It’s the 2021 RHF Trophy final – the defending champions are chasing a modest total, but wickets have been falling and Emily Windsor walks to the crease knowing two things: 1) there isn’t much batting to come; but 2) if she can just stay there, she’ll win the game.

And she does.

A year later… a different team, and a different competition… it’s the 2022 Hundred final – the defending champions are chasing a modest total, but wickets have been falling and Emily Windsor walks to the crease knowing two things: 1) there isn’t much batting to come; but 2) if she can just stay there, she’ll win the game.

And she does.

Marizanne Kapp will of course rightly get the plaudits for winning this game – her second successive Player of the Match performance in the final – but she couldn’t have done it without Windsor keeping her company at the end.

Though Windsor had played 3 group-stage matches in the lead-up to the final, such has been the strength of Invincibles’ batting that this was her first visit to the crease in this year’s tournament. In front of 20,000 people at Lords and hundreds of thousands watching on tv around the world, she could have been overawed by the occasion; and honestly, if she’d got out playing a rash shot… or even no shot at all… no one would have blamed her. But when it really mattered, as she’d done for Vipers in that RHF Trophy final a year before, she stood up tall (well… tall-ish – it is Emily Windsor we’re talking about!) and proud.

Brave found themselves on the losing side once more, but unlike last year there was no dramatic collapse with the bat – they just never really got going. The top 4 – Smriti Mandhana, Danni Wyatt, Sophia Dunkley and Tahlia McGrath – all got starts; all made it to double-figures, but none could push on. Dunkley’s 26 off 23 was as good as it got, as Brave struggled to get out of second gear, maintaining a strike rate of around 100, but never getting to the position where they could start to motor before they lost another wicket.

On 83-3 at the three-quarter mark, they were in a position to strike out towards 125/130, but instead they slumped – losing 4 wickets and hitting just 18 runs at the death.

It didn’t feel like a batting performance that deserved to win the competition; but a good show with the ball could still have got them back into contention. However, Lauren Bell and Anya Shrubsole struggled to make the new ball swing; and though Lauren Winfield-Hill was stumped playing for swing-that-wasn’t, Invincibles made it through the rest of the powerplay otherwise unscathed, with Capsey looking box-office again on 22 off 13 balls.

The wickets of Capsey and Bates falling in quick succession started to make it look interesting again but Kapp asserted herself on the situation, and it was soon clear that if somebody… anybody… stayed with her, Invincibles were going to win the game. Emily Windsor was that somebody; and 40 minutes later, Invincbles were making their way onto the podium once again – champions, and deservedly so.

Perhaps the most unique tweak to the laws of cricket introduced in The Hundred is the change which allows a bowler to deliver two consecutive overs – or “sets” as we are being encouraged to call them, though the playing conditions still say “overs”.

We’ve now had (nearly) two full seasons of The Hundred, so how’s that been working out? We analysed 56 matches across both seasons (all the games for which Ball By Ball data is available thanks to cricsheet.org) to take a look.

How often are consecutive sets used?

Consecutive sets have been bowled 114 times – 69 times in 2021 (including 4 times in the very first innings of the very first game) and 45 times in 2022; so the first point of interest is that it is a tactic which teams have used a fair bit less in the second season – and overall about once per innings in 2022.

Who is bowling them?

Two teams in particular have used consecutive sets dramatically less this year – Invincibles used it 17 times in 2021, and 9 times in 2022; while Brave used it 10 times in 2021, and just once in 2022*.

Trent Rockets were the only team to use them more in 2022, having used the tactic 10 times in 2021 and 11 times in 2022.

In terms of individual bowlers, it has been fairly evenly distributed – 54 different bowlers have bowled consecutive sets, with Amanda Jade Wellington and Dane van Niekerk topping the list, each having bowled 6, with Mady Villiers just behind with 5.

When are they bowling them?

In terms of phases of the game, 34% of consecutive sets are bowled at least partly in the powerplay (30% wholly within it) while just 15% are bowled in the death (last 5) overs.

82% of consecutive sets are bowled at the same end, perhaps unsurprisingly as it is seen as disruptive to a bowler’s concentration to change ends.

Why do consecutive sets get used?

While we can obviously never know exactly what was going through the captain’s mind, we can infer something about why the tactic was used from the data.

83% of second sets follow either a wicket or a strike rate of less than 75 in the first set – 58% following a wicket, and 65% following a strike rate of less than 75. (In 40% it is both!)

How successful are consecutive sets?

Of the 66 occasions when consecutive sets were used following a wicket, only 12 (18%) were followed by another wicket, so it is pretty clear-cut that consecutive sets don’t buy additional wickets.

What about runs? Of the 74 occasions when consecutive sets followed a strike rate of less than 75 in the first set, the strike rate almost always (91%) went up in the second set; while overall across all second sets, the average strike rate of 62 for a first set almost doubled to 116 for the second.

Perhaps even more significantly, in over half of cases (57%) the strike rate in the second set exceeded that of the innings as a whole. So consecutive sets don’t really appear to buy runs (or rather, lack of runs) either.

