It’s often said that winning a title is one thing, but keeping hold of it is actually the truest test of a champion’s status.
Having won the Home Counties Women’s Cricket Premier League in 2024, that was precisely the challenge facing Moreton Mavericks this year. Based in the tiny village of North Moreton, known mainly for The Bear pub (a Maverick sponsor, along with local estate agent Singleton & Daughter) and its 167-year-old cricket club, the giant killers have returned with another premiership title, defeating their much bigger cousins from Beaconsfield, Binfield, Charlbury, Newbury, Oxford, Stony Stratford and Thame.
The Mavericks recruited a 21 year New Zealander as their first ever overseas player to prepare for the inevitably fierce challenge that awaits reigning champs. Competition in the league this year was indeed noticeably strong, with no soft contests, and in fact every team lost at least 3 times in the 14-match programme.
Maverick’s skipper, Georgia Haworth cited squad depth as a significant factor in their achievement: “Huge thanks & congratulations to the 35 girls who representedthe club in the Premier League this season and with several injuries to keyplayers, we were very grateful to have that extra capacity at our disposal,making it very much a squad success this summer.”
Moreton Cricket Club President Mike Howat was also fulsome in his praise: “Wewere all delighted at Moreton to see the Mavericks retain their Home CountiesWomen’s Premier League title. As a small village club we continue to punch above our weight in this competition and great credit goes to captain GeorgiaHaworth and her squad.”
With Thame Town taking some notable scalps in the Premier League and near-neighbours Steventon also winning a Division 2 title, confirmation that female cricket in South Oxfordshire is certainly thriving. The Mavs also picked up the GU18 county title this year, indicating that their talent pathway is in rude health; preparations for 2026 are already well underway!
If you would like to join or help the Mavericks, where all ages & abilities are catered for, please visit https://moretoncc.org/ or contact Tim Haworth (Coach/ Manager) directly on tim@busbar.biz.
Two weeks ago, Lauren Winfield-Hill faced a decision: Yorkshire were through to the final stages of the Tier 2 One-Day Cup, which directly clashed with the Women’s Caribbean Premier League that she was due to play in.
Guyana or a freezing cold, rainy September day at New Road? What a choice!
Except that Winfield-Hill is Yorkshire through-and-through – to the extent that, even when it became apparent 18 months ago that they had lost their bid for Tier 1 status to Durham, she still chose to remain with her home county (presumably their automatic promotion into the top tier in 2026 helped sweeten the pill, but even so).
So she stayed in England, and kissed goodbye to something in the region of $16,000.
But in Sunday’s final at Worcester, she made no mistake, racing to a 27-ball half-century as Yorkshire rode roughshod over Glamorgan to win a shortened 20-over match by 9 wickets with 8.4 overs to spare. One-sided isn’t quite the word.
When I asked Winfield-Hill about the WCPL afterwards, she was pretty unequivocal: “I’ve got a long-term contract with Yorkshire, and I’m very loyal to them. And to be honest it was a no brainer – Yorkshire is my priority, that’s why I wanted to stay.”
Minutes after lifting the trophy, surrounded by her Yorkshire teammates and about to crack open the champagne, she added: “It’s a blessing because I get to share these moments with the girls.”
Three years ago, at Lord’s, Winfield-Hill won the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy with Yorkshire Northern Diamonds. How does this compare?
“It’s a different feeling, it’s a very different group and a different occasion, but it’s really special. Today was about being able to do it when it mattered,” Winfield-Hill said.
Back in June, Yorkshire lost their T20 Blast final to Middlesex by 10 wickets, after putting just 101 on the board. (As a reminder, they were full strength, with both Winfield-Hill and Sterre Kalis in their XI.) Agreeing to foreshorten a 50-over game therefore felt, to me, like something of a gamble.
Winfield-Hill, though, described it as “common sense”: “It was probably going to be one of those where you win the toss, you bowl 50 overs, then you didn’t get to bat, which as a batter really sucks.”
“So it just made sense to make it a T20. Both teams were very much in agreement that we wanted to get a game on today and get a result. You don’t want to share a trophy.’
I must say, I feel slightly uncomfortable about the decision. Yes, it hosed it down at New Road about 10 minutes after the match ended – and it was still raining when we left the ground at 2pm.
