Grace Ballinger has heaped praise upon her most recent new-ball partner, Nadine de Klerk, after the all-rounder helped The Blaze maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

The pair’s opening combination played a pivotal role in their most recent triumph, a four wicket win against Northern Diamonds, and both are included in the squad to face Western Storm, to which Teresa Graves has been added. 

Ballinger and de Klerk required 18.1 overs between them to dismiss the Diamonds for 64 in Durham, with the latter taking 7-33 - the best figures in the history of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. 

The left-armer praised her South African teammate, as well as the bowling attack which has fired The Blaze to three wins from their three playable games.

“I think Nadine and I work quite well together,” Ballinger said.

“And I really like opening the bowling with her because she is so consistent. You know that she keeps the pressure on the opposition. 

“If I'm not taking wickets at the other end, but I'm keeping the run rate down, I feel pretty confident that she can take that attacking option.”

“Overall, I think we're really lucky this season in the sense that we've got so many different bowlers that can have their day.

“We probably haven't put in that full team performance yet so the fact we've still won every game without doing that is quite exciting and bodes well for when it clicks.”

The seamer, who plays her county cricket for Leicestershire, where The Blaze will face Storm, also credited her new captain Kirstie Gordon for the role she has played in the positive start to the season. 

“Gordo is someone I get along with really well, so that definitely helps,” Ballinger said. 

“But I've been really impressed with the way she's gone about the captaincy. I know she was a bit nervous, which is to be expected, and moving to a new place was a bit of a fresh start. 

“But she always had to take the positive option and that’s we have got the rewards for that so far. She always backs our bowlers, which I think is massive.

But there is no impression The Blaze dressing room is getting ahead of itself, despite the winning start to the season. 

21-year-old Ballinger admits there are areas for improvement and the need to stay grounded now is as important as ever. 

“Obviously being on a winning streak is good, but the games doubling means that there is a lot less on riding your form and it's more about who plays the best throughout the season,” she said.

“We've got things we need to work on. We're very aware of that. But we'll take it one game at a time. 

“We've got one more game to go and then we go into a T20 block, which could help unlock some of our batters who are pretty aggressive naturally. It might free them up. Until then, we’ll enjoy being top of the table and keep working hard to stay there for as long as possible.”