Does this mean they “don’t work” though? Not necessarily – an over with a wicket is always likely to be followed by one without, regardless of who bowls it; and the same applies to an over with a low strike rate – we can never know what another bowler might have achieved in the same situation.

As to whether they have been a successful innovation for the game as a whole, the jury is still out. Perhaps the most significant objection is that they are simply “not cricket” – flying in the face of the game’s long-standing traditions; but on the other hand, bowling restrictions are pretty arbitrary anyway (who decided a bowler should only be able to bowl 20% of the balls in a one-day match, while a single batter could technically face all of them?) so why not change things up occasionally?

The likelihood remains though that ultimately this tweak to the laws will fall by the wayside, like “supersubs” in ODIs. (Remember them? They weren’t “just” subs, they were supersubs!!) After all, at the end of the day… if bowlers bowling consecutive overs from the same end is what really floats your boat… perhaps you are just watching the wrong bat’n’ball game!

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* The data analysed does not include the 2022 eliminator, where Brave nearly came to grief after a dramatic final over second set was hit for 21 by Nat Sciver.

In what is surely the most thrilling match in the short history of the Women’s Hundred, Nat Sciver took Trent Rockets to within touching distance of a shock win against Southern Brave, before falling just short off the last ball.

Rockets had looked dead and buried with 24 runs needed off the final five balls; but with Tahlia McGrath tasked with bowling the set, Sciver smashed her for three consecutive sixes over the leg side – two of which went several rows back into the crowd, making a mockery of the shorter “women’s” boundaries.

The equation then became four runs needed off the final ball… but an exhausted Sciver could only manage a single, leaving Brave to celebrate reaching their second consecutive Hundred final.

Brave pride themselves on being an excellent fielding unit, but several chances went begging against Sciver today – including a bad drop at mid-off by Molly Strano when Sciver had just 8 runs on the board. They will need to tighten things up if they are to have a chance against the all-round excellence of Oval Invincibles in Saturday’s final at Lord’s.

On the other hand, after finding themselves 32 for 3 and then 58 for 4 in the first innings of the match, today is yet another example to add to Brave’s hallmark list of “winning a game which we should really have lost”. Afterwards, a relieved-looking McGrath reflected that the team had faced a rollercoaster few days, unsure if they would have to play in today’s Eliminator until 6pm on Wednesday.

“There’s been a lot of travel,” she said. “There’s been a lot of unknowns, a lot of packing, a lot of changes in plans and hotels and destinations.”

“But the most important thing is we turn up and we play cricket. We know that we can win from any position – that gives us a lot of confidence going into tomorrow.”

Sciver, by contrast, looked close to tears when she appeared on the BBC immediately after the loss – telling Isa Guha: “I’m annoyed at myself [for missing out on the final ball]”.

That interview summed up Sciver’s Hundred, which has proven something of an emotional rollercoaster, after spending the past three weeks feeling almost the entire weight of the Rockets batting on her own shoulders. Only she and Elyse Villani feature in our Top 20-ranked batters; while Rockets were overall the weakest batting team in the group stages.

Juggling it with her bowling AND the captaincy ultimately proved too much, with Villani asked by Sciver to take over for the final two matches, to allow her the chance to focus purely on her own game.

“It was a conversation from Nat and Nunny [Brunt], they brought it towards myself and Sall [coach Salliann Briggs],” Villani said after the Eliminator. “They thought it might be the best fit for the last couple of games.”

“I was a little bit surprised, but at the same time, I’ve been helping them in that role, having conversations and that sort of stuff. I know they’ve had a lot on their plate and they’ve had a lot of cricket. I could completely understand where they were coming from.”

It proved a wise decision, with Sciver striking her best score of the tournament against Brave – 72 not out from just 36 balls (not to mention figures of 1 for 16).

Unfortunately for Sciver, there appears to be no such chance of a break from the limelight when England’s series against India begins next week.

“She will be the England captain while Heather Knight’s injured,” Villani confirmed. “She’s got a big job coming up.”

As I’ve written recently, asking the world’s leading all-rounder to deal with captaincy on top of everything else is a LOT… and yet the problem for England is that they are left with a total lack of other plausible candidates to do the job. Sciver’s Hundred may now be over but her biggest challenge – picking up the pieces of an England side who looked shot in the bronze medal match of the Commonwealth Games four weeks ago – is just beginning.

For the second year in succession, Southern Brave leg-spinner Amanda Jade Wellington tops our bowling rankings in The Hundred, with 14 wickets at 1.22 runs per ball – one of four leggies in the top 10, with Alana King coming in at 4, Amelia Kerr at 6 and Katie Levick at 10.

In contrast to our Batting Rankings, where 80% of the top 10 were overseas stars, the top 10 bowlers are 70% England-qualified, with only 5 overseas in the top 20, just two of whom are not leg-spinners – Sophie Molineux at 13, and Megan Schutt at 20.

Amanda Jade Wellington has been outstanding as a wicket-taking option once again, though she has been a tad more expensive in terms of economy than she was last year – last season she ranked 4th in the top 20 for economy; this year she’s 13th. As a key part of Brave’s success, the really interesting question is whether they can afford to keep her next season on a third-tier salary, or whether someone else will tempt her away with more money elsewhere? (The players earning first and second-tier salaries above her at Brave are all ones you’d want to keep too – Wyatt, Smriti, Dunkley and Shrubsole.)

