Guest reporter Ben Gardner was at the Oval on Thursday to watch a composed innings by Tammy Beaumont.

Tammy Beaumont walks out with Bryony Smith, bats in hand. Surrey Stars are chasing 134, and defeat will make it almost impossible to qualify for Finals Day. They are the most bowler-heavy team in the tournament, with most of the run scoring responsibility falling on the shoulders of Beaumont, and her England teammate Nat Sciver. In a format famous for its smash and grabs and 10 ball cameos, playing with responsibility its own special challenge, but it is one that Beaumont will thrive on.

It is Beaumont who takes strike for the first over. The bowler is Katharine Brunt, who is breathing fire, having smashed one of the longest sixes in the competition minutes previously. Beaumont leaves the second ball of the innings, and then nudges a single. Her opening partner, 18 year old Bryony Smith, follows her lead, and leaves the first two balls she faces. It is the first over of a T20 innings, but apart from the colour of the clothing, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t a Test match.

After 4 overs of their innings, Surrey are handily placed on 26/0. But 16 of those came off one Spragg over, containing 5 wides, and you get the sense she won’t bowl again. Surrey have seen Yorkshire Diamonds slip away after a strong start, and know that this could be the best time to bat; with pace on the ball, in the Powerplay. Brunt, who has conceded just 3 off 2 overs, returns to bowl her third. Smith so far has 1 off 7 Brunt balls.

Backward point. Midwicket. Cover. Cover. On both sides of the wicket, off front and back foot, Smith hammers Brunt. In front of over 2000 people, this 18 year old has announced herself in spectacular fashion. She has taken her time and exploded. Smith will later say Beaumont talked to her between every ball, giving advice. If just one of those pieces of advice was to give herself a chance, to make sure she’s seeing it properly before going for it, Beaumont deserves credit. It is certainly the example she set with her own innings.

At the end of the Powerplay, Surrey have 50, and the required rate is barely over a run a ball. They are well ahead of the game, but there is much left to be done. Too cautious an approach could see the rate spiral, but taking undue risks could lead to a collapse, and Beaumont plays it to perfection.

Her running is superb, turning twos into threes, and even stealing singles for her partner; when Nat Sciver nudges one behind her on the leg side, Beaumont calls confidently and scampers straight away, knowing she is running to the danger end, and backing herself to make it.

It is Sciver who will finish the game, ending on 29 off 24. But it is a cameo enabled by Beaumont’s strike rotation; from the start of Sciver’s innings until the start of the 16th over, she faces 18 balls while Beaumont faces just 7. From the end of the Powerplay up to this point, Beaumont faces 19 balls, scores just one boundary, but still scores 18 runs. It is a masterclass in keeping the scoreboard ticking over, and Beaumont never seems to be struggling to see where the next run will come from.

Beaumont’s acceleration, as with much else in her innings, is timed perfectly. She picks the bowler and the over, targeting Stephanie Butler’s spin in the 16th. She dabs and reverse sweeps her to the boundary on 3 occasions. At the start of the over, Stars needed a run a ball, ahead for sure, but with the game still a contest. By the end, they need just 15 off 24, and they’ll win with 11 balls to spare.

It is not just the pacing of this innings that Beaumont has timed well recently. At the beginning of the summer, with the England team in a state of flux, it was Beaumont who stepped up with 342 runs in 3 innings against Pakistan. Although she made her debut in 2009, she had not managed to fully establish herself, but the retirements of Charlotte Edwards and Lydia Greenway, and Sarah Taylor’s break from cricket meant that almost overnight she became one of the side’s most capped players. She is thriving on the extra responsibility.

In some ways it is not a surprise. Her skills suit responsibility well. She is able to bide her time while still scoring runs and then explode, which makes her ideally suited to play a senior batter’s long innings. It is heartening for both Surrey Stars and England to have a player who only seems to improve as more and more is expected of her.

Guest reporter Ben Gardner was there at the Ageas Bowl for yesterday’s KSL match to witness an important moment for Suzie Bates.

