Southern Stars skipper Meg “Megastar” Lanning will miss the entire Australian season, including the Women’s Ashes this October/ November, after having undergone an operation on her right shoulder.

The shoulder troubled Lanning throughout the recent World Cup, and it was clearly only a matter when, not if, she had the surgery.

Team physio Kate Mahony said:

“Meg underwent surgery earlier this week and we expect that she will require a long rehabilitation period of 6-8 months.”

It will be interesting to see who captain’s Australia during the Ashes – Alex Blackwell, the official vice-captain, was overlooked when Lanning sat out of a couple of games at the World Cup, in favour of Rachael Haynes, even though Haynes can’t hold a place in the side on merit – the only matches she played were the ones she captained.

Coach Matthew Mott said at the time that Haynes was “a captain of the future” but she is 30 – 5 years older than Lanning – so that would presumably be a future where Cricket Australia have invented a time machine!

The more prosaic truth seems to be that Blackwell has fallen out of favour and Mott didn’t want to create a “line of succession” or cause ill-feeling between the younger players by nominating one over another; but that might now be a call circumstances will force him to take.

Martin Saxon reports

Surrey Stars comfortably made it two wins from two, and look in fine shape going into the business end of the Kia Super League competition. Lancashire Thunder however will almost certainly need to win all three remaining matches to reach Finals Day after collapsing to a second defeat.

Many observers had tipped the Thunder for bigger things this year. However, most of their elite players are bowlers once again – Sophie Ecclestone, Danni Hazell, Kate Cross and Lea Tahuhu. Jess Jonassen is of course a more than capable batsman, but may not score fast enough for T20, leaving Sarah Taylor and Amy Satterthwaite to shoulder a large burden.

The Stars meanwhile look much more solid, with an experienced bowling attack complementing a powerful top four of Tammy Beaumont, Lizelle Lee, Marizanne Kapp and Nat Sciver.

Indeed, the period when Taylor and Satterthwaite were batting together was the only stage at which a home victory looked likely. Taylor in particular looked in fine form, but her wish to play a shot off every ball ultimately proved her downfall. At this stage, the required rate did not call for all-out attack, but after striking the first ball of a Rene Farrell over for four, Taylor still felt the need to play the ramp shot to the second delivery, and duly perished for 34 in doing so.

From 75-2 and 86-3, the Thunder’s collapse to 100 all out was a sorry tale indeed, and in no way could it be described as a good advert for elite women’s cricket. Farrell finished with 5-26, Laura Marsh with 2-12 and Alex Hartley 2-25. There was a fine catch by Lee during the collapse, then an even better take from Farrell off her own bowling to wrap things up.

The Stars had already posted a total of 133, thanks to a glut of runs early and late in the innings. Beaumont looked in ominous form as she led the way in her side scoring 50 in the six-over powerplay. Having the ‘fastest bowler in women’s cricket’ is proving more of a curse than a blessing for Thunder, for whom Tahuhu was once again wayward and expensive.

Although Ecclestone conceded only two in the seventh over, and picked up a wicket, this meant that Sciver joined Beaumont at the crease – a powerful combination by any measure. However, Beaumont was duly dismissed by Hazell for 36 in the next over. This heralded a period when the Thunder were on top, with the run rate for the period between the 7th and 16th overs barely rising above four. For all their weaknesses in other areas, the Thunder undoubtedly have a fine spin attack, with Hazell finishing with figures of 2-16 and Ecclestone a return of 1-19.

However, all that changed when the run rate increased to ten per over for the final four overs, as Sciver (40*) and Sophia Dunkley (24*) pressed the accelerator. Their efforts were more than enough to take the game away from the home side.

Emerging players watch

Dunkley played a vital role in the Stars’ acceleration in the closing overs. Evelyn Jones made 26 from 28 deliveries, with five fours, opening up for the Thunder, playing some genuinely good cricket shots rather than the usual T20 mix of big hitting and improvisation. Less positively, every bowler used in this match was already a fully capped international.

