Michael Cooper reflects on the pros and cons of Sky Sports’ impending coverage of the second Kia Super League in August.

On 1st February Sky Sports announced that they would be showing live coverage of the first six games of the second KSL season, as well as Finals Day: the first time that women’s domestic cricket will be shown live on UK television. The inaugural season was a success, attracting 15,465 people to the seventeen matches played, and live television coverage is the next step in the development of the league.

The games will be shown as part of a double header with a men’s NatWest T20 Blast match at the same venue, a tactic that has been used previously with women’s T20 games. It is also a tactic that was used in this year’s WBBL and one that proved highly successful. Twelve games were shown live on free-to-air TV, with nearly six million people watching the games and the final attracting a peak of 690,000 viewers. The games were also streamed live via the Cricket Australia website.

Live coverage on Sky will increase the visibility of the women’s domestic game as well as promote the game to aspiring female cricketers. A study by Women in Sport in 2015 stated that just over 10% of televised sports coverage, and only 2% of newspaper sports coverage, is dedicated to women’s sport. So with such a paucity of coverage of women’s sport, this news is a great shot in the arm for the development of the game. The double headers with T20 Blast games may also provide bigger crowds to see the games first-hand and provide players with the potential to compete in atmospheres similar to their male counterparts.

But there are downsides to linking the KSL so closely with the NatWest T20 Blast, the most obvious issue being ticket prices. People who want to go and see a KSL game within the double headers will presumably have to pay considerably more than they would pay to see a standalone KSL game; will this discourage people from coming to those games?

Another issue is whether this will impact the KSL brand? Whereas the Women’s BBL is an extension of the wider BBL brand, the KSL is its own product and should be marketed as such. It thrived in its debut season despite lack of coverage, as people were eager to see more women’s cricket after England’s dominant displays against Pakistan on home soil. The emergence of players like Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Winfield and Danni Wyatt is proof that the women’s game has stars in its own right, stars that deserve to have the stage all to themselves.

While Sky’s coverage of the KSL will undoubtedly prove to be a boon for the women’s game, one hopes that it won’t be in shadows of the men’s game for too much longer.

Michael Cooper tweets at @m_j_cooper82

Jake Perry talks to Scotland captain Abbi Aitken

The line-up for the ICC Women’s World Cup will be completed in Sri Lanka this month as ten teams contest the Global Qualifier for the tournament to be held in England later this year. With only half of the participants confirmed so far, the four teams who missed out in the ICC Women’s Championship will join the six winners of the ICC Regional Qualifiers in a bid to claim one of the four remaining places at the showpiece event to be played in June and July.

Scotland’s women will be in Sri Lanka after an outstanding summer brought them victory against the Netherlands in the European Qualifier as well as promotion to Division Two of the NatWest Twenty20, and as the side now looks to carry that momentum into the upcoming tournament captain Abbi Aitken is both excited and quietly confident about her side’s chances.

“Our preparations are going really well,” she said. “[Coach] Steve [Knox] has brought in a lot of new ideas and training methods and the squad is in a really good place at the moment. We are really lucky to have had access to the facilities of two partners to assist in our training too, Nuffield Health and Tribe Yoga, who have both been brilliant.

“Steve understands the commitments of everybody with work, university, school and so on, so we’ve tried to focus on having at least one full weekend a month away,” she continued. “That’s not always easy with the geographical locations of the girls. We have people the length and breadth of the country from Aviemore to London, but there has been great commitment from everybody.

“The squad has been away to a variety of places. We went to Loughborough, for example, the ECB facilities there are world class, and that was very helpful to us.

“They have been packed, tough, physical weekends, really good sessions,” she said. “We’re definitely preparing well.”

Thirteen of Scotland’s fourteen-man squad have experienced tournament play before, having played at the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier in Thailand in 2015. With seamer Priyanaz Chatterji the new addition Scotland has a number of options on which to call, and for Aitken the ever-growing experience within the squad bodes well both for this tournament and beyond.

“We had an eighteen-man squad to pick from, a very committed, talented group,” she said. “The pool of players we have continues to grow and as it does it becomes more and more difficult to get into that final group. It’s a good problem for us to have, of course, but it does mean at the end of the day that there are disappointed people left at home.

“Unfortunately Annette Drummond has had to miss out. She broke her wrist back in July so was unavailable for selection which is a shame. We do wish Annette the best in her recovery as she is unfortunately still battling with the injury.