After 14 balls, Katie George’s Kia Super League campaign is going about as well as she could have dreamed. She has conceded just 3 runs, and all that is missing is a wicket or two. She looks every inch as if she belongs at this highest level.

Her 15^th ball is driven square by Nat Sciver for 4. It is the shot of the day so far, and there is no shame in conceding a boundary against a player of Sciver’s quality and explosiveness. But it is possible that just for a second the doubts creep in, or that she channels the frustration into trying just that bit too hard.

Her next ball is the worst ball she will bowl, by a long way. It is also the closest she will come to getting a wicket. A high full toss is lobbed to vacant square leg, but the fielders converging fail to call, or to listen. Both women, and the ball, end up on the ground.

We have seen such accidents end in serious injuries. There is a long delay. The Vipers fielders stand around doing not much, sipping drinks. The two players walk away from the incident, eventually, but one of them walks off the pitch. She is Charlotte Edwards, captain, star player, and probably the player Vipers least wanted to lose.

When such potentially horrific accidents occur, the match at hand gets pushed away from the front of a player’s mind. And when your team is on top, it can stay that way even when play resumes. It is in some ways understandable, but in a T20, when the course of a match can change in the space of one over, this can be fatal.

Whatever is going through George’s head, and it could be nothing, as she has done so little wrong, she manages to finish the over adequately, conceding just a couple from the last two balls. Still the over has cost 10.

The next over is bowled by Fi Morris. There is a deserved wicket, but also a half chance attacked not as vigorously as it would have been 15 minutes ago. An attempted boundary save goes awry, and Sciver is still there.

19 runs have come from the last two overs, over a third of Surrey Stars’ runs up to that point. Southern Vipers are still on top, but slightly less than they were. They were coasting, but now they are just starting to drift.

In Edwards’ absence, even in this team of stars, Suzie Bates is the obvious choice to take the reins. She is Wisden’s Leading Female Cricketer in the World, and the captain of New Zealand.

Bates senses that something needs to be done. The previous two overs feel perhaps like the kind that, with hindsight, we could end up crediting as a turning point. But Bates knows that there is no crisis, yet, and to act as if there is would be the surest way of creating one. No harsh words or rousing speeches are needed.

Instead she brings herself into the attack, and gets Sciver off strike with her first ball. Bates waves her arms about, manoeuvring the field, reengaging players’ minds and bodies. Her bowling is only tight, no more, but the focus and energy she displays transfers itself to the rest of the team, and the intensity is on show for the rest of the innings.

Bates reintroduces George for the 18^th over. George has bowled well enough to fully justify the decision, but it is still a brave call. Her last over went for 10 and injured the captain, and George is only 17. But Bates’ decision is completely vindicated. George is superb. The over also costs 3.

Bates bowls the 19^th herself, and gives up only 6. Surrey Stars make just 83.

It would be a mistake to say Bates seized the game by the scruff of the neck; she didn’t, and any attempt to do so would have been foolhardy. She merely rested a hand on the tiller and gently ushered her team back to the course it had been on. All she did was shuffle her bowlers and fielders, and maintain her standards with the ball in hand, but it was enough.

Bates will continue to lead with the bat, but again, not in the way we would usually think. Instead of trying to smash the way to the target herself, which she might well have been able to, she plays the role of old pro to Georgia Adams’ dashing youngster. Adams top scores with 41 off 43, while Bates makes 25, content with rotating the strike and offering words.

After the game, Adams says: “Suzie guided me through that innings… kept me calm, kept me level out there.”

This was the biggest day so far of so many of these players’ careers, and we could have looked back on Edwards walking off and called this added pressure a contributory factor in a reversal of fortunes. But Bates kept them calm, kept them level. She will surely have more explosive and eye catching performances this season. But in its own way, this might end up being the equal of any of them.

In the second part of a two-part special, James Piechowski reviews England’s summer v Pakistan.

To me the T20 series was a different priority for England – with no upcoming major competition, they had time to re-build, but would want to put their recent World T20 competition, in which they were more sedate than sensational, firmly behind them. It was worrying that Shrubsole had picked up an injury after bowling only about 23 overs in the ODIs. She still contributed well, with 6 wickets, but England will need her to be on top form for the upcoming winter tours and of course, a certain tournament starting next year on these shores.