In light of this match, I am aware that comments have already been made about this issue on this site. Some players must know going into the match that they won’t be bowling, and will only be batting if their side lose a lot of wickets – this probably applied to Natasha Miles on the Thunder side and Grace Gibbs and Hannah Jones for the Stars. Quite apart from the issue of it being disheartening for the players themselves, it’s also far from ideal for their family and friends, who may have travelled significant distances and taken time off work to watch their loved ones in what should be ‘the biggest game of their lives’.

In this respect, having six teams leaves us somewhere between a rock and a hard place. Either you reduce the teams to four, and make it more of an elite competition that better showcases women’s cricket; or you have eight or nine teams, cut the England and overseas representation in each squad to two and force teams to make more use of some of their non-international players. Only in the latter case could the Super League really be said to be ‘bridging the gap’.

The match experience

Inevitably, when the match began at 2.30, a small crowd was scattered around the cavernous Old Trafford arena – all part of the trade-off that is apparently necessary to get these matches on television. Regular watchers of Lancashire CCC did comment however that the ground looked fuller than for many weekday men’s county championship fixtures.

The 90-minute gap between the women’s and men’s matches seemed almost interminable.

An on-field interview with Taylor and Hazell was broadcast on the big screen just before the men’s match commenced, and the pair did show off the World Cup trophy during that item. However, surely a trick was missed by not allowing the two players to do a full lap of the ground with the trophy?

@MartinSaxon

Jake Perry reports

Scotland’s place at the ICC Women’s World T20 Global Qualifier was confirmed as heavy rain thwarted hopes of completing the first round of matches at the Europe/Americas Qualifier in Stirling. Having beaten USA for their second win of the tournament on Wednesday morning, the cancellation of USA v Netherlands in the afternoon meant that with four points already secured and two spots in the next phase available Abbi Aitken’s side could finish in second place at worst.

Whilst the news rubber-stamped what had already appeared inevitable thanks to two clinical performances from the Scots the returning rain was the last thing that their opponents needed to see. After both had struggled against the hosts their two games against each other were likely to prove decisive, and now, unless an extra gear or two can be found for the second round, the destination of the remaining qualification berth is likely to rest on the outcome of a single match as Netherlands and USA finally get to play each other on Thursday afternoon.

In their matches against Scotland both sides had been left to rue below-par performances in the first inings. The Netherlands, having been put in to bat in the opening match, struggled to pierce the field in the early stages and relied on Heather Siegers and Helmein Rambaldo at four and five to get them up to a reasonable total. Without boundaries at the top of the order, however, the Dutch were always swimming against the tide, and Lorna Jack and Kathryn Bryce quickly batted them out of the game when Scotland replied.

The USA top order struggled against Scotland’s bowlers, too, and after posting only 19 in the Powerplay the Americans looked to captain Sindhu Sriharsha and half-centurion Shebani Bhaskar to get them out of trouble. The tactical inexperience of USA was to prove telling too, however. Sriharsha’s decision to come in at four, sending Onika Wallerson in at three, was intended to give the big-hitting Wallerson an opportunity to kick-start the innings, but when in practice the opposite happened as Wallerson alternated scampered singles with swings-and-misses, 28 deliveries had been consumed for her 11. By the time Sriharsha replaced her thirteen overs had passed by with only 48 runs to show for it, and although she and Bhaskar fought well, the damage had already been done.

Once again it was the performance of the Scotland openers that showed the way as Jack and Bryce looked to manoeuvre the ball into gaps rather than go for the all-or-nothing hoo-hah, and with loose deliveries to punish, too, the platform they built put the game beyond the reach of their opponents.

But for all that it is the Netherlands who are nursing perhaps the biggest headache of all. Whilst Tuesday’s performance with the bat had been mixed, with the ball it had been little short of disastrous. Siegers was to go through eight bowlers as with a string of full tosses, long hops and leg-side freebies the very definition of buffet bowling was served.

With so few runs to defend the game quickly slipped away as Scotland duly feasted, and, whatever else may happen in the remainder of the tournament, against a USA side keen to impress the Netherlands cannot afford such generosity a second time.

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Jake Perry writes on Scottish cricket for Cricket Scotland and CricketEurope and is a regular contributor to HoldingWilley.