“But I’m more than happy with the final fourteen. We have that blend of experience and youth and we’ve also got a good variety of skills in there.

“A number of the girls are also getting experience abroad at the moment,” Aitken continued. “Katie McGill and Kari Carswell are in the middle of a season with Northern Spirit in New Zealand just now. They are playing a standard of cricket which has been brilliant for them, a real eye-opener, and that will undoubtedly be advantageous for Scotland too. Lorna Jack has just headed out to join them as well.

“Fi Urquhart lives in Sydney and is playing a good level of grade cricket out there, and last but not least, of course, Kathryn Bryce is with the Melbourne Stars [at the Women’s Big Bash] just now. It will be brilliant to hear her stories and what she’s learned about how they go about things over there. It’s fantastic for Kathryn to get that experience at such a young age.”

Scotland has been drawn into Group B alongside South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea. After the initial round-robin stage the top three in each group move into the Super Six phase, with the first four qualifying for the final stages of the World Cup and the remaining two retaining – or perhaps gaining – ODI status.

“Obviously there are big names there that everyone will associate with cricket on a global scale. South Africa and Pakistan are two big, big teams and there is nothing but excitement from the girls at the prospect of playing them,” said Aitken. “The opportunities to meet teams like that don’t come around often for us so the chance to put our skills up against theirs, to see what level they are playing at and what we need to do to get to that level ourselves is a great prospect. There are obviously nerves there but being the underdog we have nothing to lose.

“We know Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea a bit more. In the WT20 Qualifiers we came up against Bangladesh and lost, unfortunately, but that experience gave us an idea of where they are and where we need to be, what areas we need to improve on and so on, so tactically we are more aware this time around.

“And Papua New Guinea, we played against them in a warm-up game and won so we can perhaps take a bit more confidence into the game against them.”

After a warm-up match against Zimbabwe Scotland play South Africa on February 8th in the first of four matches to be played over the next six days. The contrast between the notoriously humid Sri Lankan summer and the Scottish winter could hardly be starker, but the experience of 2015, says Aitken, will prove invaluable.

“Thailand was a massive eye-opener for the girls,” she said. “Before we went away we knew that fitness would play a big part but it was only when we were there that we realised how crucial it was.

“Experiencing that has really helped for the upcoming tournament. We know that if anything Sri Lanka is going to be even hotter and more humid so we have really focused on squad fitness.”

The upcoming tournament offers Scotland a rare opportunity to measure themselves against some of the big hitters on the world stage. But this is not a team merely content to make up the numbers. For Aitken qualification for the Super Sixes, and with it the guarantee of ODI status, is the clear objective.

“The squad sat down a few months ago and it was the unanimous decision that that was our goal,” she said. “We know that to do so we will have to beat a team we have never beaten before and a team that are ranked higher than us but we wouldn’t have set it if we didn’t think it was realistic.

“Cricket Scotland’s support has been brilliant with more funding and more resources which is all we can ask for. The squad know that they have to put in the performances to justify that support.”

And every one of those performances will be critical.

“First up we have Zimbabwe in Colombo in our official warm up game,” said Aitken. “They are ranked similarly to us and I feel that we are relatively evenly matched.

“It will be our first game in Sri Lankan conditions as well as our last chance to try out a few combinations, but we will be very much going into that game with intent and knowing that a win will set the tone for the rest of the competition.

“We are setting our standards high in this tournament. We may be the underdogs but we are up for the challenge.”

(Reproduced with the permission of Cricket Scotland)

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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

Jake Perry chats to Priyanaz Chatterji

Scotland’s Women travel to Sri Lanka for the ICC Global Qualifier in buoyant mood. Qualification for the event crowned a memorable season for Steve Knox’s side, and after two warm-up games against Ireland in Dubai they will look to make the most of the opportunity to measure their skills against some of the finest players in the world.

For Priyanaz Chatterji the final weeks of preparation have been busier than ever. The Dundee-born seamer combines her Scotland duties with a full-time job at an energy consultancy in London, and as she prepares to meet up with her team-mates again her excitement at what lies ahead is clear.

“It’s probably not fully sunk in yet that I’m actually going, it’ll probably hit me on Sunday when I get on the plane!” she said. “I’m very excited, it’s an amazing opportunity and one that the girls have been working really hard for. There are some nerves there too of course, we’re going to be up against some pretty impressive opposition and we want to do ourselves justice.

