They might have finished the County Championship bottom of Division 1, but Warwickshire (AKA Birmingham Bears) have made a cracking start to the T20 season – going top with wins over Surrey and Wales at their home Edgbaston Foundation Ground – skipper Marie Kelly hitting 68* off 43 balls to overhaul 133 against Surrey; and Bethan Ellis taking 4-21 to bowl out Wales for 116 as they chased the Bears’ 133-9.

Hampshire also got a pair of wins on the board – Fi Morris top-scoring with 33 and then taking 3-9 to defeat Sussex; while Maia Bouchier also top-scored with 33 to win a rain-reduced 9-over slogathon versus defending champions Middlesex; Middlesex having earlier picked up a win against Sussex, thanks to a half-century from Cordelia Griffith.

Lancashire made a good start to the season – beating county champs Kent in a low-scoring encounter, with Eve Jones hitting 37, after Laura Jackson had ripped through Kent’s top order taking 3-9 opening the bowling; but Lancashire were then robbed twice of the chance to build on their win – first by the weather, which saw their game against Notts abandoned, and then by the points system which gives them only a single point for their troubles, despite it being 4 points for a win.

Meanwhile in Div 2, Scotland made the early running with wins over Derbyshire and Cheshire, as opening bat Sarah Bryce, back in tartan after spending the 50-over season with Notts, followed up a match-winning 47 against Derbyshire, with a 64-ball century to defeat Cheshire.