England’s new opening partnership very much carried on where it had left off. Whereas Beaumont had been scoring more heavily in the ODIs, Winfield was the more impressive in the T20s. As an aggressive, front footed opener hitting through the ball, harsh on anything too full or too short, it’s hard to see too many other players fulfilling the same role for England. Over the 3 games, Winfield scored 166 runs at 55 with a strike rate of 164. Beaumont managed 142 runs at 47 and a strike rate of 128. These were, unsurprisingly, the chief contributions to England’s batting.

England made an impressive 187/5 in the first game at Bristol, with 50s for both of England’s openers. Pakistan’s reply was led by quick-fire scores of 24 by Nain Abidi and 35 from Asmavia Iqbal, another player who I could see making it in WBBL. But 2 wickets apiece from Hazell, Sciver and Gunn, the latter contributing strongly and consistently with the ball throughout the T20 series, was too much and Pakistan finished on 119-7. England had won by 68 runs. Sophie Ecclestone, the 17 year-old left arm spinner who with her freckles and braces looks every bit the schoolgirl (which she still is!), showed good composure and gave consistent performances across 2 games to return total figures of 3-47 off 8 overs.

The third and final iT20 match at Chelmsford followed a similar pattern to the first, both England openers making fast 50s and the middle order blasting a few final runs to give a total of 170. This never looked in danger as Pakistan finished on 113-7 this time. Tash Farrant bowled 4 overs for 15 runs and took a joyful return catch off Nahida Khan, and Alex Hartley impressed and did her ongoing selection chances no harm with 2-19, including the big wicket of Bismah Maroof (35), castling her with a beautiful and clever piece of bowling.

The second T20 at Southampton is worth considering in a bit more detail, as in some ways it was a bit more of a chastening experience for England. On a supposed road of a pitch, neither Beaumont nor Winfield reached 30, and England’s middle order were kept quiet by some accurate and very slow sub-50 mph left-arm spin bowling from Bismah Maroof (2-19). The boundary count was down, and the total of 138 was in no small part due to a much-needed 43* from the ever-solid Fran Wilson. Finally given a long overdue chance, but hardly in her element in a T20 innings where run rate was a priority over steady accumulation, Wilson played very sensibly and ran well, in a succession of small partnerships that saw England climb to what turned out to be a respectable score. It seemed Wilson was determined to impress no matter the situation. Luckily, England were able to provide a strong performance with the ball to back up their batting, restricting Pakistan to just 103. The surface had played slowly. It wasn’t the perfect pitch we’d been led to believe after all. Despite a 35-run win in an ultimately solid display, England were heavily criticised in the press.

It’s worth noting that back in 2012, when a supposedly better England last played Pakistan in a home iT20 series, Pakistan couldn’t even score into the 90s. In reply, England took almost 16 overs to reach the target. In the other game England only managed a 160 score. This new series was definitely more exciting. Personally, I think the new-look England does have a lot more appeal.

Whilst England kept their heads to post a reasonable score on a slow track, where batsmen found it hard to get the ball away, it was some of the press that seemingly lost it. The Independent was claiming that England’s middle order frailties were once again exposed. We had scored 140 plus, which as the later men’s game showed, was not so bad an effort. Indeed, rather than the quick singles taken by Knight, Wyatt and Sciver being a failing, it was very much where England outclassed a Pakistan side who so often found it harder to rotate the strike rather than hit the ball to the boundary.

CRICKETher pointed out this fact and it will be an area where Pakistan could really improve their game, to become more competitive in a format where, as they showed in the recent World T20 series against India, they have the best chance of causing an upset. Anyhow, England had taken the 2016 iT20 series 3-0, and the celebrations ensued.