“But personally it’s been really great to be involved with Scotland again and to see everyone on a regular basis. The team is definitely moving in the right direction, there’s a real togetherness about the squad and as last season went on we got more and more confident both individually and as a group.

“We had often relied very heavily on Kari [Carswell] in the past, and still do to some extent, but it was great to see other players stepping up and performing when it really mattered. That will stand us in good stead for Sri Lanka.”

Still only twenty-three, Chatterji was a regular wicket-taker for the Wildcats as they secured promotion to Division Two of the NatWest Twenty20 last season. It was a consistency of performance made all the more remarkable by a glimpse of her hectic weekly schedule.

“Monday-to-Friday I get up in the morning and go to the gym before work,” she said. “I aim for five times a week in an ideal world but depending on what else I have to do it might be closer to three or four. I work full-time but manage to train a couple of times a week after work, too, although being in London that can add an hour on just getting there.

“I’ve been travelling back to Scotland every other weekend for the last few months which is definitely challenging, especially when we have a double-header training session. Our starts on Saturdays are usually 9am and the same on Sundays and I don’t tend to get back home until about eleven or twelve at night.

“It’s tiring, but it’s the level of commitment that Knoxy is expecting and it is what’s needed to see my game improve.”

A successful season of Australian club cricket in 2014-15 with Perth’s Subiaco Floreat Cricket Club proved to be a memorable experience, and as she continues to develop her game Chatterji is keen to find other opportunities a little closer to home.

“To be able to train and play regularly for a Division Two county near me would be great,” she added. “Obviously if it happened to be a Division One side it would be too!”

But for now her attention is firmly directed towards Sri Lanka and the biggest occasion of her career to date. Scotland will play in Group B against South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea whilst India, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Thailand meet in Group A. The top three teams in each group qualify for the Super Six phase and the chance to claim a place at the ICC Women’s World Cup to be held in England later this year.

“It’s inevitably going to be a massive learning experience for us,” said Chatterji. “Just playing out in those conditions is going to be a massive physical and mental challenge after cold and rainy Scotland! But ultimately it’s a competition and we want to come away with as many wins as possible.

“Getting to play against world-class players can only be a good thing,” she continued. “But whatever happens, we will learn from it, we’ll come back home and carry on working hard.

“We’ll keep on challenging ourselves to improve.”

(Reproduced with the permission of Cricket Scotland)

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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

Ffion Wynne speaks to Loughborough MCCU and Loughborough Lightning KSL Head Coach Salliann Briggs.

2016 has been a very impressive year for Salliann Briggs. Alongside her continued success in the role of Loughborough Women’s MCCU Head Coach, she was granted the same role for Loughborough Lightning in the first season of the Kia Super League (KSL). There were many doubts over Loughborough’s inclusion in the KSL – whether the sole university-based side would be able to compete against the top counties, or whether their lack of county stadium would affect their campaign regarding spectators and local support. However, under Briggs and Assistant Coach Lisa Keightley, England’s Georgia Elwiss captained the side to a place in the Finals Day, losing to Western Storm to narrowly miss out on a top two finish. More recently, following the revamp of the England Pathway, Briggs was appointed to yet another key role in the development of the women’s game in coaching the Academy squad.

Following this exciting summer for women’s cricket in England, it seems the future is looking even brighter, especially with the Women’s World Cup being played at home in 2017 and the prospect of the second Super League claiming more success than its breakthrough season. With all this ahead, it seemed that Briggs, as one of the leading coaches in the women’s game today, would provide the perfect insight into the upcoming plans.

2016 was certainly a big year for the women’s game. As you were heavily involved in the action of the KSL, how would you assess its first year on the whole?

I think the KSL definitely exceeded everyone’s expectations. For me personally, I didn’t actually have much awareness of the impact it would have, with it being a new competition. The only indicator for me was the amount of work that was put in from Loughborough in particular; the meetings and the build up seemed to go on forever. But I think the crowd sizes we had here definitely showed its success, because here at Loughborough we were expecting capacities of around 200-500 and yet we ended up with more than 500 each game. It’s definitely important, though, that we build on this after year one.

It was an incredible experience for all the girls but funnily enough, as coach, I didn’t capture it as my mind was on the game and therefore didn’t manage to experience the atmosphere as much. But now we know that Sky Sports want to be involved I think it’s definitely going to go from strength to strength.

