This was one of those games that neither team, nor any one player, really dominated; but overall the Stars came out on top because they were able to somehow eke out those few extra runs here and there which got them over the line first – Tammy Beaumont (47) made a few more runs that Hollie Armitage (43); Bryony Smith (31) made a couple more than Lauren Winfield (29); Alex Hartley (2-18) was that bit less expensive than Jenny Gunn (2-19).

The “Over by Over” graph (above) is interesting because it shows the Diamonds cruising along at a pretty steady pace throughout their innings, at a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 per over.

In contrast, the Stars innings was all highs and lows – three Diamonds overs (1, 10 and 18) conceded just one run apiece, whilst 3 others (2, 5 and 16) went for 15 or more.

From the Diamonds’ perspective, perhaps eliminating 2 of those 3 expensive “peaks” could well have won them the game; but to be fair only in hindsight could you have predicted that Katherine Brunt, whose first two overs had conceded just 1 and 3, would suddenly go for 17 off Bryony Smith in her third; or that Steph Butler, who had bowled 2 overs for 10 up to that point, would disappear for 15 off Tammy Beaumont in her third.

Afterwards, 18-year-old Bryony Smith, who has stepped up to the opening role for the Stars after injury ruled out the more experienced Kirstie White, spoke to CRICKETher, having scored 31 priceless runs at the top of the Stars order:

“I’ve been opening for Surrey in county Twenty20. I like to open with the powerplay – one of my strengths is to hit through the gaps; and to bat with someone like Tammy, who has obviously got a wealth of experience, is really good – every ball we’d be talking – it’s good to have someone like her down the other end.”

“We were very disappointed after Sunday [losing to the Vipers] but we’re pleased for the team to get back on the board.”

If the purpose of the Super League is to give some of the younger county prospects a chance to show what they can do, then today was a day when two of them did just that for the Vipers.

Seventeen year old Katie George had played just 27 times for Hampshire prior to today. Several of those games were in Div 3 of the County Championship, and none were higher than Div 2, so really this was her first ever match at this level, and she excelled – bowling 17 dots in her 4 overs. She might be disappointed she didn’t take a wicket, but if you can bowl 70% dots, you don’t need to take wickets in T20!

Then we had a fantastic contribution from Georgia Adams, eclipsing even Wisden’s Leading Women Cricketer in the World, Suzie Bates out in the middle. Adams has a lot more experience than George admittedly, playing for Sussex in Div 1, but for a long time she seemed to be a specialist in playing a couple of pretty shots and then getting out cheaply. Not today – in the biggest game of her life, she hung in there, and had a bit of luck being dropped by Marizanne Kapp, but you have to make the luck count, and “Gads” did today – top-scoring with 41 off 43 balls.

Afterwards, Georgia Adams spoke to our editor, Raf Nicholson:

“It’s another level. Looking out and playing at such a huge ground and a Test ground is brilliant, and looking round and seeing so many people, it’s completely new to me. I’ve never played anything quite like this.”

“Suzie guided me through that innings… the whole way through – her knowledge of the game and of the bowlers that we were facing – as batter it helps so much to have an extra bit of info – it kept me calm and kept me level out there.”

A couple of standout performances today from two overseas stars – Sophie Devine (52) with the bat, and Dane van Niekerk (4 overs for 13) with the ball – will get the plaudits, but it was a team effort which won the Lightning this match.

The batting contributions of two county players – Eve Jones (12 off 12) and Paige Scholfield (13 off 9) added 25 critical runs at the end of their innings, which not only created a much more “pressure” score for the Diamonds to chase, but also ultimately grabbed the bonus point too.

Then the Lightning were excellent in the field – Georgia Elwiss in particular saving run after run between extra cover and mid off.

The Diamonds meanwhile let the pressure get to them after a good start – they were going at 10 an over initially, but this rapidly evaporated. Lauren Winfield can have no real complaints about her run out… though she did, very publically; and it is difficult to believe that her frustration didn’t actually add to the pressure on the batsmen that followed her in.. and out again!

Wickets begat wickets and eventually, by about the start of the 16th over, Diamonds tails were really drooping – they had given up and it was only a matter of whether they would get enough to deny the Lightning the bonus point; which they definitively failed to do – falling 17 runs short of even that target.

Afterwards Sophie Devine had this to say:

“I was fairly nervous – coming off a winter in New Zealand you are always a little bit scratchy, with not playing much outdoors. We’ve had a couple of warm up games, but in the first real hit-out it is nice to get some runs on the board, although we were probably 15 or 20 runs short. It probably didn’t help when I ran out Ellyse Perry, and I’m sure I’ll cop that, but we bowled fantastically well. Yorkshire came out really hard at us, so it was a great team effort to peg it back in the middle overs and I thought [Becky] Grundy was outstanding – she obviously fires-up which is motivating, being in the field with someone who is so passionate.”

Lizzy Ammon has a piece in today’s Times headlined: “New era for women’s game begins but stars are paid only £20 a day”. [Link (£)]

The piece raises a number of questions about the Kia Super League, arguing that “the competition is facing the challenge of poorly paid players, low attendances and no TV deal.”

These are certainly legitimate issues to  raise, but they also ignore the other side of the story.

Take the issue of money: it is quite true that there isn’t much of it – no one is going to be dashing off to their Ferrari dealer with their KSL pay cheque, that’s for sure! But £150 is £150 more than anyone gets for playing in the Women’s County Championship; and for players like Katie Levick and Daisy Gardner, this is the first time they have ever been paid at all, for something that they basically consider a hobby!

As for low attendances, we will have to wait and see exactly what transpires, but I’d be happy to bet that even the lowest KSL crowd will dwarf the numbers we usually see for the County Champs, where beyond friends and family, you can usually count the crowd on the fingers of one hand.

And the TV… well yes, that is disappointing; especially if it really was the case that Sky were “concerned about the quality of the cricket”, because that is the one thing which they really don’t need to be worried about – KSL has the stars to ensure the cricket is going to be amazing. But again, the County Championship has never been broadcast, so we haven’t lost anything by the lack of a TV deal, we are just exactly where we have always been!

Do we wish it was on TV, drawing big crowds, and paying the players a bit more? Absolutely! So do the players. (So do the ECB, believe it or not.)

And we do understand that the KSL all looks pretty small potatoes when seen through the prism of even the men’s county game, let alone something like the IPL.

But would we rather be here with “something”, or back where we were a year ago with “nothing”? Looked at from that perspective, the real story of the KSL is one of remarkable progress in a very short space of time; and for that, the ECB deserve credit where it’s due.