Tomorrow – Tuesday 24th May – sees The Oval host the second annual Pemberton Greenish Cup between Surrey and Middlesex.

Last season, Middlesex took home the silverware, thanks to a solid 46 from Fran Wilson and some tight bowling from Alex Hartley.

The Middlesex “Meatballs” have to be narrow favourites to retain the trophy, having already beaten their London rivals once this season, in a low-scoring encounter in the Women’s County Championship, when Wilson and Hartley were once again the linchpins; though they will be without the injured Wilson at The Oval.

If Surrey are going to overturn the odds, two key players will be Kirstie White – their wicket-keeper batsman, who is averaging 49 in the County Championship – and skipper Cecily Scutt, who is the leading wicket-taker in Division 1 with 10 wickets, including a five-for against… Middlesex!

The action gets started under the lights at The Oval at 6:30pm, but if you’ve got kids, get there early as there will be all sorts of activities going on from 4:00pm, including rumoured appearances by some England stars!

And the best news… it’s all free – so we’ll see you there!

An Ireland “A” side will play England Academy in 4 50-over matches at Loughborough next month. Although this is an “A” side, it still looks a pretty strong team, led by new skipper Laura Delany and including her predecessor Izzy Joyce; and they will provide a good test for the Academy girls looking to turn the eye of Head Coach Mark Robinson as he adjusts to life without Charlotte Edwards and (for the moment) Sarah Taylor.

Cricket Ireland have also reconfirmed a slightly rejigged series against South Africa later in the summer. The fixtures clash with Super League, so South Africa will be without some of their biggest stars, which means it should be a competitive tour.

Ireland v South Africa Tour

(For those considering travelling, all of the above fixtures are in the Dublin region.)

Sounding very-much like a captain-elect, Heather Knight has tipped Fran Wilson and Amy Jones to step into the roles vacated by Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor this summer.

Speaking to @SWLondoner at a Royal London event to launch the One Day season, Knight is quoted as saying:

“There will be spaces in the line-up and the order will look very different but there is some real talent in our squad at the moment… Amy Jones is a big one with a hell of a lot of potential and it will be a big year for her, and Fran [Wilson] as well.”

Wilson for Edwards is in many ways a like-for-like replacement – they are both unflashy, but highly reliable, “accumulators”.

Jones meanwhile has been Taylor’s “under-glove-butler” for some years now, and is the only member of the current squad who does the job regularly at county.

Perhaps a more interesting question is whether England will bring in someone else to cover Jones. The current Academy glove-butler – Ellie Threlkeld – is just 17, which has led to suggestions that Berkshire’s Carla Rudd or Surrey’s Kirsty White may get a call-up. Of the two, Rudd is undoubtedly the better keeper, but has always struggled for runs at county. White, on the other hand, has had an excellent start to the season with the bat, averaging 49.

Alternatively, England could turn back to Tammy Beaumont, who actually made her England debut behind the stumps back in 2009; but who does not currently keep even at county.

Aussie import Anna Lanning top-scored for Warwickshire as they beat Berkshire to stay top of the Women’s County Championship.

With Daisy Gardner out injured, Lauren Bell and Immy Brown opened the bowling for Berkshire, and both had early chances to take the wicket of Amy Jones, who was dropped by Alex Rogers at backward point off Bell and then bowled off a no ball by Brown.

Fortunately, it didn’t prove too costly, as Jones was then bowled by Bell for 1; but that brought Lanning to the crease, who built a series of partnerships through the middle order as she struck her way to a very nice 54, finding the long boundaries either side of the wicket 6 times, before being bowled by Alex Rogers.

Lanning’s fall could have spelled trouble, but Laura Crofts then took up the anchor role, making 47 as the tail wagged; before a quick-fire 20 off 19 balls from Becky Grundy finally drove Warwickshire on to exactly 200 and the 4th batting bonus point!

Berkshire’s reply started solidly enough, as Linsey Smith (40) kept pace with Heather Knight to put on 97 for the first wicket. Knight continued to look her usual assured self, but the rest of the lineup largely collapsed around her – Sherissa Gumbs (16) the only other batsman to reach double-figures, as Georgia Hennessy took 4-32. Knight (92) was last out, in the 48th over, as Warwickshire celebrated another 18-point victory, to remain out front as the only unbeaten side in the Championship.

Afterwards Warwickshire skipper Marie Kelly was full of praise for their Australian superstar:

“Anna Lanning has been pure class – watching her bat today, she was unbelievable; and as a player, she has come into the squad and fitted in so well – she was the perfect addition to our team.”