But if you aren’t going to follow the playing conditions, what’s the point of having them in the first place?
Once the decision was taken, and agreed by the ECB, the toss became all-important: with heavy rain forecast from 1pm, making it likely that the second innings would be cut short, the team batting second would know exactly what they needed to do to stay ahead of DLS.
In fact, the toss was so critical that when the umpires oversaw it prematurely, and the commentators requested it be repeated so that it could be shown on TV, Winfield-Hill put her foot down and said she wouldn’t redo it “because I’ve already won it” – fair play to her!
As it turned out, Glamorgan’s batting effort – which started so positively – eventually fizzled out, allowing Yorkshire to get ahead of the DLS from the second ball of their chase and stay miles out in front of it the whole way through. Winfield-Hill was in her element: “I strangely quite like the pressure of DLS to frame a chase.”
For Yorkshire, the eventual result was an important one in countering some of the embarrassment felt by both the players and the ECB when they failed to win the Tier 2 Blast back in June.
“A lot of these girls were hurting from that T20 loss,” Winfield-Hill said. “There’s a bit of subconscious, ‘you’re being invested in so you should be producing the goods’. And to be honest, on reflection, in that T20 final, maybe that was a bit of the added pressure as well, that people turned up and, ‘oh Yorkshire are here, they’re paid’. I think a lot of girls felt the pressure of that.”
“Whereas today was just a really nice continuation of what we’ve been doing. I couldn’t wait to rewrite our wrong.”
Both the One Day Cup and the Women’s T20 Blast use a system of Bonus Points, which is described in the Playing Conditions.
A winning team that achieves a run rate of 1.25 times that of the opposition shall be awarded one bonus point.
There’s a problem with this though: it’s wrong!
But… how can it be wrong? The Playing Conditions are akin to “laws”, are they not? If it says it in the Playing Conditions, it is right by definition!
It all comes down to one simple word: maths!
As soon as you say the word, people’s eyes glaze over. (In fact, I’ll be willing to bet there were a few people who didn’t even click on this article, because they were worried it would include maths. Which to be fair, it does!)
It isn’t true that “nobody” likes maths. I’ve met thousands and thousands of people in my life, and at least 3 of them liked maths (hi Tom & Tom & Matthew!) But in general most people think maths sucks!
So instead of “doing the math” we outsource it to a computer – in this case the NV Play system that is used for scoring matches in the One Day Cup.
This means that in practice the Playing Conditions don’t actually matter – NV Play is The Truth and (despite what it says in the Playing Conditions) NV Play doesn’t award a Bonus Point to a winning team that achieves a run rate of 1.25 times that of the opposition.
Instead it awards a bonus point to a winning team that achieves the target in 0.8 times the number of available deliveries.
To be fair, this often results in the same number, but not always, even in a totally “normal” match. If the team batting first scores 200 runs, 1.25 times the Run Rate can be achieved in 40.1 overs; so (according to the Playing Conditions) you should have an extra delivery; but you don’t!
This comes into much sharper focus when there is a DLS adjustment. In yesterday’s crucial match between Durham and Surrey, the match was reduced to 29 overs and Durham’s Required Run Rate ratcheted up significantly, meaning that (going by the Playing Conditions) it would have been impossible for them to achieve a win without scoring at 1.25 the times of the opposition.
Sidebar: The Playing Conditions do give a hint that things might be different in DLS situations, stating that “Where matches are shortened and targets revised through the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern system, bonus run rates and bonus defensive targets are derived as a function of the revised target score” but the phrase “as a function of” is mathematically meaningless, and doesn’t actually state how the calculation should be made.
But NV Play in fact required them to achieve the adjusted target of 225 in 23.1 overs – which would have required scoring at almost twice the Run Rate Surrey had achieved. It was an all-but impossible ask, and if nothing else answers my question as to why they didn’t appear to be trying to do it.
Whether or not this is fair, we can leave as a question for another time – it isn’t really the subject of this article.
But I do think it is quite bad that the Playing Conditions state a definition for Bonus Points that is flat-wrong; if for no other reason than it leads to confusion, because most people (including us) don’t have access to NV Play, so we have to do the calculations ourselves. How can we hope to calculate it correctly, and give correct information to fans, if the definition in the Playing Conditions is completely wrong?
