Lucy Higham has delivered a glowing review of The Blaze’s strength in depth ahead of the return of Metro Bank One Day Cup action against Warwickshire at Lindum Cricket Club.

Higham, who has only recently returned from a lengthy injury lay-off, says that the competition for places within The Blaze’s squad will only serve to benefit the team as a whole.

“it's pretty competitive, so we've got to make sure we're all putting everything into training to be able to get ourselves in the starting eleven at the minute,” she said.

“But, I think that's what you want, a competitive team. I think we've got a lot of depth and a lot of different options.

“Getting in the team is one thing, [but] then when you're on the pitch, [you have to] execute your skills, while knowing you've got a good group around you to help you do that.”

Higham is in line for her first 50-over appearance of the summer, having been named in a 14-strong squad to take on the Bears in Lincoln tomorrow (24 July) from 10:30am.

The quality of The Blaze’s playing group can hardly be questioned, either, with a Vitality Blast Finals Day appearance secured, and a current third-place spot in the One Day Cup table.

While Higham believes that the transition between formats can be difficult on a playing level, on a more holistic one, the success of the T20 campaign can fuel the fire for the other format.

“I think it's pretty tough,” she said, when asked about the challenges posed by the format switching with the Blast’s Kia Oval showpiece a matter of days away.

“Obviously, we know it's a big game on Thursday as well, with how we're lining up in the 50-over competition.

“So, it's full focus on that, and then [we] switch back around to full focus on Finals Day on Sunday, and get back in the game with that one.

“I think T20 in particular is a massive game of momentum, so, when you can kind of carry your momentum all the way through, it's pretty helpful.

“So, I think a win on Thursday will definitely help us carry good momentum into Sunday - and obviously we're playing the Bears twice, so a nice little warm-up!”

The fact that Higham alludes to, with The Blaze facing Bears in Sunday’s eliminator also, does bring with it some quirks, as she admits, but for the squad, the focus is primarily on themselves.

“It's a weird one,” she admits. “I guess your preparation looks slightly different with regards to your plans for 50-over and for T20 cricket, but I think we know the Bears girls pretty well.

“We'll have to be pretty clear and concise about how we're going about it, and obviously we're playing at Lindum on Thursday, [which] probably could be a very different conditions to what we face at the Oval.”

So yeah, it's going to be about adapting as quickly as possible, and I think whoever adapts best to conditions often comes out on top!”

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