Twitter: @jperry_cricket / Facebook: Jake Perry Cricket

Stars bt. Thunder by 33 runs

First We Take Manhattan

The 5-Over Manhattan shows where the game was won and lost. The Stars had the better of the powerplay, but the Thunder really pulled it back and were actually ahead after 15 overs – 91 to 86 – but the scoreboard pressure created by the Stars’ big final quarter really told, and the Thunder ended up bowled-out as they tried to chase the runs.

Sophia Dunkley

The Stars big final quarter was very-much down to Sophia Dunkley, who hit 24 off 17 balls, ensuring that Nat Sciver – 40 off 36 at the other end – didn’t have to farm the strike. Dunkley and Sciver between them made every ball count, turning a par effort into a good score by running hard between the wickets – the vast majority of the runs in their 54-run partnership coming in 1s and 2s.

Rene Farrell

Perhaps it was appropriate that it was in Bullseye host Jim Bowen’s native Lancashire that Rene Farrell held up a big sign to the Australian selectors echoing his famous catchphrase: “Look at what you could have won!” Her 5fer showed just what Australia were missing during the World Cup; and how much they could have done with her being in England a month earlier!

Grace Gibbs

Is Grace Gibbs on course to be this year’s Cait O’Keefe ? O’Keefe played every game for the Western Storm last season, but didn’t bat or bowl; and Gibbs is currently on-course to repeat the feat this year! The serious point, however, is that this is one problem with having a competition so densely-packed with superstars – the new talent hardly gets a look-in sometimes, and it feels a bit unfair; though it is difficult to see what to do about it, short of a playing condition requiring players to either bowl or bat in the top 5? (Answers on a postcard, if you’ve got a better idea!)

Scotland 111-1 (L Jack 46*, S Ramautar 1 for 18) beat USA 110-2 (S Bhaskar 51*, KE Bryce 1 for 10) by 9 wickets

Jake Perry reports

Scotland’s women made it two wins out of two with a comfortable victory over USA in the second match of the ICC Women’s World T20 Europe/Americas Qualifier. In overcast conditions in Stirling another excellent performance with both bat and ball sealed a nine-wicket win for the tournament hosts with sixteen balls to spare.

After Scotland’s top order had made light work of their chase against the Netherlands the previous afternoon USA captain Sindhu Sriharsha’s decision to bat was a bold one, but openers Nadia Gruny and Shebani Bhaskar found it difficult to get their side’s innings off the ground in the face of accurate bowling from Katie McGill and Kathryn Bryce. The fourth over was add further problems, too, as the dangerous Gruny (7), having survived a confident shout for LBW in Bryce’s first over, was trapped in front by the final ball of her second.

Bryce was finding conditions much to her liking, swinging the ball prodigiously as both batsmen struggled to time the ball, and with USA at 19-1 at the end of the Powerplay scoreboard pressure started to tell in a series of swipes and misses as Bhaskar and Onika Wallerson attempted to break the shackles. Too few boundaries, however, were taking their toll.

The introduction of spin tightened things still further and the leg-spin of Abatha Maqood soon brought the second wicket as Wallerson (11) skied the ball to Priyanaz Chatterji at mid-on. New batsman Sriharsha (31*) made her intention plain with a confident pull for four, however, and with Bhaskar finding the rope with more consistency, too, the scoring began to pick up at last as the two added fifty together in rapid time.

Bhaskar (51*) brought up a good half-century as the visitors posted 110-2 at the end of their twenty overs. The third wicket pair’s careful placement and sharp running had shown what might have been, but USA’s slow progress at the top of the innings had left Scotland very much in control of the game.

Having played the supporting role to Lorna Jack’s half century against the Dutch, Kathryn Bryce immediately looked in fine touch as Scotland made a confident start to the chase. Light rain at the back end of the USA innings had continued into the beginning of the next, and the twenty year-old all-rounder unfurled a series of good-looking shots as Scotland quickly got ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis requirement. Jack was soon into her stride again, too, cutting Samantha Ramautar’s first ball for four as Scotland posted 40 in the Powerplay.