The Playing Conditions need to be updated, to clearly state how Bonus Points are actually calculated.
Surrey Qualify on points or NRR – Although Somerset could draw-level with Surrey on 31 points with a Bonus Point win, it is practically impossible for Somerset to overturn Surrey’s NRR advantage. (If Somerset scored 350 and then bowled Warwickshire out for 1, it still wouldn’t be enough!)
Durham Qualify on NRR… probably – A Bonus Point win for Durham will have increased their NRR sufficiently that it would be very difficult for Somerset to overtake them. (The narrowest possible Bonus Point win for Durham would leave Somerset needing to score 300 and bowl Warwickshire out for 100.)
Durham Win + Somerset Win (no BPs)
Durham Qualify on NRR – If Somerset win without a Bonus Point, Durham will almost certainly qualify on NRR. It is possible for Durham to win and their NRR to drop slightly, but not by enough for it to be possible for Somerset to overturn with a non-Bonus Point win. (And if Somerset win with a Bonus Point, they qualify on points anyway – see below.)
Durham Win + Somerset Win (w. Bonus Point)
Somerset Qualify on points
CAVEAT: The above is hopefully accurate, but as always:
DO NOT BET YOUR HOUSE ON SYD’S MATHS!!
Middlesex Director of Cricket Alan Coleman has told CRICKETher that the club intend to self-fund professional contracts by 2029, in order to ensure they are best-placed to progress into Tier One.
Last year, Middlesex failed in their bid to host a Tier One side, meaning they will be locked out of the top tier of women’s domestic cricket for at least the next 4 years.
But the club have embarrassed the ECB with their results this season, winning 18 of their 21 matches, beating Yorkshire twice, and finishing as inaugural champions in the Tier Two Women’s Vitality Blast.
“The game at Northants where we won the T20 was an astounding effort – I’ve never seen a team go through a whole Finals Day without losing a wicket,” Coleman said.
“It’s a challenge that the team have embraced, being amateurs, against professional teams – not only Yorkshire but Glamorgan, who are going to be Tier One in 2027.”
Middlesex’s challenge now is how best to keep together and develop a team of amateurs, many of whom are doing demanding full-time jobs – as typified by all-rounder Gaya Gole, who works long hours as a Management Consultant in the City.
For Coleman – who was present at Middlesex’s semi-final against Yorkshire on Sunday – the answer is for the club to directly invest in their women’s squad.
“Middlesex are incredibly ambitious and desperately want to invest in our women’s team,” he said. “There’s no greater deserving team for that investment.”
“Our challenge is to keep improving and keep developing across this period to ensure that we are as ready as possible for Tier 1 cricket as and when hopefully the ECB decide to open it up.”
“This is year 1 of a 4-year plan to be professional at the end of that period. And we almost want to, without sounding arrogant, take it out of the ECB’s hands and say, ‘You have to make us professional because of the performances that our players have put in, in Tier 2’.”
“So that’s the plan, and a part of that will be ensuring that our players are rewarded for the cricket that they play.”
The club are still working out exactly what that looks like, but we shouldn’t be surprised if we see the first tranche of part-time contracts awarded ahead of next season.
“We need to continue to invest in this very, very talented group of players to ensure they get the opportunity they deserve,” Coleman added.
You can’t rush a New York Cheesecake – not when you are baking it, anyway! (When you are eating it – yes, rush away!) But in the baking, it needs to cook low and slow.
In that sense, Sterre Kalis’s match-winning half-century for Yorkshire in their One Day Cup semi-final showdown against Middlesex was the perfect New York Cheesecake – cooked low, and cooked slow.
As Kalis faced her first ball from Saskia Horley at the start of the 11th over, Yorkshire were in just a wee bit of trouble, having lost two set batters – Lauren Winfield-Hill (for 16) and Erin Thomas (for 38) – within the space of 4 balls. That left the visitors 55-3, with both batters at the crease on nought.
The situation wasn’t desperate by any means – chasing a lowish 194, Yorkshire had time on their side. But given that the head-t0-head between the teams this season read “Middlesex 2 – Yorkshire 0”, including a 10-wicket drubbing in the final of the Tier 2 Blast, the honorary Yorkie from Den Haag in the Netherlands must have been wondering if history was about to deliver it’s infamous second encore, this time as farce?
