Ecclestone stars as Lancs beat Surrey in T20 final
Lancashire Thunder became the first winners of the new Vitality T20 Women's County Cup with a 32-run victory over Surrey in the final at Taunton.Opener Tilly Kesteven hit 77 off 60 balls, putting on 86 for the first wicket with Emma Lamb (27), while Fi Morris made a rapid 27 as Lancashire posted 172-6.Chasing the highest total on a day which also saw the two semi-finals played, Surrey made a fast start through openers Bryony Smith (25) and Kira Chathli (21).Phoebe Franklin added a brisk 41, but spinner Sophie Ecclestone (4-12), left out of the England squad for the West Indies series, helped put the brakes on as Surrey fell well short.
Earlier Lancashire beat The Blaze by seven wickets in a rain-affected second semi-final to set up a showdown with Surrey who edged to a three-wicket win over Warwickshire, with two balls to spare, in a low-scoring game.After showers had delayed their successful semi-final chase, Lancashire soon found themselves batting again after Surrey skipper Smith won the toss and opted to field first.She may have regretted the decision when 20-year-old Kesteven raced to her first senior fifty, off just 37 balls, as the Red Rose raced to 86-0 after 10 overs.Lamb fell the very next ball to Tilly Corteen-Coleman, but Lancashire continued to attack.Off-spinner Kalea Moore removed Seren Smale for a brisk 19 and three balls later knocked back Kesteven's off-stump.Yet Morris maintained the tempo with some late hitting, striking three fours and a huge six in a 12-ball 27, before falling to Moore (4-27) who picked up two more wickets in the final over.In an explosive start to the chase, Chathli launched Kate Cross for two sixes, but was castled next ball by the England seamer, and Smith then hit four successive boundaries off Grace Potts before holing out going for a fifth.Ecclestone - who sent down 15 dots - removed Paige Scholfield and Emma Jones in successive balls to pull back Surrey to 75-4 at the halfway mark.As the run rate required climbed above 10, Franklin holed out for an enterprising 41 off 36 balls to give a third wicket to Ecclestone as Surrey slipped to 105-6.There was defiant hitting from Moore (22 not out) and Ryana Macdonald-Gay (18), but it was too little, too late as Ecclestone had the final word by removing the latter.The women's T20 Blast competition, which runs alongside the men's, gets under way on Friday with Surrey back in action at Taunton against Somerset.Lancashire Thunder begin their Blast campaign on Saturday against The Blaze at Old Trafford.
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