth’s London Road ground and facilities were fantastic and the club couldn’t have been more accommodating to the county side.
The women now have to wait until Sunday, 24th August for their next game, at home against Cumbria.
For the men, they head to Cleethorpes CC to take on Suffolk for the next round of the NCCA, Cluberley Championship, starting on Sunday, 17th August.
Play gets underway at 11am, entry is free and all are welcome.