Cricket Scotland has announced that Kari Carswell is to step down from her coaching role with the national side after 5 years at the helm.

Carswell has recently combined the roles of head of women’s cricket, head coach and senior pro, making her basically Mark Robinson, Clare Connor and Jenny Gunn all rolled into one.

Scotland had a mixed year in 2015. They reached the semi-finals of the World T20 Qualifiers, coming within one game of qualification for the tournament-proper; but in the Women’s County Championship they were relegated from Division 2 with just one win in the 50-over competition.

Carswell will now focus on her administrative role, promoting and growing the women’s game north of the border; but has also said that she intends to continue as a player.

Following on from last night’s final, Meg Lanning has been named WBBL’s Player of the Tournament; with England’s Charlotte Edwards and Heather Knight close behind in second and third places.

The adjudication was made on the basis of points awarded by the umpires in each game.

Lanning scored 560 runs in WBBL, topping the runs list ahead of Charlotte Edwards who scored 462. Knight was a little further down the runs list with 363, but also took 17 wickets.

Also making the top 10 was Danni Wyatt, who must surely now be given a proper run in England’s starting 11 in South Africa next month.

Hampshire General Manager Bob Parks has told CRICKETher that building a regional hub around the “world class” facilities at Hampshire County Cricket Club, and at key-partner Southampton Solent University, were the keys to their successful Super League bid.

“Our bid, which emphasised the regional aspect of the Super League concept, fitted very well with the ECB’s aspirations… [and] the idea of hosting a team at a world class venue like the Ageas Bowl was also high on their list of criteria.”

“Southampton Solent University offers excellent sports science facilities… [and] will also attract players who wish to play Super League and study in Southampton.”

Parks emphasises that they see this as a “South Central” regional team rather than just a “Hampshire” county one, with the franchise sitting at the pinnacle of a development pathway, which includes (among others) Berkshire, Oxfordshire and of course Sussex.

“Sussex have a very well-established women’s development pathway and will provide a number of players for the new team.  Their expertise and experience will also be vital in helping less established counties grow their player base and improve the quality of cricket played throughout the region at grassroots level.”

Asked if they have been promised particular players, as Yorkshire and Lancashire appear to have been, Parks says no, but this is something they are hoping to have sorted sooner rather than later:

“No players have been allocated by the ECB or selected by ourselves yet, [but] we hope to hear more in the next couple of weeks.”

Finally, the most important question of all: what will the franchise be called? The answer, apparently, is that it could be up to you! They will be holding a public competition to choose a name, promoted through the local media and commercial partners, in the next few weeks – so look out for that if you’re from the area!

England all-rounder Nat Sciver has been ruled-out of next month’s ODIs against South Africa with an ankle injury.

There is no doubt this is a serious blow for new coach Mark Robinson ahead of his first tour – Sciver was one of the few England players to come out of last summer’s Women’s Ashes with her balance in credit, chalking up two Man of the Match performances in the series.

In the recent WBBL, Sciver’s batting form has been somewhat indifferent – averaging just 13 at a strike rate of 91; but her bowling has been impressive – 18 wickets at an economy rate of 6.2, putting her joint-3rd* on the list.

Sciver is replaced in England’s ODI squad by Tammy Beaumont, who was already selected for the T20 leg of the tour; and the hope is that Sciver may be able to rejoin the squad for the T20s.

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* Prior to Sunday’s final.

The WBBL title is heading to Sydney, after the Sixers beat the Hobart Hurricanes to join the Thunder in Sunday’s final.

In the first semi-final, the Thunder looked to have under-performed with the bat against the Perth Scorchers, posting just 118 with only Alex Blackwell (39 off 41) and Stafanie Taylor (24 off 25) really making much of a dent in the scorers’ inkwells.

The Thunder looked in even more trouble as Elyse Villani raced to 23 off 9 balls, but at the other end Charlotte Edwards was already getting tied-down before Villani was run out in the 5th over, and from there the Scorchers were never quite in it, the Thunder winning in the end by 8 runs.

To say the second semi-final was rain-affected is something of an understatement. With the match between the Sixers and the Hurricanes already reduced to 14 overs, the Hurricanes (possibly unwisely in retrospect) chose to bat, posting  a respectable 86 – a Run Rate of 6.14.

Then the rain came down again, and despite a window of an hour-and-a-half before the men’s semi-final was due to start, the Sixers’ target was reduced to 55 off 8 – a Run Rate of 6.88, less than a run-an-over difference, with obviously all their wickets in-hand.

With no pressure whatsoever, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry made the runs without loss, with 10 balls to spare. All credit to them, but harsh on the Hurricanes, who might justly be asking if it is time to look at reducing the wickets in hand as well as adjusting the total in these kinds of situation?

Charlotte Edwards Kia Sportage might be back home in England, but who needs a car when you’ve got the England captain as your designated driver? Edwards hit 63 off 51 balls as the Perth Scorchers surged towards a last-minute semi-final spot in WBBL, joining Sydney Thunder, Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers in the knockout stages.

With the Stars facing the Thunder in the morning, it could have all been over by lunch time for the Scorchers; but despite restricting the Thunder to just 104, the Stars just didn’t align for Melbourne and they blew their chance of guaranteed qualification by 6 runs; leaving them on 14 points with a NRR of 0.034.