There were concerns over Loughborough’s status as the only side without county support. Were you pleased with the match day experience that was provided at the university?

Yes definitely. When I did interviews prior to the KSL a lot of people asked me about it, but if you speak to them now or even our opponents, many say that it was the best match day experience they had. The downside to big stadiums sometimes is that the atmosphere can get lost, and we felt that when we played at away venues where they were trying to fill half a ground, you didn’t get the all-around atmosphere we had. We got so much positive feedback, and a lot of the girls really enjoyed it. The feedback I got from the girls playing here was that it was the first time they felt they were really ‘number one’, because often when they are linked to counties they’ve always felt pushed aside for the men. But here, whether it was a training session, in the gym or at the ground, they were given number one priority so I’m pretty confident we gave the best experience overall.

Before the tournament began, what was your target for the Lightning?

It was always to make Finals Day. We were pretty pleased that we got into that position, but there were some disappointing games along the way as well. Particularly Lancashire Thunder, as they finished bottom but on the day some of their players were excellent. It would’ve been nice to have a closer game against the Vipers as it was our last game before Finals Day, just for the players’ confidence, but we made it and played some great cricket throughout the competition. I was really pleased with how our county players rose to the occasion, they worked particularly hard during the build up to get themselves ready to perform under pressure. I think we put up a good fight, but I think the main thing we learnt was that in the space of only two weeks, you can’t afford many big mistakes. Of course we were disappointed not to make the final in itself, but in the first year we were definitely very pleased.

There are 6 KSL teams, compared to the 36 that play in the Women’s County Championships. Do you believe that this structure is able to prepare players effectively for the international stage?

Well to start we’re obviously targeting Twenty20, so if the better players are filtering through to the KSL teams then we are definitely making progress in that format and building significant bridges. As a whole I think we’ve still got a lot to look at within the counties, and how they can be more involved in that pathway of preparing players. It’ll be interesting to see how the 50-over contest progresses, and where the counties sit in that, but I think it is still a work in progress in how to involve them more – I’m not too clear on the landscape of how that’s going to happen yet.

Some critics still question the sustainability of the introduction of professionalism in the England setup, and that the team’s results haven’t reflected the true benefits over the past few years. What are your thoughts on this criticism?

I can’t say I’ve taken too kindly to that belief, mainly because I’ve been in and around the England environment and the one thing they truly are is professional, they work hard and they’re all immensely passionate about learning and striving to be better. I think that’s definitely an unfair judgment. It’s certainly been a bit of a transition recently with some changes to the squad, but ultimately if you look at their past few series they’ve won every single one. Yes, they haven’t won as convincingly as they have done in the past, but this time is about building for the future and making sure that the perfect squad is in place for the World Cup next year.

Australia have recently begun live streaming of their state matches, which has been considered a great step forward. Do you think this would be successful if it was introduced to England’s County Championship games?

I think we need to work from the top first here in England, so obviously we’ll be broadcasting a lot more KSL games now but they won’t all be covered, and I really think these should be streamed live moving forward. The thing with streaming games is that you want a good representation of what you’re selling, so it’s definitely important that we get the domestic structure right in order to show what talent we’ve got coming through. When we do start streaming it’s important that the feedback we gain from viewers is positive, therefore the types of games we stream are important. Like you’ve already mentioned, being put in the spotlight puts you in line for quite a lot of criticism, so I think the KSL needs to be given time to develop and grow before we begin streaming other competitions.

The Academy pathway has recently been restructured, alongside your appointment as the Head Coach of the Academy. Can you explain the purpose of these changes?

The main thing is that we wanted to make sure that the wording and the way it looks shows a clear progression between the pathways. There aren’t too many changes to be honest as I’m still looking after the same programme as before, but we’re just trying to show from a development and performance element that our programmes work together. We mainly aligned the titles to emphasise how both Stanny’s [John Stanworth – Head Coach of the Senior Academy] programme and the one I lead will be working much closer than previous years, which I think is important to help players to transition through the pathway. The Senior Management team introduced the idea, and it works really well between us at the moment.

Do you see the development of female coaches as an integral part of improving the women’s game?

Yes! Definitely. It’s always a difficult one for me because we are still in a male dominated sport, and it’s something I’m quite passionate about. We still need to keep in mind, though, that if there are female coaches that want to progress, they still need to be at the right level and have the right skills, but on the other hand we also need create opportunities for female coaches to develop. It’s quite exciting as there is quite a lot of work going into it, like the female coaching conferences that the ECB started last year, which were a huge success. It’s one of those things that I am always willing to put myself forward to help in any way that I can.

