Loughborough Lightning 123 for 2 (Jones 66*) beat Lancashire Thunder 122 (Glenn 3-25, Gunn 3-14) by eight wickets
England wicketkeeper Amy Jones made her second half-century of the competition as Loughborough Lightning eased to an eight-wicket victory over Lancashire Thunder in their Kia Super League clash at Trent Bridge.
Watched by a crowd of more than 3,000 ahead of Nottinghamshire Outlaws' game against Yorkshire Vikings in the Vitality Blast, opener Jones hit eight fours and a six in her unbeaten 66 as Lightning, already through to next Sunday's Finals Day at Hove, saw out a sixth win in seven matches with 23 balls to spare.
Thunder, who have lost eight of their nine matches to finish bottom of the KSL table, have one more chance to register a first win when they take on Surrey Stars at Blackpool on Wednesday, having picked up their only points in a tie with Southern Vipers.
Vipers provide Lightning with their final league stage opponents at the Ageas Bowl on Wednesday evening in which looks set to be a rehearsal of their likely semi-final meeting at Hove.
"I'm pretty happy to have been able to contribute," said Jones. "I've been a bit quiet since the first game so I'm so pleased to have scored some runs today.
"It's the first time I've played at Trent Bridge so it was pretty cool to make a score here. A lot of people came in early to watch, which was fantastic and it really felt like they were behind us. We've picked up some momentum going into the back end of the season and hopefully it holds us in good stead for Finals Day, so we're really excited."
Legspinner Sarah Glenn and England allrounder Jenny Gunn finished with three wickets each as Thunder were bowled out for 122 inside 20 overs, Sophia Dunkley top-scoring with 29. South African Sune Luus made 27 but Thunder's other overseas players, Tahlia McGrath and Harmanpreet Kaur, were out in single figures, the latter for a first-ball duck.
Thunder had made a solid start after winning the toss and electing to bat, reaching 39 for one in the Powerplay overs. Glenn made a breakthrough for Lightning when she bowled Australian opener McGrath for five but Dunkley clubbed six and four off Jo Gardner's medium pace in the sixth over.
Luus, having picked up three fours while the fielding restrictions were in place, lofted Gunn over the short straight boundary but when she attempted something similar in the same over was well caught by Georgia Adams, who made good ground to get under the ball at long-on.
Glenn then dealt Thunder a major blow when she bowled Indian star Harmanpreet for a golden duck and the Derby-born leggie claimed her third wicket when she held a return catch to dismiss Ellie Threlkeld to finish with 3 for 25 from her four overs, raising her tally in the tournament to nine wickets.
Thunder needed Dunkley to add to her two sixes but when she lost her leg stump to Gunn for 29 in the 12th over to leave her side 70 for five in the 12th over, their best chance of posting a competitive total seemed to have gone, although a lively partnership between Alex Hartley and Natalie Brown added 25 for the last wicket before the latter was run out off the penultimate ball of the 20th over.
The experienced Nottingham-born Gunn finished with three for 14 in front of her home crowd, while Gardner claimed her maiden KSL wicket when Ria Fackrell was stumped by Jones.
It was Jones who then set the pace for the Lightning chase, hitting 23 off as many balls as the Loughborough side kept exactly in tune with what was required by taking 39 without loss in the powerplay.
Thunder made a breakthrough in the 10th over, breaking the Jones-Atapattu partnership when offspinner Emma Lamb held a low return catch to dismiss the Sri Lankan for 26, but new batter Adams swept her first two balls for four and six as Lightning moved to 73 for one at the halfway stage.
Adams was caught at deep midwicket in the next over as Hartley and Brown put a temporary brake on the scoring but Jones then profited from sweeping Lamb before completing a 44-ball half century in the 14th over with Lightning needing only 25 from 38 balls.
Jones finished the match in style, lofting Hartley over long-on for six off the first ball of the 17th over.
