Grace Ballinger admitted her Blaze side were under par as they succumbed to a 107-run defeat to South East Stars, but remained positive as her side secured qualification through to at least the Eliminator of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.

The 20-year-old claimed figures of 4-54 from 10 overs, having claimed two wickets in her opening set.

But the Stars regained control through Alice Davidson-Richards’ ton and a smattering of supporting acts as the hosts posted 278 before bowling the Blaze out for 171.

“It was a disappointing result,” Ballinger said, “Ultimately, we underperformed in all three areas.

“We got off to a decent start, but they managed to get a good partnership, Davidson-Richards batted extremely well along with Paige Scholfield.

“I was pleased to get those early wickets, it’s always good as an opening bowler as that’s what you’re there to do effectively, so that was definitely rewarding.

“But we didn’t quite manage to push on from that start - we we’re a bit off it in those middle overs and unfortunately that’s what cost us the game.

“We’ve spoken about it now and there’s lots of things we need to work on. We know we’re not going to have a perfect performance for every game, so hopefully we’ve got that out of our system before finals.”

With two games remaining, The Blaze – who are currently in top spot in the table – sit five points ahead of the stars with a superior net run rate.

The Trent Bridge-based outfit are, therefore, within one win of passage straight through to the Rachael Heyhoe Flint final if results elsewhere go their way.

“Something that’s really important to touch on is how well we’ve performed as a team this year,” Ballinger said.

“I think with the 50-over competition being so long it will be the team that plays the best who finish top of the table.

“I think that’s really important to know that we’ve performed the best throughout the season and that’ll be a really big confidence booster to take into the finals.”

Ballinger also acknowledged the importance of embracing new members to the starting XI, with Nat Sciver-Brunt, Tammy Beaumont, Sarah Glenn and the Bryce sisters all on international duty.

“It was a difficult situation, when there’s that scoreboard pressure, it affects any batter that goes out there and that’s made all the more difficult for girls who have maybe not had the game time they might have hoped for this year," she said.

“That being said, it was really good to see the likes of Kirstie Gordon going in to bat. She’s batted so well this year and helped us win the last game against Central Sparks so its nice to see girls in different positions and taking on different roles.

“It’s exciting to see people step up and it obviously takes some getting used to with a lot of our top order gone.”