Central Sparks fail to fire with the bat

Skipper Eve Jones was left bemoaning a sluggish start as Central Sparks tasted defeat in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.

Chasing The Blaze’s 134-6, Sparks were restricted to 124-7 in reply, with Jones (26) and Katie George (28 not out) the only batters to pass 20.

“I felt we did a really good job with the ball and we backed ourselves to knock off those runs on this pitch,” said Jones.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the powerplay we quite wanted batting and after losing early wickets we were always chasing the game.

We don’t mind losing wickets if we can get off to a flyer with runs on the board but we lost wickets and were slow getting out of the blocks.”

All-rounder Kathryn Bryce played the starring role for The Blaze, top-scoring with 57and then picking up 2-28 with the ball.

n Staffordshire are in NCCA Knockout action tomorrow when they host Norfolk at Smethwick (11am).