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Kathryn Bryce optimistic about turning it around for Lightning

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Women's CricZone Staff
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Kathryn Bryce optimistic about turning it around for Lightning

Kathryn Bryce. © Getty Images

Kathryn Bryce, the Lightning captain, has said that her side is confident going into the next match despite the close defeats in their first two encounters of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. Ahead of their second clash against Northern Diamonds on Saturday (September 5), she opined that they had done a lot of good stuff, and it is just about keeping that going for longer. 



“I think the majority for about 80% of the first two matches have gone our way, and we've performed really well, and it's just that last little bit to get us over the edge, and winning the games of cricket that we’ve probably just fallen short on,” Bryce told hannahjthompson.com



Lightning lost their first match against Thunder by four runs at Trent Bridge, where rain had a role to play. However, it was the defeat against Northern Diamonds in the second match that would have hurt them more. Despite reducing them to 24-4 in the first six overs, Lightning let the Diamonds get to 226/9. Natalie Sciver came to Diamonds’ rescue with a brilliant century. The Lightning's captain was the star with the ball as she took five wickets giving away just 29 runs.



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“We knew they had a really strong batting line up so I knew I needed to go in there and bowl as consistently as possible and put them under as much pressure as possible and make sure I didn’t give them anything easy to get off strike with."



Bryce's side was cruising towards the target as the openers Tammy Beaumont and Sarah Bryce added 117 runs in 26 overs with both the openers scoring half-centuries. Though the captain made a valiant effort with the bat, their middle-order collapsed, and eventually, they fell short by nine runs.



Though they would be missing the services of the England stars Kirstie Gordon and Tammy Beaumont, Bryce is confident that it would open up opportunities for other players in the squad. “I think it’ll give other people to stand up and play a good role in those middle overs like Kirstie did, and someone else to stand up with the bat as well.”



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She felt that the Diamonds and the other teams would miss their England players more than the Lightning. “A lot of their bowling attack will be different as well as they had a lot of England players in that bowling attack. So, knowing we did what we did against their best players gives us that confidence to take into Saturday.”



“Further down the line, I think going up against the other teams, we know we’ve put in strong performances as Lightning players. We need to go on and believe that even without our England players we’ve done really well and that we can put in those performances against other teams without their England players that they’ve relied on quite heavily.”



https://open.spotify.com/episode/1W2TflzuLy0KsHSTVRvPXY
Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, 2020 Rachael Heyhoe-Flint trophy Tammy Beaumont Kathryn Bryce Sarah Bryce Lightning
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