Kirstie Gordon says that the first ever professional Nottinghamshire Women’s side will be known as the Nottinghamshire Blaze, after she was announced as the county’s first signing on Wednesday.

Gordon was speaking after The Blaze comprehensively beat Sunrisers at Lord’s on Thursday, continuing their unbeaten run in the Charlotte Edwards Cup with an eighth successive win.

It makes Notts the first county to confirm that a regional brand-name will carry over into the new era. By contrast, Surrey have already ruled out continuing to use the Stars name, preferring the women to simply be known as Surrey.

The Blaze brand is only two years old – the team moved over to Trent Bridge from Loughborough last year – but they have enjoyed enormous success under Gordon’s captaincy, reaching the 2023 Lottie Cup Final, and having already guaranteed themselves a spot at this year’s Finals Day on Saturday 22 June.

“We feel like we’ve created a bit of an identity with the Blaze,” Gordon told CRICKETher. “For now, we want to stay as the Blaze.”

Gordon also confirmed that coach Chris Guest, Director of Cricket James Cutt and the rest of the Blaze staff would be transitioning over to Nottinghamshire at the end of the season.

“For us it’s been a very easy transition,” she said. “We’re based at Trent Bridge already, our staff are staying the same. For me it was almost like renewing a contract again. It’s all been very seamless.”

Gordon, who was appointed Blaze captain at the start of the 2023 season, said that it had not yet been 100% confirmed whether she would be leading Nottinghamshire next year, but that she hoped to continue in the role: “I really enjoy it and I feel like I’m growing into it.”

The left-arm spinner is currently top of the Lottie Cup wicket-taking charts with 17 scalps in 8 matches, and said that she was pleased with her form going into Finals Day next weekend.

“I’ve bowled more overs in the powerplay this year than I have before,” she said. “I want to keep challenging myself to be better, and bowl in the tough phases of the game.”

Intriguingly, she appeared to rule out a personal return for Scotland, after her old team finished as runners-up in the Qualifying Tournament last month to set up a maiden appearance at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October.

“I was very pleased for Scotland, having been there in so many World Cup Qualifiers before and had those really difficult times,” she said. “I’d never write anything off, but I feel at the minute like I’m pretty comfortable where I am in my career.”

Gordon was part of both the main England squad and the England A side over the winter, so this suggests that the intriguing prospect of the proud Scot appearing for England AGAINST Scotland in their World Cup group-stage clash – scheduled for 14 October – is still very much on the cards.

Given her recent form with the ball, CRICKETher certainly wouldn’t rule it out!