And Kelly insisted Warwickshire could win the County Championship:

“Somebody just compared us to Leicester Football Club – if we can just keep going, we could hopefully get there!”

The Bears’ still have some tough fixtures to come – not least Kent, who absolutely tonked Middlesex today; but with everyone else already having lost at least one game, it could just be opening up nicely for them to cause the Championship’s biggest upset in years.

The Hong Kong Cricket Association has announced that Southern Stars Sarah Coyte and Kristen Beams are set to play two matches in the Hong Kong Women’s Premier League later this month.

The WPL is an on-going elite competition, akin to something like a “Super Twos”; and as well as playing in two games, Coyte and Beams will also participate in a 10-day training camp with Hong Kong’s national team.

The project is part of an initiative between Cricket Australia and the HKCA which also sees Michael Clarke playing men’s T20 cricket in the territory later this month.

The ICC see Hong Kong and China as a massive opportunity, particularly for the women’s game. Both participated in the 2014 Asian Games, ultimately won by Pakistan – China coming 4th and Hong Kong being knocked out in the first round proper.

Thanks to Seargent Awesome on Twitter for the tip!

When the England team returned from the T20 World Cup in India a little over a month ago, they had no inkling of events which were shortly to unfold, culminating in Charlotte Edwards’ tearful retirement at Lords today. The players were under no illusions – they knew they had let themselves down and there were “hard yards” ahead to improve their batting, their fielding, and most especially their general levels of fitness. But nonetheless, everyone still expected Edwards to remain at the wheel today… tomorrow… and through to the World Cup in 2017.

Coach Mark Robinson was, however, starting to come to the conclusion that something a bit more radical than a few extra trips to the gym might be necessary if England were going to reverse their slow decline.

Over the following few weeks, Robinson held a number of meetings with his boss – Clare Connor – having decided that England could only get the fresh start they needed with a new skipper at the helm.

For Edwards meanwhile, life was starting to get back to normal. Assuming that if she was going to be fired it would have been immediately, she appears to have genuinely thought her position was secure, as she prepared for the new season, getting things underway with a match-winning innings of 79 for Kent in the first round of the Women’s County Championship.

The following day, Kent played Sussex at Eastbourne. As is normal, Sussex encouraged their age-group girls to attend the game if possible, and one who did so was Ellie Robinson… accompanied by her father, Mark. During a 3 hour rain delay, with all the teams, press and spectators huddled into the tiny pavilion, Robinson warmly greeted all of his players… or rather almost all of them – there appearing to be one conspicuous exception to the general atmosphere of camaraderie.

In retrospect, it is hard to believe that this wasn’t playing on Edwards’ mind as she was bowled by Tara Norris for 1 off 5 balls in the second over.

Then, the following day, Edwards received a fateful text message from Clare Connor, the substance of which was simply: “We need to talk.”

The “talk”, Connor admitted today, was the hardest of her professional life – the pair had worked hand-in-hand for over two decades – Edwards was the person to whom Connor had handed over the England captaincy ten years previously; and it was now Connor’s duty to tell her friend that the decision had been made and that she had led England on to the field for the last time back in that semi-final in India.

But worse was to come.

Edwards understood and accepted the need for new leadership, but believed that she still had a lot to offer as a player. Indeed, why wouldn’t she? England might not have performed “as a team”, but Edwards herself had made 202 runs in the tournament (one more than Meg Lanning) including 2 fifties, at a Strike Rate of 115. She might not lead England into 2017, but she would still be there as a player!

However, her hopes were to be shattered as Robinson informed her that she was not part of his plans to rebuild the team, and she would not be considered for selection in the summer or autumn squads.

Devastated, Edwards realised that the time had come to face reality and begin the painful process of signing off. After informing Robinson and Connor of this, a press conference was hastily convened at Lords. Meanwhile, Edwards composed an email to her England teammates, which was sent yesterday evening – the first any of them were to find out about the situation.

Then, selfless to the last, she set off to attend a university awards evening in Southampton, to play her role as guest of honour; whilst unbeknown to her, the news of her retirement was sadly leaking on Twitter, achieving nothing but heaping extra indignity upon her situation.

Charlotte Edwards – an England “great” if ever there was one – deserved better than that.

We really will not see her like again.

The ECB have announced the dates for England’s Women’s International Championship ODI series v West Indies this autumn.

The 5-match series will take place in Jamaica in October, at Trelawny Stadium and Sabina Park, with the vital “WIC” points up for grabs in the final 3 games. England currently sit 6th in the Women’s International Championship standings, but with 3 games “in hand” against Pakistan, will hope to have returned to one of the top 4 World Cup qualifying positions by the time October rolls around.