Both openers looked untroubled as they manoeuvred the ball to rotate the strike, and with inconsistent bowling finding its way to the boundary, too, USA’s total was put further into context. Despite Kathryn Bryce (37) falling within sight of the line, Jack (46*) and Sarah Bryce (7*) saw Scotland home at the beginning of the 18th over.

“The team is feeling really good,” said Kathryn Bryce. “Obviously it is tough having to sit around for a couple of days in the rain but it’s good to get out and play some good cricket.”

“The pitch is playing pretty well, it’s coming on quite nicely. If the bowler gets it into a good area it’s tough to get away, though, so [with the ball] I was looking to get as many balls into that area as I could.”

“We’re hoping to continue [our form] on into the next couple of games,” added Bryce. “To win [both games] with just a few wickets down is really good.”

It was another clinical victory for a Scotland side who have yet to be tested in the tournament, and with two spots at the ICC World Qualifier now up for grabs after the revamp of the regional event Steve Knox’s side will be confident that they have already gone a long way toward securing their berth in the next stage of the competition.

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Jake Perry writes on Scottish cricket for Cricket Scotland and CricketEurope and is a regular contributor to HoldingWilley.

Twitter: @jperry_cricket / Facebook: Jake Perry Cricket

Scotland 113-3 (L Jack 60, R Rijke 1 for 15) beat Netherlands 112-5 (HW Rambaldo 32*, LI Wilkinson 2 for 18) by 7 wickets

Jake Perry reports

After heavy rain put paid to the attempt to complete the opening cycle of matches at the ICC Women’s World T20 Europe/Americas Qualifier on time, Scotland recorded a comprehensive seven-wicket victory in their rearranged match with the Netherlands at New Williamfield. A magnificent half century from Lorna Jack anchored a comfortable chase for the tournament hosts as they secured victory with more than four overs to spare.

With residual moisture still affecting the outfield the Netherlands openers found runs hard to come by as they struggled to pierce the field, and Scotland’s decision to bowl first was further rewarded by Sarah Bryce’s sharp stumping of Stere Kalis (3) in the third over off the bowling of Katie McGill.

Dot balls from Kathryn Bryce, Priyanaz Chatterji and Samantha Haggo kept up the pressure on the visitors and when Haggo claimed the wicket of Babette de Leede (19), caught at point by Lois Wilkinson, the Netherlands found themselves in deep trouble at 39-2 after ten overs.

Wilkinson was soon in on the act with ball in hand, too, as Cher van Slobbe (22) edged behind to crown a wicket maiden, and although the incoming Heather Siegers (25) looked to counter-attack she was also to fall to the off-spinner, bowled by the last ball of Wilkinson’s final over.

The Dutch skipper’s cameo had at least succeeded in raising the tempo of her side’s innings, but despite Helmein Rambaldo (32*) picking up the mantle with some late boundaries of her own the Netherlands final total of 112-5 looked below par.

Just how much so became quickly apparent as Scotland openers Kathryn Bryce and Lorna Jack punished some wayward Dutch bowling to plunder 33 from the first four overs. The experienced pair made their intent clear from the outset, working the ball fluently around the wicket to push the Netherlands further and further out of the game, and although Bryce (21) was to fall lbw to Robine Rijke in the ninth over their partnership of 72 had put Scotland firmly in control.

Jack, playing on her home ground, repeatedly found the boundary with cuts and sweeps on her way to bringing up a 40-ball half-century in the twelfth over. It had been a terrific innings full of character and aggression, and although Leonie Bennett was to have the final word as Jack departed in the fifteenth, the inevitable was by then only five runs away.

“That was my first ever fifty for Scotland Women and it was a great time for it to happen,” said a delighted Jack.

“Kathryn and I got off to a really good start, we just looked to pick the gaps and hit a few boundaries where we could, and I’m just really proud to have helped the team over the line.”

“We knew that if two of the top five could make it into the twenties then push on we had every chance,” she continued.

“But we bat to number eleven, so even if I hadn’t done it today I would have backed the girls all the way.”

The tournament now moves into the reserve day, with USA playing Scotland then the Netherlands tomorrow (Wednesday) to complete the first cycle of matches in the double round-robin format.

