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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Tom Evans

Cricket: Thunder skipper Ellie Threlkeld on viral stumpings, learning on the job ... and captaining the world number one

Viral video clips are all well and good - but the only numbers Ellie Threlkeld cares about are the ones on the scoreboard.

The Rainford wicketkeeper has just finished her first assignment as permanent captain of NW Thunder.

And while the side’s Charlotte Edwards Cup campaign ended on a high with a big win over Lightning - the highlight being a sharp leg-side stumping off the bowling of England’s Sophie Ecclestone, which has been viewed nearly 50,000 times on Twitter - Threlkeld isn’t content to bask in the social media spotlight.

“As much as it is great to get the attention on social media, I think that's sort of what's expected of me now,” she said.

“If the batter’s out of the crease, it's my job to take the stumping, no matter whether it's leg-side or not.”

Despite the relative youth of the Thunder side, especially before Ecclestone and her England team-mate Kate Cross returned to the fold part-way through, Threlkeld knows they fell short of expectations in the 20-over tournament.

Their five-wicket win over Lightning meant they finished third in their group, with two wins from six, and didn’t progress to the knock-out stage.

She added: “I think I definitely expected more, to be honest.

“We’ve had some standout performances - Georgia Boyce and Emma Lamb with the bat have been brilliant for us - but I think our middle order just haven't contributed enough.

“Bowling-wise, I think we've just been a little bit inconsistent.

“There's been games when our bowling unit as a whole have been brilliant and games where they haven't.

“We're all going to get our heads down and train hard now before the 50-over stuff and hopefully we can contribute a bit more.

“The core group of players we've got is pretty young and a little bit inexperienced as well.

“And I think especially that middle order, myself included, could really score some more runs.

“But we're doing a lot of things right.”

It helps to be able to call on Ecclestone, the world’s number one bowler in both white-ball formats.

“She's a dream to captain,” said Threlkeld.

“She just comes in and gets on with the business. She knows exactly what she wants to do.

“She sets her own fields, everything like that. It's just sort of that next level and her performances speak for themselves.”

The longer-form Rachael Heyhoe Flint trophy starts in July - with a break after four games for the Hundred, in which Threlkeld and many of her team-mates will represent Manchester Originals.

She said: “I think our middle order is more suited for 50-over cricket.

“Our strike rates are pretty low in T20 competitions but I'd like to think that 50-over cricket is a more suitable format.

“And hopefully if we can do the basics for a longer period of time, we'll be pretty good.”

At 23, Threlkeld is one of the game’s younger captains, and she acknowledges the start of this season has been a steep learning curve.

She added: “I've obviously never really done it at this level before.

“I'm still pretty young. Having the international players back has been brilliant, the last few games they've helped me out a lot.

“But I’ve definitely learned about myself and my strengths and weaknesses as a leader.

“I’ve been a lot more involved with the group and with other people's performances, but it's something that I'm really enjoying.

“I’m learning on the job, I guess.

“To be captain so young as well, it's only going to be good for me - I can learn a lot more now and get all these mistakes out the way.”

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