What are your aims and aspirations in the next few years as a leading coach in the game?

Personally I just want to keep developing myself as a performance level coach. I’ve worked as a development coach both at Loughborough University and with England for some time now and like anyone, I want to coach at the highest level. I’ve been really lucky to be given the chance to go out to Perth, so I’ll be going for the back end of the Women’s Big Bash League, which will continue my development and expand my coaching experiences. Loughborough as an organisation have always supported me when a good opportunity has come along, and I’m grateful they’re allowing me to seize this one. The experience will be invaluable. I’m also still committed to working as the Lightning Head Coach ensuring that the players have the right structure and environment in place for them to grow. For me, it’s not just about aiming for the trophy at the end of it, but mostly making sure the players are able to fulfil their potential and go as far as they can within the game.

If you could change one thing in women’s cricket today, what would it be?

The easy answer would be for people to see women’s cricket for what it really is, and that we get more resources to actually go out there and show the world that we can be an incredibly exciting sport that engages a significant number of followers. We definitely do have a lot of work to do around that though. It also does frustrate me when we always get compared to the men, I don’t think that should ever happen, I want the women’s game to be considered in its own right – deservedly so. I guess it will take its time, and hopefully this will come in the next few years or so, but I’m definitely impressed with the example that New South Wales are setting by investing in their state players by becoming professional, so if the English cricket world could get on board with that then we’ll be making some impressive strides forward.

Jake Perry chats to Scotland Coach Steve Knox.

As seasons go, the first for Steve Knox as Head Coach of Scotland’s National Women’s cricket squad could only have been fashioned by Carlsberg. Since his appointment in March he has watched his side reach the ICC Global Qualifier for the first time as well as secure promotion to Division Two of the NatWest Twenty20 competition on the back of an unbeaten campaign. Oh, and led the German national men’s team into European Division One for good measure.

Today, having finished a session of junior coaching at the National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh at the start of the half-term holiday, the 42 year-old former Saltire is happy to take a moment to look back on what has been by any standards quite a year.

“I’m very pleased,” said Knox. “We’ve achieved what we set out to achieve. One of the targets at the start of the year was to beat Holland in the European qualifiers and we managed to do that.

“Realistically I knew that promotion in the [Royal London] One-Day competition was going to be difficult because we needed to prioritise and use those games to find out what worked and what didn’t, but we identified the opportunity to get promoted in T20. 

“For us to achieve those two objectives was fantastic, especially to remain unbeaten in the T20 competition. As a result we’ll be playing better teams week in, week out next year which is really important for us as we’re looking towards the next World T20 in 2018.” 

Knox took over a team buoyed by a strong performance at the Women’s WT20 Qualifiers in Thailand. Led by Abby Aitken, a youthful Scotland side had demonstrated that they could compete with the more established nations, eventually securing fourth place in what was their first appearance at a major global tournament. The potential in the team is clear and Knox initially focused on how best to harness it.

“Finding the right combinations on the field was the first thing that had to happen and I think we’ve managed to do that,” he said. “By the time July came around everyone knew their role in the top six and was pretty much carrying it out, which allowed us to score 200 plus the majority of times.” 

A well-balanced side in which responsibility is shared has been the key to success.

“Kari [Carswell] has been our main player for so long but to be honest for much of that time she was relied upon too heavily,” he said. “We were obviously very keen to move away from that situation and I think we’ve achieved that, we had four girls who scored over three hundred runs in all formats this year. 

“Kari still played a big role at number three in the one-dayers but the pressure was on her less compared to before which has to be good. 

“Kathryn Bryce has performed really well, she is a very important member of our squad who has taken on leadership responsibility as vice-captain too,” he continued. “She enjoys every challenge, she acknowledges it and then just gets on with overcoming it which is great. 

“Her sister Sarah has emerged to open the batting too – at sixteen years old to break into the team, get yourself established and then keep performing is a fantastic achievement. Ollie Rae also opened the batting for the second half of the season, she feels comfortable there and contributed on several occasions. Rachel Scholes, on the flip side, went down the order and found her niche at five, she’s a really dangerous player and a good bowler as well.

