The Blaze’s securing of a home semi-final, and the manner in which they did so, is a source of great confidence for the whole team, according to Marie Kelly.

“We’re really excited, and especially for a home semi-final too. Last year, we didn’t have that, so having it at home is really important to help us get a bit of momentum,” said Kelly.

“We’ve played some really good cricket this year, so we’re all excited to be back at Trent Bridge and try and get into the final!”

Kelly is named in a 14-strong group to face the Red Rose, with a place in Sunday’s final, at Utilita Bowl, at stake.

For Kelly, having the last-four clash at home, and in front of the partisan Trent Bridge crowd to boot, is a huge bonus as The Blaze bid to make the Southampton showpiece.

“We spoke about the advantages of having the semi-final at home,” explained the 29-year-old.

“It would have been easy, in the latter group games, to take our foot off the gas and be happy with either second or third.”

“That wasn’t what we wanted, though; we really wanted to finish strongly and it’s all about momentum in competitions like this.

“The fact that we were able to put everything together and secure that home semi-final, with a home crowd too, gives us that advantage.”

The Blaze do head into the last four in good form since the resumption of the county game following The Hundred’s conclusion at the end of August.

Craig Cumming’s side secured three successive victories to end the group stage, as they finished level on points with table-toppers Hampshire.

Kelly is thrilled with how the group, despite being apart for four weeks during August, have gelled back together to finish the summer strongly.

“I think we all missed each other during The Hundred, which is a good sign of how close we are as a group!” she smiled.

“It’s been pretty seamless coming back, and people have had varying levels of success and game time in August, but it’s nice to have the group back together.

“We’re all re-energised from being back together, which is a good place to be in going into the last block of 50-over games.”

A hallmark of The Blaze’s season, which has seen them also reach Finals Day in both T20 competitions in 2025, has been the contributions from players across the board.

That is a fact that Kelly is eager to point out, and one which she says is a source of great confidence, as the crunch time of the season arrives.

“We’ve spoken about the fact that lots of people are contributing in our team meetings, that everyone at some point in this competition has put their hand up,” she said.

“That’s the sign of a really good team, but now it’s finals time, everyone wants to show that again to get us through to the final and hopefully take home the trophy!”

However, something of another hallmark has been a difficulty in obtaining results against Lancashire, with two 50-over defeats against the Red Rose in the early months of the summer.

Kelly, though, is unperturbed by the record, instead viewing it as a challenge that needs scaling, and is confident of securing a win when it matters most.

“They’ve given us a bit of a challenge in our games against them so far this year, so there’s a bit of a wrong to put right there!” she affirmed.

“But, we’ve got the momentum behind us with the performances that we’ve put in and the fact that everyone has stood up at some point, so that stands us in really good stead.”

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