Let’s not forget England’s success was also in part due to Natalie Sciver. Batting incredibly effectively in the ODI series and bowling well in both the ODIs and iT20s, she scored a total of 194 runs and took 7 wickets, the latter bettered only by Brunt. Her ground fielding and catching is also excellent, and the only part of her game that has really failed to ignite has been her batting in iT20. England have brought her in high enough up the order, I think, but something about the expectation or pressure of the format is preventing her from recreating her ODI form. It is certainly something to continue working on.

Final Thoughts

Too much minimising England’s successes this summer seems churlish to me. Indeed, the facts back this up. I don’t particularly care if you consider Pakistan to be a “club side”, whatever that means. If we look back at how Australia, South Africa and West Indies fared against Pakistan, we can see that England’s performances are more dominant.

Pakistan’s past ODIs against top sides in the ICC WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

Australia – August 2014
In the 1st ODI, Australia finished 6 wickets down chasing 157. They took 36 overs, and would probably not have made 300.
The 2nd ODI was rain reduced to 25 overs. Australia won with just 3 balls left chasing 122, and were 5 wickets down.
The 3rd ODI was much more comfortable for Australia. They were 2 wickets down chasing 190, taking 33 overs. They would almost certainly have made 300 plus.

South Africa (Sharjah) – March 2015
Pakistan actually won one game and suffered a 2-1 narrow loss in the series. SA did not win any match especially convincingly.

West Indies – October 2015
The 1st ODI was not counted in the Championship.
In the 2nd ODI, WI successfully chased 150, but were 7 wickets down and only had 3.1 overs left.
In the 3rd ODI, WI made 281/5, and Pakistan finished on 172/9, a higher score than they achieved against England.
In the 4th ODI, Pakistan made 182/5 and WI chased successfully, reaching 183/4 off 42 overs. This was comfortable, they could have made 250 but probably not 300.

The summary from all this, is that the worst beating Pakistan had taken coming into the England leg of their ICC women’s championship campaign was by Australia in the 3rd ODI of their series (by 8 wickets with 17 overs to spare). This was only akin to the least severe of 3 defeats England inflicted upon them (by 7 wickets with 18 overs to spare in the first ODI). England won 2 matches by over 200 runs. No opposition player had scored a century against Pakistan in these previous matches, although Nicole Bolton of Australia and Stafanie Taylor of WI, twice, came close. England scored 3 centuries.

If those Australia and West Indies games had seen widely broadcast, I wonder if we would have been mitigating against the performance of the two top teams in the ICC WIC as much as England? But because no-one saw them, the opportunity did not arise. England seem to suffer for trying to lead the way.

Of course we must proceed with caution, and we can’t tell how well England will follow this series up in the West Indies. But with Sarah Taylor, who had previously scored a hundred there, set to return at some stage, England must be hopeful that they can take some more points back from their travels.

They say that the best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today, and England certainly did that. As it stands, Robinson has a series of selection “problems” over who to pick from an increasingly confident group of players, which are the kind of problems you’d like to have!

In a two-part special, James Piechowski reviews England’s summer v Pakistan.

I arrived at Grace Road, Leicester on a damp Monday afternoon to see a sodden outfield and a sharp shower, which had the spectators rushing for cover from the downpour. The umpires did their best to keep everyone’s hopes up with regular inspections of the squelchy surface, but it was no surprise when play was called off and we moved onto the reserve day. Fortunately I was able to stay locally, there was no more rain, and the tiny returning crowd were rewarded by a good day’s cricket on a largely dried field, that saw England restrict Pakistan to a sub-par 165. England’s bowling had not looked especially threatening, but Pakistan failed to push along at a rapid pace. They could have made over 200, though, if not for Knight’s intervention when she brought herself on as 4th bowling change. Seeing as England later suffered early losses in their reply, this was perhaps as important as her half-century that would follow in England’s chase. Knight bowled well, using flight to deceive the Pakistan batsmen who could, too often, only lob the ball back up in the air, either into the grateful hands of England fielders in the outfield or straight back to a delighted Knight. Sidra Ameen made a well-crafted 52, but could have picked up more singles, and this would turn out to be her best effort of the series. She would eventually be dropped in the T20s, one of several puzzling selection choices made by Pakistan as the series progressed.