“We backed that up with a bowling attack that gave us a number of options,” said Knox. “If seam wasn’t working we could turn to spin, we have three good spinners who played a really important role against the Dutch in the fifty over games. Different options are always nice and it’s important that the responsibility is shared around. 

“I think the really exciting thing for me, too, is that the majority of the girls are aged between sixteen and twenty four, twenty five, so the next three or four years are very promising for us.” 

Development of the women’s game is one of the cornerstones of Cricket Scotland’s Strategic Plan, published in May. A significant growth in participation, together with a top twelve ranking for the international side, are clearly defined targets for the next three years. There is work to do to achieve this, but Knox feels that Scotland are on their way to doing so.

“We have to get a domestic structure which allows the best players to play each other reasonably regularly. We haven’t quite got that yet but it’s starting to get there. 

“One of the things we introduced this year was a regional competition. It involved two teams because I wanted strength to play against strength, I didn’t want it to be easy for anyone. Establishing that culture is really important within Scottish women’s cricket, it is saying to the girls that if you want to break into the national team this is the environment in which you need to perform, if you don’t you’re not just going to get in because you’ve played before. 

“If we can get into the habit of playing tough cricket and doing well in tough situations then hopefully that will carry into the international arena as well.” 

Reorganisation of the domestic league structure is also planned.

“Kari set up and developed the women’s national league over the past five years and moving forward we’re probably going to look to regionalise that as far as possible so that the girls who want to play recreationally are playing more locally. 

“Hopefully that will grow the domestic regional club leagues and allow the women’s game to keep developing because we don’t yet have anywhere near a wide enough base of players at the bottom of the pyramid.” 

Knox is also hopeful that the international fixture schedule may provide a boost to the profile of the Scotland side.

“We need the international team to play more against other international teams. I’m not sure how long it has been since the Wildcats played a home game against international opposition but it’s been quite a while. For our profile that needs to change, we need to play some games at home so that the girls and boys in Scotland who want to come and watch us can do so.” 

For now, though, all eyes are turned to Scotland’s next assignment at the ICC Global Qualifier. Victory over Holland in July secured Scotland’s qualification to the tournament in February and with it the chance to meet some significant opposition.

“It’s a fantastic challenge and I’m very excited about it. The girls went to Thailand for the World T20 Qualifiers last November but this one is going to be much tougher. The quality of the opposition, together with the local conditions, us coming out of the Scottish winter into temperatures which will probably be in the early thirties, all adds up to a real test for us.” 

But although their task could hardly be more daunting, Knox is relishing the opportunity for his side to spring a surprise.

“We’ve got three and a half really important months to get ourselves as ready as we can be. I don’t think there’s any expectation on us to qualify, we’re just going to go out there to give it our best shot. 

“Let’s see what happens!”

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Jake Perry is a freelance cricket writer. He writes regularly on Scottish cricket for Cricket Scotland, CricketEurope and CricIndex and has contributed to ESPNcricinfo and All Out Cricket. 

Twitter: @jperry_cricket / Facebook: Jake Perry Cricket

Guest writer Simon Pearson wades into the KSL-county cricket debate.

There has been much discussion recently about the future of the County Championship in the light of the KSL launch and its now-postponed extension into a 50 over format. Perhaps we should now be looking at how the County Championship needs to adapt in order to meet the demands of this new era in women’s cricket.

If the purpose of the County Championship is to act a training ground for the best and as a feeder to Team England (now maybe via the KSL) then, I would suggest, it is no longer fit for purpose.

The current County Championship regulations state that a player is eligible to play for a county if:

Martin Saxon reports from the Cheshire Women’s League Finals Day.

T20 Divisional Competition Final:

Appleton Tigers 94-6 (20; Emma Barlow 25ret, Lorna Starkey 2-13)

Chester Boughton Hall Deemons 96-5 (19.3; Starkey 25ret, Sammi Short 25ret, Kathryn Jackson 2-23)

The Cheshire Women’s League has been holding double-header Finals Days ever since 2008, but today went one better and staged three finals on the same pitch on the same day. The best was certainly saved for last as Western Division T20 champions Chester Boughton Hall sneaked past the target set by Eastern Division winners Appleton with just three balls to spare.

It was 13 year old Hannah Snape who finished the job by lofting experienced Appleton captain Nathalie Long to the midwicket boundary with both the second and third balls of the final over.

Appleton certainly posted a more than decent total batting first, with Emma Barlow getting them off to a good start, and Laura Jackson and Kathryn Jackson adding vital impetus later on.