Em Arlott is one of three uncapped England prospects in the top 10, and sneaks into second place above Lauren Bell thanks to her superior economy rate. Having been included in England’s Test squad v India in 2021 but not made the XI, Arlott was even more unfortunate this year when the after-effects of Covid ruled her out of contention for the Test against South Africa. At 24 she’s coming to her peak, taking wickets and maintaining a good economy rate – she might not have the hype of certain other players, or the reputation of others, but she’s performing on the pitch where it matters, and on form she really should be in the T20 squad for the India series and the World Cup.

The other two England prospects are both Invincibles players, and a key part of why Invincibles were able to maintain their bowling levels this season, despite Marizanne Kapp having to sit out of half their group-stage matches. Eva Gray is perhaps the most interesting. Though only 22 the seamer has been around the Surrey setup for a long time, but has been viewed as a useful domestic player and nothing more – she doesn’t have a contract at South East Stars –  but by keeping it simple, sticking to her strengths and not trying to bowl at 80mph, she has been pretty handy this season, and is perhaps a prospect for another region to swoop in for her if Stars can’t find a contract for her next year.

The other England prospect in the top 10 is the year’s surprise package – 17-year-old left-arm orthodox spinner Sophia Smale, who only came into the Invincibles squad as a last minute injury replacement for Emma Jones. Smale has excelled with the ball, opening the bowling on several occasions, and in the field where her speed across the ground from a standing start allows her to take catches others wouldn’t get near. Handing out a medal to Smale at a junior tournament a few years ago, Sophie Ecclestone once joked that she could be coming for her England spot one day, and while Ecclestone is probably safe for the moment… being the world’s top-ranked bowler in both white-ball formats… if Smale continues to work hard on her game, a regional contract and eventually an England one, are surely in the offing.

Bowling Ranking = Wickets / Economy

Our batting rankings are usually dominated by the big names, but it feels rare to see a list that is quite so monopolised by established internationals. In The Hundred last year, we had 3 uncapped players – Eve Jones (5th), Georgia Redmayne (14th) and Dani Gibson (15th) – in our top 15; this year you have to go down to 19 before you find the first uncapped name – Superchargers captain Holly Armitage – the only player without international recognition in the top 20. (And you have to go as deep as 28th before you find another – Bess Heath.)

There is also a worrying lack of England players in the top 20. At the last WBBL, 12 of the top 20, and 5 of the top 10, were Australians; here, only 8 (or 9 if you count Sarah Bryce) of those in the top 20 are England-qualified players, and just 2 in the top 10 are English; so suggestions that what The Hundred really needs is more overseas players might be considered… er… “ill-considered” in the light of these numbers!

Sheer weight of runs puts Laura Wolvaardt out on top, with two 50s and a highest score of 90* at a strike rate of 184 in Superchargers’ remarkable successful chase versus Originals. The prevailing wisdom that Wolvaardt is really a Test / ODI player trying to shoehorn herself into a role in the T20 game will probably follow her throughout her career, and there remains an element of truth to it: her strike rate of 134 is significantly less than the top 10 average of 149. On the other hand, 134 is hardly terrible, and the real question for teams to address is how to complement what she can bring to a team (runs) with what others can (high strike rate). Arguably Superchargers eventually stumbled upon the answer to this, with a top order of Healy, Wolvaardt and Heath, and it would have been good to see this play out over a longer, WBBL-type season with twice as many games.

Suzie Bates might have been a late addition to the Invincibles squad as their “4th overseas” but she underlined her continuing value in franchise cricket with 229 runs at 151, while also picking up the captaincy when Dane van Niekerk has missed out on selection. Most squads chose their 4th overseas with a very clear role as a “backup plan” – Deepti Sharma at Phoenix didn’t play at all, and Molly Strano at Brave played only one game – but Bates ended up playing every match, and forming a formidable partnership with Lauren Winfield-Hill which has made Invincibles a much more balanced team this season, after their over-reliance on their bowling last year.

Winfield-Hill herself is the top-ranked English player at 4, continuing her outstanding domestic summer, after shining in regional cricket too. Whether she has done enough to force herself back into the England XI as a batter remains an open question (probably not, to be honest), though it was interesting that she insisted on retaining the wicket-keeping gloves even though Invincibles had another keeper on the team, despite an injury concern in the final match, suggesting that maybe she sees this as her route back to international cricket?

Two players we definitely won’t be seeing play internationally again come in at 6 and 7 – Deandra Dottin and Lizelle Lee have both recently retired from internationals to focus on making hay (and… let’s not beat about the bush… money) in franchise cricket, and both had fair starts to their new directions; but it will be interesting to see how long they can continue to stay with the pace, without the extrinsic motivations that come with being part of an international squad. Being your own coach, fitness instructor and nutritionist no doubt sounds appealing; but can it work longer-term? It will be fascinating to watch how that evolves over the next year or so.

Batting Ranking = Runs * Strike Rate