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Jake Perry writes on Scottish cricket for Cricket Scotland and CricketEurope and is a regular contributor to HoldingWilley.

Twitter: @jperry_cricket / Facebook: Jake Perry Cricket

Vipers bt. Lightning by 46 runs

Suzie Bates

If anyone was still wondering where we got the crazy idea that New Zealand were going to win the World Cup, we present Exhibit A: Suzie Bates in imperious form once again, taking her second consecutive Player of the Match award of the tournament. Her 119 is the highest score ever made in a “pro” domestic T20, beating the previous record 103 held jointly by Sophie Devine (in WBBL02) and Grace Harris (in WBBL01). She then went on to take 3 wickets for 15 as the Lightning were bowled out off the final ball, with the (admittedly massive) target still a distant speck on the horizon.

Sarah Glenn

The 18-year-old was perhaps a surprise selection, given that Marie Kelly had acquitted herself pretty well on her debut v the Storm. Glenn has made a few runs for Derbyshire over the past couple of seasons in Div 2/3, but nothing to write home about; so it was fantastic to see her jump feet-first into the KSL with 25 off 21 balls.

“That” Run Out

Elyse Villani was given run out at the non-strikers end off Tash Farrant’s fingertip on the follow-through, but… did she or didn’t she? The ball certainly appeared to deviate on the replay from the umpire-cam; but the view from the other end looked a lot less conclusive. Obviously Farrant felt she had got a hand on it, but you’ll “feel” a ball travelling at that speed even if you don’t quite touch it. My impression is that she probably did make contact, though others will disagree; but the really interesting question is whether she meant to? If you are the Vipers, it was smart work… if you are the Lightning, Villani was unlucky – you pays your money and you takes your choice I guess!

That “Other” Run Out

There was no doubt about the other run out Farrant effected though – that of Ellyse Perry. Georgia Adams will get the credit on the scorecard, but the ball was missing until Farrant (standing in front of the stumps, as the England players are coached to do) gathered it and diverted it on in a single, brilliant movement. That is where all those hours of fielding drills make the difference for the pros – first judging that it was indeed going to miss, and then executing the move to change the course of the ball without losing anything but a fraction of its speed. Suzie Bates or no Suzie Bates, it was the Play of the Day for me!

Storm bt. Lightning by 5 wickets, with 5 balls remaining

Stafanie Taylor – 1…

If yesterday belonged to the journeymen, today belonged to one of the superstars – Stafanie Taylor looked like she was playing on a different pitch to everyone else. Having already run out Ellyse Perry (of whom more later) she then took the wickets of Elwiss, Odedra and Brookes in one over, to break the back of the Lightning innings, finishing with figures of 4-5. She then went on to top-score with 34 off 32 balls, as the Storm made slightly hard work of the chase to win with 5 balls to spare.

… Ellyse Perry – 0

The Lighting got off to a good start, but that was mostly down to Amy Jones, with 21 off 13 balls. At the other end, Ellyse Perry made four more runs (25) but they took her fifteen more balls! She then took 0-17 with the ball, at an economy rate of 5.36. She wasn’t awful, but if anyone paid their money today to see Ellyse Perry the World-Beating Superstar… they would have left a bit disappointed!

Marie Kelly

Kelly entered the fray on her KSL debut in an awful situation. Lightning had just collapsed to 59-5 – there wasn’t much batting to come, and there were still 10 overs left. She had to do one thing, and one thing only: stay there! And that she did – it cost balls (at one point she was 1 off 10) but it had to be done. Then, things having finally settled down, she began to push the boat out, finishing with 18 off 30 – i.e. 17 off 20 in the second “half” of her innings. Job done, as they say!

Freya Davies

Before the tournament began, Heather Knight was talking up Davies new slower ball, which we saw rolled-out* today. She ended up with just the one wicket (though it was the big one of Amy Jones) but more importantly in the T20 game a very good economy rate of 4.25, including 13 dots – bearing in mind 3 of her overs were bowled to Jones and Perry in the PowerPlay, that’s a pretty good return.

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* Rolled-out… as in rolled-out the back of her hand!!! No??? Oh… well I thought it was good, but never mind – I won’t roll that joke out again!!