Western Storm rise on top in ‘rain-fest’ at Taunton

Western Storm recorded their second win of the tournament defeating Loughborough Lightning by 18 runs, in a match reduced to six overs a side due to the rain delay.

Batting first, Storm openers Rachel Priest (23 off 13) and Smriti Mandhana got their team off to a flier of a start, reaching 38-0 at the halfway mark. But that’s not where the assault of runs ended. In the next three overs, a further 47 runs were scored as Mandhana ‘stormed’ her way to the fastest Kia Super League 50, reaching the milestone in just 18 balls. A six on the last ball of the innings by Stafanie Taylor meant the Storm finished their innings on 85-2.

Linsey Smith and Georgia Elwiss took a wicket each, but when the batters are seeing the ball like Priest and Mandhana were today, the bowlers can’t do much.

Loughborough Lightning put up a valiant fight in their attempt to chase down the mammoth total put on the board, but could only manage 67 runs in reply, falling 18 runs short. Sophie Devine hammered almost every ball that came her way, finishing on 46* off 21 deliveries, but with Rachel Haynes only managing to score 18 runs off the 15 balls she faced, Lightning could not keep up with the required run rate.

No wicket fell for the team in purple as they suffered their first defeat and Western Storm registered a bonus point win, which took them to the top of the table. Unsurprising, Mandhana was named the 'Player of the Match' for her remarkable innings of 52* off 19.