Grace Ballinger claimed three wickets before Marie Kelly top-scored with 44 as The Blaze successfully beat the weather to claim a season-opening six-run win on DLS against Lancashire at Trent Bridge.

Having initially been chasing the Red Rose’s 223 all out, engineered by Ballinger’s standout return of 3/30 and two apiece for Kirstie Gordon and Charley Phillips, the hosts’ pursuit was interrupted for almost two hours by rain, reducing the target to 171 in 32 overs.

However, a further deluge, accompanied by thunder and lightning, in the 29th over of that revised equation saw the game officially curtailed, with The Blaze’s ultimate total of 148-5, driven by Kelly and Orla Prendergast’s 40 from 36 balls, enough to claim a narrow victory.

Regular wickets throughout the visitors’ innings helped The Blaze keep a lid on Lancashire’s scoring rate in spite of Emma Lamb’s 77 at the top of the order.

Lucy Higham claimed the first wicket of the 2026 campaign when she pinned Lamb’s opening partner Eve Jones lbw for 19, before Irish international Gaby Lewis fell in the same fashion to Kathryn Bryce less than five overs later.

After Seren Smale had played around one from Gordon to be bowled for 26, Lamb and captain Ellie Threlkeld built a 77-run partnership to take the Red Rose to 176-3 in the 37th over.

However, from there, The Blaze roared back, claiming the final seven wickets for just 47 runs, with the big turning point coming as Gordon saw Lamb held by Kelly at mid-off.

Threlkeld followed three overs later when she pulled Ballinger to Higham at deep backward square while on 37.

From 188-5 with ten overs to go, The Blaze never relinquished their grip at the death, as Georgia Elwiss claimed her first scalp when Fi Morris was caught by Kathryn Bryce for 13, before Ballinger bowled Kate Cross for one.

Tara Norris and Ailsa Lister managed to eke out the runs to get the visitors beyond 200, but after Ballinger had taken her third, bowling Norris for ten, it was up to the returning Phillips to polish things off.

She did so in style, having Lister well held by Kathryn Bryce for six on the first ball of her third spell, and followed up in the penultimate over to wrap things up by bowling Hannah Jones for three.

The Blaze suffered a tricky start when Sarah Bryce was run out early on, but her sister Kathryn, accompanied by Kelly, responded with a partnership of 67 to keep the scoreboard ticking.

The elder Bryce made 35 in that stand, hitting five fours, before being caught by a diving Morris at short midwicket off Grace Potts.

With the clouds advancing in from over the William Clarke Stand, attention turned to the par score in a particularly tense passage of play, and Elwiss’ dismissal, bowled by Norris, in fact saw the hosts slip slightly behind with dark skies looming.

There was time enough, however, for Kelly and Prendergast to see the total back to 91-3, above that par by just two runs, in the 21stover, before the first rain delay set in.

Upon the players’ return to the field, the revised equation stood at 80 required from 70, and Prendergast wasted no time in making a dent in it by striking Lamb for four from the first ball after the restart.

The duo continued to keep the score ticking along at a healthy rate, and The Blaze still only required a manageable 51 from 37 when Kelly was caught by Cross off Hannah Jones.

Prendergast and new batter, debutant Emma Jones, responded almost as if settling a personal score with Cross for the catch by taking ten off her next over.

Eight more off the next nine balls following that had the equation at 31 needed from 26, before another twist saw Prendergast’s enterprising innings ended via a Threlkeld stumping off Lamb.

However, just as before, Emma Jones hit back instantaneously, hammering the final ball of that over high into the Bridgford Road Stand for six on her way to a vital 10 not out.

Despite The Blaze needing only 24 more from four overs at that point, there would be only three further balls possible, as the rain once again swept in, and with some vigour.

With the downpour swirling, and thunder and lightning thrashing across Trent Bridge, the umpires then officially called time on the game to formally confirm the hosts’ season-opening win.