In England’s chase Winfield didn’t give herself a chance though, nicking off to the first ball. She had looked to chase a wide one, nearly overbalancing as she lost her shape. She then walked on Nain Abidi’s claim of a catch, which some suggested may not have been taken above the floor. A familiar sense of doom enveloped the ground, as England had puzzlingly picked only 2 specialist batsmen for this match, one of whom had already been dismissed. England were 0-1. Would we see a slow and stodgy crawl to the target, punctuated by regular wickets? It could well have been, and when a bright and breezy innings from Elwiss was truncated by the sound of the death rattle from Sana Mir’s delivery bowling her, England were in a real spot of bother at 33-2.

Where was Fran Wilson? Surely, England needed her stick-ability about now? But in stepped Knight, who played solidly and calmly, and along with Beaumont they started to assert themselves as Pakistan’s bowling wilted. They had a new belief in themselves, no doubt in part at least instilled by Mark Robinson. In a microcosm of what was to come later in the series, Beaumont used her feet well to work the ball round and hit over the top. Her dismissal, top edging Asmavia at about the halfway point, only brought in Sciver who again in an ODI played one of her busy, positive knocks. Knight just managed to make 50 before the target was reached thanks to Sciver’s selflessness, and England made it home at a canter with 18 overs left. I rushed off to catch a train to Worcester for the next game the following day. Little did I know what was to come!

Rain from a grey, overcast sky threatened to ruin the morning’s play at New Road but thankfully it never really materialised. What certainly did materialise was aggression from England, and their opening pair. Having been inserted by Pakistan they started well and pushed on, keen to reach the tiny 50m boundaries, prepared as instructed by coach Robinson, as often as possible. Nothing Pakistan tried worked, with only the impressive Maham Tariq and Sadia Yousuf showing any semblance of control. Winfield, an imposing and muscular presence at the crease, was bristling with intent, unleashing a series of booming straight drives, and vicious pull shots, as harsh on anything short as she was was excellent at putting away the full toss, and in fact any bad ball. Her ability as a dominant opener looked unquestionable. She liked to get on top of the bowling early on and force them into mistakes. Pakistan certainly obliged with some wayward bowling and many fielding mishaps.

The opening pair marched on unhindered. There was a sense of joy around the ground as first Winfield, then Beaumont registered their tons. Winfield had played the more aggressive innings, and made it to 123, whilst Beaumont had got bogged down a little at times, but battled through, continuing her recent excellent form. Both were out in the 39th over as they tried to accelerate further. In came Nat Sciver and she was soon under way, hitting Sana Mir for six and four. The quickish dismissal of Elwiss did not phase England and Knight joined the boundary party, although she was happy to play second fiddle to Sciver’s brutality.

21 runs were scored off the 47th over and 23 off the 49th as Sciver smashed six after six off the unfortunate Asmavia Iqbal and Nida Dar. Straight back over the bowlers’ head the ball sailed; and then way up over the leg side, over cow corner, over the groundsman’s covers – Sciver seemingly determined to deposit the ball in the River Severn. It was something to behold, and something I’ll not soon forget. Sciver had smashed 6 sixes and 7 fours in her 80 off 33 balls. Her assault was only curtailed when she was run out out at the end of the innings by Wyatt, who herself smashed a quick-fire 12*. England had done it, smashing many runs and many records, and the shackles were finally off: 378 runs had been amassed.

Pakistan’s reply never really got going, and the miserly Shrubsole was able to restrict runs and take wickets, returning figures of 4-19. Only Bismah Maroof played anything like the type of innings that would have been required, hitting 61 from 81 balls with 8 fours. Other contributions were far too slow, and Pakistan limped to 166 before being all out in the 48th over. England’s bowlers had not necessarily looked too dangerous but with a large score on the board, the run rate was just too high for them to chase.

