Northern Diamonds v Lancashire Thunder - Charlotte Edwards Cup: Diamonds spin their way to Roses success - despite being down to bare bones

Northern Diamonds overcame significant injury and unavailability issues to beat cross-Pennine rivals Thunder by 25 runs at Headingley and keep their Charlotte Edwards Cup Finals Day hopes alive.

The Diamonds only had 12 fit senior players to chose from and were missing England trio Lauren Winfield-Hill (quad) and Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver, the latter two who got married yesterday.

A spin dominated game saw the Diamonds bowled out for 124, including 3-23 from Hannah Jones and an innings-high 28 from opener Sterre Kalis.

But the hosts then stifled a Thunder batting line-up who lost in-form openers Emma Lamb and Georgie Boyce early, bowling them out for 99 inside 19 overs. The competition’s leading wicket-taker, leg-spinner Katie Levick, took her tally to 12 with 3-25.

The Diamonds (10 points) moved into second place in Group B with a second win in four games, this including a bonus point. They are behind leaders Southern Vipers with two still to play. The top teams in each of the two groups qualify plus the best second-placed finisher.

Thunder have now lost three from four, only beating the Diamonds at Sale.

They are not mathematically out of the equation but could be by tonight.

Thunder, also missing England’s Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone due to IPL Challenge commitments in India, looked to have this game under control as left-arm spinner Jones and fellow spinners Alex Hartley and Lamb - who claimed two wickets each - shared 7-58 from 12 overs combined.

Speaking after the victory Diamonds spinner Leigh Kasperek said: “We got told that the pitch would be a bit of a road, so we were thinking anything around 170 would be a good total. But we’re delighted.

“We have such a good spin attack, with Katie Levick leading the way. Linsey Smith bowled out of her skin and young Emma Marlow as well.

“We thought the bonus point was 93, so we were trying to squeeze them to that.

“So to hear we’ve got a bonus point is so good.

“We knew coming into this game that every one was do or die. We just have to keep showing that Northern grit over the next two and do our best.”

Disappointed Thunder captain Ellie Threlkeld said the the side’s batting had let them down. She said: “The first half of our performance was pretty good. It was everything we wanted. We restricted them to a reasonable total, which we should have chased if we’re honest. The second half with the bat was pretty disappointing.

“We lost regular wickets and no one got in and went big, which was the issue.

“We spoke last game (Lightning) about our bowling not being good enough and this one it was our batting.

“We are looking for a complete performance, and hopefully we can do that on Wednesday at Old Trafford against the Vipers.”

Diamonds next match is on Wednesday when they play Lightning in Durham (2.30).