LANCASHIRE Thunder stormed into town and left a keen group of cricketing girls with a day of memories and boosted skills.

Laura Marshall and Georgia Holmes – south Cumbrian members of the Kia Super League women’s team – along with Thunder coach Jen Barden and a clutch of helpers delivered a session packed with skills and games for some enthusiastic youngsters at Lindal Moor CC.

Aided by Cumbria Cricket’s Kirby Linton and Lee Hogg and Lindal’s Australian player Georgia Hendy, the Lancashire trio worked on everything from batting concentration to fielding prowess over the course of a grey south Cumbrian day.

Occasional spells of drizzle could not put the girls – aged from five to 15 – off as they took part in games of Kwik Cricket and fielding drills as if it were a perfect summer’s day.

Barden – assistant coach with the Thunder Super League team and Lancashire’s women’s and girls development officer – led much of the early exercises, with girls spread across the outfield attempting to play keepy-uppies with bats and balls and managing with varying degrees of success, but with equal levels of enjoyment.

Holmes and Marshall joined them, though using stumps rather than bats, with the girls – some dressed in South Lakes Maidens attire from the Lindal-based girls set-up – having to take occasional evasive action as their tutors became engrossed in their own efforts while moving around the field.

That was just one of many enjoyable exercises undertaken through the day – it was followed by a teamwork drill of keep-ups along a line of batters, and another where Hogg would deliver underarm bowls to allow them to practice playing shots on the offside. As a result, Hogg became an unwitting target for several efforts, balls flying straight back at him at pace.

Games of Kwik Cricket went on at the same time, with Marshall happy to have such a varied programme in place for girls with a wide range of ages and experience of the game.

Marshall – Cumbria Cricket’s women’s and girls development officer – is pleased the Thunder can play such a role, and said: “We’re linked with Lancashire because myself and Georgia play for them and it’s good for the girls to see what they can achieve in the future and to keep them motivated to keep them playing.

“We cover everything from the standard warm-ups and basic hand-eye co-ordination with the bat and ball, and then there are cricket games as well.

“It’s massively important to have these sessions for just girls, because they don’t feel as intimidated as they might be with the boys. They can all mix in with each other rather than being outsiders.”

The skill levels among those girls taking part was clear to see, with some bowlers coming in with pace and accuracy and well-struck skilful shots from the other end during Kwik Cricket matches clearing the boundary with ease.

Younger bowlers would deliver to younger batters – some of them barely taller than the standard-sized bat – with the more experienced members of each team squaring off as well, ensuring a fair balance of competition between the sides made up from across the age range.

Added Marshall: “We’ve got a few here who have played for Cumbria, some have played for the Maidens and some have never really played the game before, so we’ve got a vast mixture of abilities here.

“With having the South Lakes Maidens here at Lindal, girls cricket has just gone massive and having the likes of Lancashire Thunder coming up to run sessions is massively important. These girls will go to games now and watch – a lot of them are coming down to the Blackpool game against the Southern Vipers, so it will be fantastic for them to watch.”