Ecclestone's four-wicket haul in vain as Thunder miss out on finals day

Lancashire Thunder 162 for 3 (Harmanpreet 44*, Bolton 43) beat Southern Vipers 153 (Wyatt 36, Ecclestone 4-20) by nine runs
Scorecard

Lancashire Thunder were knocked out of the Kia Super League despite a Sophie Ecclestone led nine-run victory over Southern Vipers.

Thunder needed to win and hope already qualified Western Storm could do them a favour by beating Surrey Stars at the Kia Oval, but Stars' five-wicket win meant Thunder missed out on Finals Day next Saturday.

After a sluggish opening three overs of Vipers' chase of 162 chase, which included Dani Wyatt getting dropped behind on 9, the England star found her form with back-to-back sixes off Emma Lamb before two more boundaries got the Vipers rolling.

But after just one more boundary, Wyatt mistimed a pull straight to Amy Satterthwaite at mid-on to give Ecclestone her first, and skipper Suzie Bates only managed 11 before Satterthwaite pinned her lbw.

Tammy Beaumont had been uncharacteristically subdued but after nailing her textbook reverse sweep she appeared to grew in confidence, she quickly moved to 34 before Katie Cross had her lbw while playing across the line.

Vipers had been keeping well ahead of the run rate but Beaumont's wicket saw a dip, with Mignon Du Preez bowled off her pads by Ecclestone. Sara McGlashan and Maia Bouchier added 37 together in 26 balls to nose the advantage back Vipers' way, with both striking a brutal six down the ground.

McGlashan then swept straight to Bolton at deep square-leg before Bouchier was bowled by Ecclestone. Ecclestone then completed figures of 4 for 20 by bowling Amelia Kerr.

Vipers needed 13 from the final over, bowled by Satterthwaite, but Paige Scholfield was caught at long-on before Charlie Dean and Lauren Bell were run out to close the innings. It meant the hosts took home the wooden spoon having won the competition in 2016 and finished runners-up last year.

Lancashire captain Dani Hazell had won the toss and decided to set a total on the same wicket which Hampshire had beaten Gloucestershire in the Vitality Blast the previous evening.

Nicole Bolton and Georgie Boyce laid out the perfect platform for the high total with good, quick, scoring - the duo punishing the bad balls to reach 48 without loss after six overs.

But the first ball after the Powerplay, Boyce was run out after brilliant work on the long-off boundary by Mignon Du Preez. Bolton continued amassing runs with impressive boundaries over long-on and a skip down the track and middled sweep the pick of her 43.

Satterthwaite received a life, when McGlashan put down a stinging chance at extra cover before she was caught on the reverse scoop and Bolton stumped off an Amelia Kerr googly which took her to a Vipers joint-best 10 scalps in the competition.

From that wicket at the end of the 15th over, it was the Harmanpreet Kaur show. She got moving by taking 22 off the 17th over, with Kerr slapped for sixes down the ground and over midwicket alongside a pair of fours to the extra cover boundary.

Harmanpreet ended up with 44 from 20 balls in a 55-run stand with Ellie Threlkeld which took the Thunder to 162 for 3.