Lorna Starkey got Chester off to a good start, and when she reached the retirement score of 25, she had scored almost all of the 30 runs that came in the first seven overs. But when two dangerous batsmen in Kate Coppack and Lauren O’Reilly fell cheaply, Appleton looked to be favourites.

Sammi Short, who had played second fiddle to the big hitters earlier on, then took charge and herself reached 25 before being forced to retire – by that stage she had reduced the runs required to single figures. Given that Short had earlier bowled three overs for just three runs, this was another young talent who played a significant part in the Deemons’ victory.

However, two wickets fell to run outs as the pressure mounted, Laura Jackson came back to bowl more miserly overs, and with the lower order at the crease and seven required from five balls, would Chester get over the line? Thanks to Snape’s final flourish the answer was a decisive Yes.

Scorecard

Chester and Appleton have of course met in finals on a number of previous occasions, and given the recent results in those matches, it was no surprise this went right to the wire. Only the first two resulted in decisive wins, and all the others have been genuine nailbiters:

2007 – Knockout Final – Chester won by 97 runs

2008 – Knockout Final – Chester won by 9 wickets

2010 – Knockout Final – Appleton won by 1 run

2010 – T20 Divisional Final – Appleton won by 5 wickets with 1 ball to spare

2012 – T20 Divisional Final – Chester won on faster run rate, after being 1 run ahead of where they needed to be when rain halted play

Senior Knockout Cup Final:

Oakmere Kats 34 (15.2; Lauren Smith 2-8, Hannah Jones 2-10)

Didsbury Swordettes 35-1 (8.5; Smith 17*)

Didsbury have made some formidable totals in T20 cricket this season while batting first, but here the job was all but done in the first eight overs of their bowling innings, as Oakmere imploded.

By the time Hannah Jones and Lauren Smith had taken their caps, having bowled unchanged for four overs each as the opening pair, Oakmere were 19-8. The two young Lancashire spinners had undoubtedly bowled well, with figures of 2-10 and 2-8 respectively, but Oakmere certainly contributed to their own downfall with four run outs.

Australia A all-rounder Smith then hit some fine shots to ensure the Swordettes’ brief run chase was successful.

Scorecard

Development Knockout Cup Final:

Leigh Lionesses 96-5 (20; Georgia Taylor 25ret, Emily Mason 3-9)

Bredbury Saints 73-6 (20; Alex Wilson 26ret, Sarah Perry 3-14)

Division three leaders Leigh retained the Development Cup – the knockout competition exclusively for teams from that division.

The only two experienced players in a very young Leigh side – Nicky Deane and Sarah Perry – fell cheaply, but from 24-3, Georgia Taylor and Rachel Downs batted superbly, rotating the strike well and running well between the wickets, to ensure Bredbury would need almost 100 to win. Emily Mason contributed excellent figures of 3-9 and Alex Wilson conceded just 11 in her four overs.

Abi Barlow and Wilson took the Saints to 28-0 after five overs, but once the first wicket had fallen, things turned Leigh’s way. Perry’s bowling spell then snuffed out any remaining threat from the Stockport side.

Scorecard

The League extends its thanks to Finals Day hosts Timperley CC and umpires Keith Wells, Steve Jackson and Graham Pugh, the last two of which were on the ground from 9.30am, an hour before the first match, until the close of the last match after 7pm.

Very few women’s club leagues offer this type of cup final experience. However the heart-stopping finale to Chester’s T20 Divisional triumph illustrated just how entertaining a Finals Day can be.

James Piechowski reports from the Ageas Bowl.

Result: Southern Vipers (156-4) beat Loughborough Lightning (97) by 59 runs

Both sides may have already qualified for finals day going into this match, but it was far from a dead rubber. The sizeable crowd that turned up on a hot Sunday afternoon in Southampton saw a superb display with bat and ball, and in the field, from the Southern Vipers.

It was still possible for either side to top the table with a win here (or, indeed, Western Storm to spoil the party with a big win of their own at Headingley against the Diamonds, in the event of a close game here). But in the end, the Vipers were not in the mood to let anything slip, and had too much for a Lightning side that may have been a bit unlucky with the bat, but gave probably their weakest display yet otherwise.

The Ageas Bowl pitch, slow as is often the case these days, had a tinge of green on it this time, and seemed to contain more runs for the Vipers, as they got off to a solid start. Charlotte Edwards, who missed the first 2 batting innings for the Vipers due to injury, has since got going with her run-scoring but is still not looking at her fluent best.

