Lancashire 235-2, defeat The Blaze, 234 by eight wickets with 30 balls to spare.
England all-rounder Emma Lamb delivered a match-winning performance as Lancashire opened the new era of women’s domestic cricket with an eight-wicket win over The Blaze in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup at Trent Bridge.
Watched by the national team’s newly-appointed head coach, Charlotte Edwards, opening batter Lamb took 3-42 with her off-breaks as The Blaze were restricted to 234 from 50 overs after opting to bat first, before making an unbeaten 130 with the bat as Lancashire chased down their target with five overs to spare.
The Blaze unveiled three new faces to begin their 2025 campaign - England international wicketkeeper Amy Jones, former Southern Viper all-rounder Georgia Elwiss, and former Sunrisers quick Charley Phillips.
Scotland captain Kathryn Bryce top-scored with 70 for the home side, while Georgia Elwiss made an eye-catching 49. Left-arm Lancashire spinner Hannah Jones also took three wickets, with England seamer Mahika Gaur picking up two.
England duo Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones opened the innings but both fell inside the opening 15 overs.
Bryce made a typically masterful 70, but Lancashire’s bowlers deserved credit for creating pressure through the middle of the innings. England seamer Kate Cross sent down 39 dot balls and was unlucky to finish wicketless, two catches going down off her bowling.
Beaumont - captaining in place of the injured Kirstie Gordon - was the first casualty, caught at short third chasing a wide delivery from Gaur. Bryce and Jones built nicely, but after the second-wicket pair had added 47 the England wicketkeeper perished, hitting Sarah Morris’s left-arm spin straight to long-off.
There seemed to be no shifting the irrepressible Bryce, who was beginning her domestic season only five days after concluding Scotland’s ICC World Cup qualifying tournament in Lahore with an unbeaten 131 in the thriller against Ireland. The all-rounder, whose half-century here came in 53 balls, has amassed a remarkable 1,786 runs in all formats since the start of 2024.
With Elwiss - the former Loughborough Lightning skipper who is back in the East Midlands after a highly successful stint with Southern Vipers - she put on 82 for the third wicket before Elwiss, who had looked impressive, was bowled by a clever delivery from Jones.
Lancashire continued to chip away, with Josie Groves' useful late 21 taking The Blaze to 234.
Needing to build pressure on their opponents from the start, The Blaze couldn't tighten the screws, with new ball bowlers Grace Ballinger Charley Phillips unable to make the early breakthrough.
It was Bryce who made the first telling contribution with the ball, her first delivery inducing a return catch via a leading edge to remove Eve Jones. However, Lamb and overseas signing Katie Mack were unphased and took charge. Lamb especially made The Blaze pay, as she completed a 65-ball half-century.
It took until the 31st over for the second-wicket pair to be separated, with England leg-spinner Sarah Glenn bowling Australia’s Mack middle stump for 44 to end a stand worth 114.
Lamb had an escape on 92, albeit to a tough caught-and-bowled chance spilled by Glenn, but kept her nerve and completed her fifth List A hundred from 114 balls, before seeing her side over the line in an unbroken 86-run partnership with Seren Smale (38 not out).