Having been desperately disappointed by a rainy Sunday in Bristol (where England men’s ODI against Sri Lanka had been abandoned), I was delighted to wake up to a bright and sunny Monday in Taunton ready for the 3rd ODI. Again England won the toss and chose to bat, and two increasingly familiar figures made their way out in to the middle. After a solid start, the diminutive Beaumont provided a perfect contrast to Winfield’s brawn, playing square of the wicket with style and invention as she swept, reverse swept, hit over the top and drove beautifully through the covers. She was surely some type of controlled whirlwind, dervish-like at the crease. Her ability to use her feet to get to the pitch of the ball, or to hang back and play the ball late, was a feature of her batting; and coupled with her experience playing in the middle order, means that if she can see off the early overs she will be ideally placed to compose a long innings. The last century of her incredible 168* (including 20 fours) was nigh-on chance-less, and just goes to show how she can accelerate and exert real control as the innings progresses.

At the height of Beaumont’s onslaught, as boundary followed inevitable boundary, Pakistan were found to be clueless in the field and were far too reactive, moving fielders around where the last ball had gone through, only to find Beaumont smashing the next ball through the newly vacated region. This happened time and time again. If Pakistan had lost a horse because they had just shut the gate after one had bolted, there would not be many horses left in Pakistan right now!

The partnerships between the two openers across this whole summer series were remarkable. Their combined contributions tallied up 816 runs from 12 innings. A small statistical anomaly: Lauren Winfield scored exactly the same number of runs, 166, in 3 innings across both ODI and T20 formats.

England have unearthed two gems here, who complement each other ideally and they should be kept together as an opening pair whenever possible. Whether England are faced with fast bowling on a pacey track, or spin on a slow, dry turner, one of these two will be in their element. The other, I think, has enough ability to stick at it through unfavoured conditions. The biggest puzzle is how they have taken so long to shine like this, (although Winfield had shown some promise in 2014/15). We should give Robinson some credit for this, but not too much. His decision to drop Winfield for the World T20 was unwise. So in particular, Winfield had battled through to success this summer against considerable odds.

At Taunton Georgia Elwiss played beautifully for 77. She tends to take early risks and may give a chance or two, but has a resolute nature that means she can usually battle through to punish the opposition bowlers, using attractive cuts and drives through the off-side. She can hit a long ball, and once she gets in can be difficult to prize from the crease. With her obvious ability with the ball added into the mix, the only part of her game that is lacking is her ground fielding, which is not up to the standard of our best. The other question around her role is in T20. Robinson seems content to play her one game, then leave her out seemingly at random. Ideally more consistency would serve better. Credit should also go to Sciver who played a similar belligerent innings, this time just cut short of her 50 when she was caught off the bowling of Asmavia Iqbal for 48, going for another boundary. England eventually reached 366-4. With the longer boundaries and the slower start, this was in my opinion and even better batting effort from England than in the previous game at Worcester.

Pakistan’s reply got off to a bad start and never really recovered. Only Bismah Maroof, again, and wicket-keeper Sidra Nawaz with a good 47, played well enough to challenge England. Both were removed by Laura Marsh though, who returned figures of 3-29 off her allocation of 10 overs.

Alex Hartley was also bowled out on her début, and after giving away a few too many runs with some friendly full tosses, came back strongly in her second spell, only conceding 15 runs in 5 overs. Katherine Brunt (5-30) treated us to an exhibition of death bowling, castling Sana Mir and 3 more tail-enders with a series of full, straight deliveries that turned back the clock and were too good for Pakistan’s lower order. England had won the game by 202 runs and taken the series 3-0. It was an ideal start for Knight and provided at least some justification for all the changes Robinson had made. The 6 ICC Women’s Championship points were vital, and England are now in a much stronger position to qualify in the top four for next year’s World Cup.

For Pakistan, Bismah Maroof is the sort of player who would not look out of place in the WBBL or KSL, it seems a shame that she has not been participating in these competitions. In order for Pakistan to continue their improvement, it’s important their best players get experience by playing with the best. Sana Mir, although disappointed with her team’s performances, was confident they’d taken plenty of learnings from the series and almost seemed pleased that England had showed them how it was possible to play cricket, that had at times seemed more like the IPL than anything else. Maybe she thought, we could aspire to this attitude, and one day soon, too.