So she dug in.
You could almost hear her telling herself – low and slow; low and slow – as she and Maddie Ward added just 15 runs in 9 overs between the 10th and 19th. A 4 driven down the ground by Ward at the start of the 19th over was the first boundary since the 8th over.
Even with 8 off the 19th over, the entire early middle phase produced just 23 runs for Yorkshire – it was soporific stuff, and for a brief period the game turned against them. Though it wasn’t really relevant, with no rain forecast, they fell behind on DLS, and also on the WinHer Win Predictor.
Nonetheless, Kalis didn’t panic – despite facing dot after dot (45 of ’em in all!) of defensive shots back to the bowler, or drives to fielders on the ring; and despite going at a Strike Rate of well under 50, she kept her cool, and lowly… slowly… the small crowd at Radlett began to wake up and smell the cheesecake.
Two-and-a-half an over, became three-and-a-half an over, helped by some woeful fielding and a succession of dropped catches from Middlesex. But at the point Ward was dismissed (Artemis Downer finally holding on to a skier at cow corner) Kalis was still only on 29 off 57 balls, at a Strike Rate of just 51.
The entrance of Ami Campbell did then flick a switch – the shots got bigger and so did the run rate. Kalis’s next 36 runs were scored from just 22 balls – 3x the Strike Rate she’d been going before – to get Yorkshire home with more than 10 overs to spare, with Campbell 34* at the other end. A New York cheesecake, perfectly baked.
Some credit must also go to Yorkshire’s bowlers – particularly Beth Langston, who bowled 10 in a row up-top, taking 2-38 and deserving some of the credit for the wickets that fell at the other end too. By the end of the 12th over, Middlesex had lost Issy Routledge and Artemis Downer, both edging pacy deliveries from Langston to Lauren Winfield-Hill behind the sticks; as well as Finty Trussler and Pippa Sproul. Those 4 between them have scored nearly 60% of Middlesex’s runs in the One Day Cup this season, so losing all for barely a peppercorn meant it was always going to be an uphill struggle for the home side.
Captain Saskia Horley fought back with 83 off 100 balls to get Middlesex back into the mix, assisted by an unbeaten 48 from Gaya Gole, and if the Middlesex tail had been able to wag just a little more it might have made a big difference. Chasing something more like 220 or 230 wouldn’t have allowed Kalis quite the luxury to slow-bake her innings the way she did.
It was a disappointing end to the season for Middlesex, but given the way the dice were loaded against them as basically an amateur side playing Yorkshire’s professionals, they should be immensely proud to have achieved a first-placed finish in the table, in addition to their Blast win.
And as he lined up commiseration beers for his side, Middlesex’s Director of Cricket Alan Coleman praised them for what he described as an “unbelievable season” in which the Tier 2 side have won 18 of their matches 21 matches:
“The pride that they can take in the cricket they’ve played is immense. As a club, we couldn’t be prouder of what they’ve achieved.”
For Yorkshire, they march on to next weekend’s final, where they face Glamorgan, with nothing less than a win the minimum expectation.
The 2025 Women’s Caribbean Premier League got underway on Saturday without Lauren Winfield-Hill – who was instead playing a key role captaining Yorkshire to victory against Middlesex in Sunday’s One-Day Cup semi-final.
Winfield-Hill had been named in the squad for the Guyana Amazon Warriors, but there was some confusion earlier this week when it was confirmed that she had been replaced by Ireland’s Amy Hunter.
Fans were unsure if Yorkshire had asked Winfield-Hill to miss the tournament or – given that they are her main employer – pulled rank once they reached the One-Day Cup semi-final.
However, in an interview with CRICKETher, Yorkshire coach Richard Pyrah clarified the situation, confirming that Winfield-Hill’s inclusion in the tournament had always been provisional.
“If we’d not got the result in the last game of the group stages, our season would be done, so that would have allowed her to go and play in the CPL,” he said.
“She put her name down just in case we didn’t get through – then she’d go out there. But she was always going to be available for us, however long we carried on for, which is now the final.”
He added that the decision to remain with the Yorkshire team for the semi-final and final was entirely Winfield-Hill’s call.
CRICKETher 