Yorkshire Diamonds and Loughborough Lightning clash in a bid to get first points

Match Preview: Yorkshire Diamonds v Loughborough Lightning



Date: 11 August 2019



Venue: Headingley, Leeds



Back in 2016 Yorkshire Diamonds and Loughborough Lightning met at Headingley in the first-ever Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL) game. On that day Loughborough Lightning won by 43 runs, defending 128 for 9.



Both teams have won two games each and the most recent game was won by Yorkshire Diamonds by 3 runs. Beth Mooney scored a 50-ball 76 and it proved to be just enough for her team.



On each occasion in this duel, the team that has batted first has gone on to win the game. This will likely mean that the toss is important.



So far this season Georgia Elwiss has twice won the toss and chosen to bat – a third time could just do the trick as Loughborough Lightning search for their first win in the tournament. They first lost to Western Storm by seven wickets and to Southern Vipers by two wickets in their two outings in this year.



It will be Yorkshire Diamonds' second game of the 2019 edition, having lost to Surrey Stars on Tuesday (August 6) by nine runs. This was despite a 4 for 20 from Helen Fenby, the leg-spinner, 3 for 25 from Leigh Kasperek, the Kiwi off-spinner, and a quick-fire 31 off 17 balls from debutant Alyssa Healy.



On Sunday (August 11), Diamonds should be strengthened by the return of Katherine Brunt, who was rested on instruction from the ECB in their previous game.

Key players

Katherine Brunt



An important player for Yorkshire Diamonds with both bat and ball, Brunt is a fiery character on the field. There are few players that epitomise the Yorkshire spirit better than Brunt. Yorkshire Diamonds will welcome her back for her first game of WCSL 2019.



Brunt will be steaming in as usual and causing the openers problems from the start. Her batting is more than useful at this level and will give some solidity to the middle-order. She has the ability to smash important runs at the end of the innings as well.



 



Kirstie Gordon



Yorkshire has a naturally attacking top order and with the likes of Alyssa Healy looking to go big early on, Loughborough Lightning will need someone who can stop the runs flowing in the middle overs - Kirstie Gordon is just the player for this.



Not only does Gordon stop the run-flow, but also she takes wickets. She did this against Southern Vipers sending back Suzie Bates and Tammy Beaumont within three balls of joining the attack. And in both the games so far, she has been economical, even though she couldn't contribute match-winning spells.



 



Conditions:



Only one side has ever chased down a total at Headingley in the WCSL - that was Western Storm in 2016. Totals that have been successfully defended have ranged from 130 to 160.



The pitches are usually good batting tracks. One of the bigger grounds used in the tournament, Headingley offers different challenges and with potentially bigger boundaries it might just suit the spinners from both teams.



 



Squads:



Yorkshire Diamonds: Lauren Winfield (c), Katherine Brunt, Alice Davidson-Richards, Katie George, Linsey Smith, Hollie Armitage, Georgia Davis, Helen Fenby, Cordelia Griffith, Bess Heath, Beth Langston, Katie Levick, Alyssa Healy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Leigh Kasperek



Loughborough Lightning: Georgia Elwiss (c), Jenny Gunn, Amy Jones, Kirstie Gordon, Mignon du Preez, Hayley Matthews, Chamari Atapattu, Abbey Freeborn, Lucy Higham, Tara Norris, Alice Monaghan, Kathryn Bryce, Sarah Glenn, Georgia Adams, Jo Gardner.