This meant that the Scorchers had to beat the Renegades to join the Stars on 14 points, but to qualify they would also need to slightly improve their NRR, which was 0.005 going into the final day.

It was another English woman – Nicky Shaw – who did the first part of the job, taking 3-28 as the Renegades were restricted to 108; before Edwards took the wheel as the Scorchers knocked off the runs in 15.2 overs.

Elsewhere,  the Sydney Sixers completed their remarkable “zeroes to heroes” comeback – from last place at Christmas, with just one win from their first 7, they won every match since to finish 3rd – beating the Hurricanes today on the final ball to seal the deal.

Sussex Chief Exec Zac Toumazi has responded to this week’s announcement of the Super League franchises hosts by saying he wishes the competition “every success”… before going on to damningly question the ability of the project to deliver on its key goals.

Sussex gave serious consideration at the highest levels to the idea of bidding to be a host, but in the end decided against doing so – a “strategic decision” which Toumazi attributes rather mysteriously to “a number of factors”.

Rumour has it that fundamental to this was the refusal of the ECB to guarantee the availability of key players from the county to the Super League team; so there is apparently some surprise at Sussex that other hosts (e.g. Yorkshire re. Katherine Brunt and Lancashire re. Kate Cross) do seem to have been given just such assurances.

More generally there was the feeling that Sussex have invested significant time and money in the development of players, the rewards of which they deserved to reap themselves, rather than see leak away to other teams via the stroke of an ECB pen.

Nevertheless far from walking away, Toumazi promises to double-down on the county’s efforts, with an innovative new coaching program for 2016, building on the county’s success at grassroots and elite levels, which Sussex argue will provide a “sustainable future” for the women’s game in terms of both participation and performance… with the clear implication that they believe the Super League will not.

Ireland have announced that they will be hosting South Africa this July/ August, playing 4 ODIs and 3 T20s against the Women Proteas who currently sit 4th in the ICC Women’s International Championship table.

The ODI’s are scheduled for July 24, 26, 29 and August 1, followed by the T20s on August 4, 5 and 7, with venues yet to be confirmed.

Prior to that, the sides will also encounter each other in the group stages of the Women’s World T20 in India in March.

Having recently won the WWT20 Qualification tournament, beating Bangladesh in the final, Ireland have firmly established themselves recently as the No. 1 “Associate” nation in the women’s game.

As such, and they will provide a genuine test for a South African team who are on the up, but were themselves in a similar position only a few short years ago.

Cricket Ireland Performance Director Richard Holdsworth has told CRICKETher that Ireland are focussing on their independent future, following news of their withdrawal from the Women’s County Championship.

Holdsworth said that although Ireland had in fact been offered the opportunity to participate in a restructured Women’s County Championship following the introduction of the Super League in 2017, they had made the decision to focus their resources instead on building their own expanded calendar.

“The cost has been a factor,” admitted Holdsworth. “Cricket Ireland has been investing significant funds into participating in these two ECB competitions, and the feeling of our Cricket Committee and management is to invest now in more international fixtures both home and abroad.”

But there were other overriding issues too, not least the challenge of participating in an overseas competition, when almost all of the squad are 100% amateurs with full-time day jobs:

“The nature of the fixture list meant we often flew in very late in the evening before matches, or very early in the morning, neither of which were great preparation for elite cricket.”

Now Ireland are looking to build on their own local programs, with Holdsworth promising that the money saved would be ploughed back into the domestic game, including an enhanced “Super 3s”, following the launch of the competition just last year.

Holdsworth thanked the ECB for their on-going co-operation and expressed the hope that it would continue at more of an international level:

“The ECB has been, and continue to be very supportive… [and] we are also hoping the ECB will be able to play more representative matches against Ireland, particularly with their Academy program.”

With Ireland having recently qualified once again for the T20 World Cup, firmly establishing themselves in the “Top 10” as arguably the leading “Associate” nation, clearly the only way is forward now for these ambitious girls in green!

In a last-minute move which has forced the ECB to frantically rejig this summer’s fixture list, Ireland have stunningly withdrawn from the Women’s County Championship and Women’s T20 Cup.

Ireland have been part of the English “county” scene since 2012 – a project which was intended to give their international players a boost by playing more regularly against higher quality opposition than was possible within their own domestic setup.

But it was an expensive undertaking. Unlike the English counties which are subsidised by the ECB, Ireland have had to bear the full costs of participation themselves, including playing all their fixtures “away”, adding to the financial burden of flights and hotel rooms; and CRICKETher understands that this was the major factor behind their decision to quit.

But equally, given that Ireland have qualified for the past two World T20s, not to mention giving Australia some good games last summer, perhaps it could also be argued that the initiative had successfully run its course.

Plus as previously reported on CRICKETher, the ECB had already announced that their participation would end in 2018 anyway, following the introduction of the Super League in England.

As a result of Ireland’s withdrawal, their Divisions (Division 2 of the County Championship and Division 1 of the T20 Cup) will now consist of just 8 teams, with only one side being relegated – though given the changes coming in 2017, the matter of relegation is perhaps somewhat academic.

Additionally, the Division 1 T20 fixture list has been extensively rejigged. The “triple-header” format, where 3 teams all play each other on a single day, is retained overall; but with each county now having one single-header against a “local” rival.