Leicestershire Preview: Rapids search for romance of the cup

Metro Bank One Day Cup: Leicestershire Foxes Women v Worcestershire Women’s Rapids

Venue: Uptonsteel Grace Road, Leicester

Date: Sunday 17th May, 2026

Scheduled start time: 2:30pm

Match preview sponsored by MSN Pharmacy Group.

Ed Wilson and his Worcestershire Women’s Rapids side will be eyeing a return to winning ways against Leicestershire Foxes this Sunday as the squad looks to continue their quest for County Cup glory.  

With memories of the dominant 121-run win over Northumberland in round one still fresh in the mind, a mouth-watering home meeting with Tier 1 side Surrey awaits the victors, offering ample motivation for the Rapids to re-find their winning touch.  

Having claimed her maiden half-century for the Club in round one, Sanya Khurana will be hoping to emulate her fine form, which saw her top-score with 42 for the Rapids last Sunday against Middlesex.  

Daisy Egerton was another who had a memorable day at Himley, recording figures of 3-8 on an eye-catching debut as the Rapids bowlers tore through Northumberland’s batting card.  

The young seamer was also responsible for the pivotal wicket of Francesca Sweet as the Rapids faced off against this Sunday’s opponents, Leicestershire Foxes, a fortnight ago, as her side emerged 13-run winners in what was their first 50-over triumph of the season.  

Meg Bishop was another who  enjoyed a day to remember at Flagge Meadow. Pitching in with three wickets, the all-rounder also claimed her first fifty for the Club, as part of a match-winning 150-run partnership with Sophie Beech.  

Due to ECB regulations, the Rapids will have to face the Foxes without the loan trio of Sophie Beech, Bryony Gillgrass and Phoebe Brett.   

Sunday’s trip to Uptonsteel Grace Road provides a great opportunity for his ever-developing Rapid’s team, according to Head Coach Ed Wilson, as he looks forward to the exciting return of T20 action.  

“We’re really excited, we’ve made a big shift over the winter in how we approach our T20 cricket, and we started to see signs of that against Northumberland in the last round.  

“We batted first and posted 160 in that game, so we’re hoping to take that forward to Leicester.  

“We’ve got about six weeks of T20 cricket now, so we’ve got a chance to really throw ourselves into that format.”  

Having already bettered their 2025 run in the competition,  the Rapids’ Head Coach is calling on his batters to drive the side forward, after struggling to impose themselves against a professional and clinical Middlesex outfit last Sunday.  

Everyone involved in the Rapids set-up will be hoping that the squad can emulate the early-season success of Clare Boycott and Sanya Khurana, who both recorded first-round half-centuries.   

“We have spoken a lot about last season, where we generally had a lot of players that would score 20 off 20 balls, and we’d go on to make 120, which probably isn’t enough in today’s game.  

“So we’re looking to get up to 150 or 160 and be competitive, which means we need somebody to go and get a 50 at more than a run a ball, and Sanya did that in the first game.  

“The challenge we have laid down to the girls after Middlesex at the weekend was, can we get somebody to do that every game for us?”  

Worcestershire are more than aware of the threats posed by this weekend’s opponents, having squared off with Leicestershire in the early forays of 2026, on top of three meetings across all formats last summer.  

Wilson is wary of the all too familiar Foxes.  

“Leicestershire are a good side.  

“We don’t know who they’ll have available due to it being the County Cup and some of the loan players not being available, but we’ve played them quite a bit over the last two years. Last season in the Blast, we won one and lost one.  

“We play them Sunday and then again on Friday, so by then we’ll be pretty familiar with each other.  

“In Tier 2, you can’t relax as everyone is improving year on year, so we’ve just got to play to our strengths.”  

For the Head Coach, the focus is clear ahead of Sunday’s winner-takes-all contest, where a competitive score is the first hurdle the side must clear if they are going to progress in the County Cup’s third round, where a seismic clash with Tier One giants Surrey awaits.  

“I think the key for us is batting and asking ourselves if we can be a bit braver with our batting and not worry as much about getting out.  

“So we are just trying to encourage the girls to play a bit braver and freer in order to try and score more than 120 to be competitive.  

“If you score 140 or 150 and you lose to the better side, then you hold your hands up and say fair play.  

“Surrey are Tier 1 opposition, which is a nice little carrot for both teams, so I am sure they’ll be as up for it as we are.  

“We’ve just got to take it one game at a time and need to take care of Sunday first.”  

Leicestershire Foxes Women

Having eased past Shropshire back in April to progress into the second round of the County Cup, the Foxes will be striding into Sunday full of confidence, having secured a five-wicket victory against Gloucestershire last Sunday at Uptonsteel Grace Road.  

Key to Sunday’s success were bowlers Faith Teekasingh and Ellie Phillips, both returning three wickets apiece. The Rapids will be all too familiar with the latter, especially as the all-rounder claimed a fifer as the two sides met earlier this month in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.  

The Foxes had two pivotal middle order knocks from Ellen Watson (44*) and Caitlin Chissell (46*) to thank as the pair came together for a vital 100-run partnership.   

The hosts will be without star batter Francesca Sweet for Sunday’s showdown, however, with her loan deal making her cup-tied.