Roar of Thunder as Lancashire take Roses spoils at Blackpool's Stanley Park

Star player Harmanpreet Kaur praised the Stanley Park wicket as Lancashire Thunder kept their hopes of a first Kia Super League Finals Day appearance alive by beating Yorkshire Diamonds in a Roses thriller in at Blackpool.

The Thunder completed the double over the Diamonds to knock their arch-rivals out of contention as they won by nine runs at Blackpool CC.

Their first win in five games and their fourth from nine in all owed a lot to India T20 captain Kaur’s superb 74 off 44 balls as they posted 154-9 nine having been inserted.

Yorkshire then slipped to 70-4 in the 12th over of their chase before England all-rounders Alice Davidson-Richards and Katherine Brunt revived hopes with a fifth-wicket stand of 61 in 37 balls.

But the Diamonds failed to get 19 off the last over, with the Diamonds finishing on 145-8 and Brunt unbeaten on 44 off 25.

Lancashire travel to the Ageas Bowl to face Southern Vipers on Saturday (7pm) knowing they have to win and hope Surrey Stars lose to Western Storm at the Kia Oval.

The Thunder are currently three points behind the third-placed Stars.

Lancashire’s innings was built around Kaur’s classy knock, including four fours and six sixes.

She was particularly strong down the ground and hitting to and over cover.

The 29-year-old was dropped on 11 by Beth Langston at long-off off Katie Levick’s leg-spin and made the Diamonds pay, sharing 53 for the third wicket with Australian opener Nicole Bolton, who impressed for 46.

Kaur drove Delissa Kimmince superbly through the covers for four and later hit two sixes in that same area.

She also shattered the window of a van housing the match day DJ beyond the boundary at long-off before falling in the last over to Brunt, caught by Gwen Davies running around from point.

That was one of seven wickets to fall in the last 6.1 overs as the Thunder slipped from 91-2 to keep Yorkshire hopes alive.

That included three ducks and two run outs. Thankfully for Kaur, she wasn’t one of them having twice been run out for nought in the competition.

Kate Cross then trapped Lauren Winfield lbw with the fourth ball of the Diamonds’ chase, which was quickly given impetus by Beth Mooney and Thea Brookes as they took the score to 30-1fter four overs.

But England’s Sophie Ecclestone bowled two cheap overs, including a maiden, to wrestle back the momentum before helping fellow left-arm spinner Alex Hartley remove Brookes (22) with a catch at long-on

Australian Mooney was then trapped lbw sweeping at Danni Hazell’s off-spin for 25 in the next over.

Hartley had Chamari Atapattu caught at long-on in the 12th (70-4 before Davidson-Richards and Brunt kept visiting hopes alive. They took the score to 123-4 after 17.

Davidson-Richards was then bowled by New Zealander Amy Satterthwaite’s off-spin for 33 as the score fell to 131-5five after 18 overs.

The outstanding Kaur said: “We were looking for that win after losing those games back-to-back. We are very happy.

“The wicket was really good to bat on, and once you were settled you could hit any ball. I was really happy I got the opportunity to bat and had a lot of balls to face.

“The wicket looked a bit green, but I didn’t think much about it and just concentrated on the ball and tried to hit the gaps. I hear Alex (Blackwell) didn’t park her car over there because she was worried about me hitting it! That positive approach helped me a lot.

“Katherine Brunt batted well but our bowlers did a good job in the last few overs.

“We can only control what is in our hands. We have a lot of confidence to do well.”