It was Suzie Bates, the irrepressible captain of New Zealand, that got Vipers off to a flyer, taking them to 64/1 in the 8th over before falling to Sonia Odedra. Scoring 38 off 24 balls, she drove serenely over the top and along the deck, striking 6 fours and a massive 6 over long-off. Georgia Adams provided capable support, with a cameo of 17 before Sara McGlashan (34*) and Lydia Greenway (29) took over, both testing out the ground-fielding skills of the Lightning by working the ball around adeptly into gaps, running hard for ones and twos. They added 62 together in 8.3 overs, and by the time Becky Grundy bowled Greenway going for another reverse, Vipers had already scored 142. Lightning had hardly been ragged in the field, but after Bates’ blitz, they were simply pulled from pillar to post by two of the women’s game’s great accumulators.

Lightning captain Georgia Elwiss tried everything she could to mix up the bowling and keep the attack unpredictable, and indeed it was the 8th over before Lightning used a bowler for a second over. They are a truly flexible bowling unit – a characteristic obtained by possessing so many quality all-rounders.

But here it was only Odedra (1-20) and Grundy (2-24) who really managed to contain the Vipers. The others delivered a few too many wayward balls. Maybe they have too many bowling options, meaning that on game days, it’s difficult to choose who to turn to. In any event, Vipers finished on 156/4, a daunting total and their highest yet in the KSL.

Lightning got off to a decent start, and it took until the fifth over and the introduction of Linsey Smith (3-16), the slow left-armer, for the wickets to start falling. Smith dismissed Van Niekerk and Devine, both internationals, clean bowled, and went on the take the vital wicket of Eve Jones. Unerringly accurate, Smith attacks the stumps effectively and has enough subtle deception to best top-line batsmen. There is some debate about whether she would be able to continue this at international level, or if she would be rapidly found out. But in either case, she is clearly enjoying herself, and we won’t know what she could do until she is given an opportunity to play with an England development squad. England coach Mark Robinson, who was at this game, would have at least taken note of this upcoming prospect.

It was Eve Jones (33 from 31) who most impressed me for the Lightning, with the bat. Mainly an off-side player, Jones the left-hander has a free-flowing, languid style which is not dissimilar from current England men’s favourite Moeen Ali. Hence, she is very aesthetically pleasing to watch. With her nonchalant, almost casual approach, I have no doubt she will give some chances away, but if she gets in, could score many runs. She was sent back to the dugout by Smith, adjudged lbw, and in came her namesake Amy with the score on 36-3. Eve had scored 33 of those runs.

Ellyse Perry came to the crease in the 5th over, and did not leave until the 18th. She played a customary calm, composed innings. I sense she was somewhat subdued, content to score solidly at a run a ball and anchor the innings. She had hoped for more cameos to support her, and it was only when she started to run out of partners that she decided to go big. Perry managed to hit a couple more boundaries, but it wasn’t enough and in the end she holed out to Brindle (3-24), only finding the safe hands of Suzie Bates in the deep on the leg side.

Arran Brindle, the former England all-rounder, can seemingly do no wrong. She looks dynamic at the crease, missing out on nothing, and is dependable with the ball, proving difficult to get away. Amy Jones, having struggled to get going, was dismissed when she was bowled trying to cut her away. After the fifth wicket was down, Lightning were in the position of needing 83 from 6 overs, an unlikely task, and so it proved. Paige Scholfield and Thea Brookes, having made a very close chase against the Thunder, got no luck this time and in the end Lightning finished tamely, bowled out for 97.

Vipers had produced a brilliant bowling and fielding display, dropping a couple of tough chances, but it was of little concern, as most of the shots that Lightning played in aerial fashion seemed to home in towards a grateful Viper’s hands. The Vipers bowlers’ figures also included 2-11 for Bates, and 1-15 for a continually impressive Katie George.

Vipers go into the KSL final next Sunday at Chelmsford, full of confidence. They are a tough side to beat and can make a solid innings total, from bad starts and good starts alike. In the field they are tight and organised, and give away little with the ball. As for Lightning, they will want to take their learnings and quickly forget this disappointing performance. They can then focus on challenging a strong Western Storm side in their semi-final, so that they take some momentum into a potential return fixture of this match and can – they will hope – take revenge.