England and Somerset fast bowler Anya Shrubsole has been named the Professional Cricketer’s Association Player of the Summer 2015.

Shrubsole was England’s leading wicket-taker in this year’s Women’s Ashes with 13 wickets; and was the only bowler on either side to record a series economy rate of under 3*.

Anya was also a key player for Somerset in winning Division 2 of the Women’s County Championship, taking 14 wickets and additionally chipping-in with the bat, averaging 29 including one fifty.

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* Minimum 10 overs bowled in the series.

With yesterday’s departure of England Women’s Performance Director Paul Shaw, following so soon after the resignation of Academy coach Lisa Keightley, both of the two most important coaching roles in English women’s cricket are now in-play, raising the question of just exactly who is in charge now? And with England central contracts due to be renewed over the next 3 months, this is a bit more than an academic issue!

Sources at the ECB have told CRICKETher that Paul Shaw will continue to play an in-post active role through December, and is very-much involved in the ongoing process of contract renewals.

Meanwhile, the ECB’s priority is to name his successor by January, prior to the South Africa tour in February; and with the calibre of candidate they are seeking this is likely to take some time, so for the moment we are told that the Academy role is basically on hold and the ECB will not be seeking candidates until after the new Head Coach is appointed – i.e. early next year.

Reading between the tea-leaves, another reason may be that this will also potentially allow the incoming Head Coach to have some input into who is appointed to the Academy, because although the jobs are not formally linked, in practice they will need to work very closely together at Loughborough, where the Academy share the facilities with the top-tier “Performance” squad.

The ECB have announced that England Women’s Head of Performance and Chief Selector Paul Shaw is stepping down from his post and that his role will be replaced by a more traditional “Head Coach”.

Shaw will remain in-place for the remainder of this year, but England are hoping to have made a new appointment by the time they head to South Africa in February.

In her official statement Clare Connor paid tribute Shaw’s contribution; but reading between the lines, she basically acknowledges that with his age-group/ academy background he didn’t have the necessary experience to continue to take the team forward, suggesting that a key criteria for his replacement is someone who has already actually played and/ or coached the game at the very highest levels:

“The decision to move back to a more traditional coaching structure, led by one overarching head coach, ideally with first class or international playing or coaching experience, is what we believe is now needed to take the players to the next level in their development as professional cricketers.”

As CRICKETher reported back in July, England stars travelling to Australia for the winter have been warned by the ECB that they are expected to be back in Blighty by mid-January to prepare for their international tour to South Africa, meaning that they will miss the semi-finals and final of the WBBL, which is set to be the biggest domestic event ever in the history of women’s cricket.

Word is that Cricket Australia were bitterly disappointed by this – the finals are set to be broadcast on national TV, so they are a massive showcase at a critical juncture in the development of the women’s game and they desperately need all the star-power they can get. Hence the past couple of months have seen intense lobbying from Cricket Australia for a change of heart at the ECB, pointing out that there are two whole weeks between the WBBL final and England’s first match in South Africa.

But with several of the England players due to fly out this week, whispers now reach us from Australia that despite everything the ECB have refused to back down: the players are primarily contracted to them and that’s that – the closest Charlotte Edwards and Co. will come to the WBBL final is watching it on TV back in Loughborough.

Of course, the ECB are quite within their rights; but one day they’ll want a favour from Cricket Australia… perhaps as soon as next summer’s Super League… and one wonders quite how cooperative the Aussies will then feel like being?

When 14-year-old Lauren Bell made her Division 1 County Championship debut for Berkshire in May, the county’s coaches were keen to stress that this was a one-off due to unavailabilities, and maybe the only game she’d play this season.

It was smart management, reducing the pressure on the player; but in retrospect they needn’t have worried: Bell took to county cricket like a kite to the breeze, going on to make 8 1st XI appearances in 2015, taking 7 wickets at 29 and leaving little doubt that she has a bright future ahead of her.

Blessed with preternatural height, Bell has been christened The Shard by her teammates, so it is no surprise to learn that she is a fast bowler by trade – an obvious comparison among current stars would be Australia’s Holly Ferling.

But whilst Ferling often has to be hidden away in the deep, Bell – a talented footballer – shows impressive grace and athleticism in the field, with long arms that enable her to swoop upon a travelling ball and deliver a deadly throw in a single movement, reminiscent of no less than Lydia Greenway.

Bell’s county skipper Heather Knight believes that she can go a long way in the game:

“I’ve been massively impressed with Lauren this season. She’s got natural pace and bounce and if she can harness that and become more consistent she has a lot of potential.”

And her attitude on the field also comes in for praise from the England vice-captain:

“She always plays with a massive smile on her face which is great to see!”

Meanwhile, Berkshire manager John Dickinson has vowed to treasure Bell’s prodigious talent, promising CRICKETher: “We’ll nurse her and bring her on.”

The great American baseball player Yogi Berra, who died just last week, once said that you should never make predictions, especially about the future!

But just for once, to hell with it: CRICKETher have seen cricket future… and its name is Lauren Bell.

Players from at least three “associate” nations will have the prospect of spending time in Australia this December/ January, attached to a WBBL team under the just-launched “Associate Rookie” program.

The rookies will be selected from the teams that attend the World T20 Qualifiers in Thailand this November – so Ireland and Scotland players will be hoping to impress Aussie legend Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who will be making the selections following the tournament.

Players from Netherlands, Bangladesh, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, China and Zimbabwe will also have the chance to seize this amazing opportunity.

Team coaches, including Women’s Cricket Scotland boss Kari Carswell, will have the tough job of nominating up to three players to go forward for one of the 8 places up for grabs – one at each WBBL franchise.

Once selected, the players will spend two weeks at WBBL, training alongside the “pros”, with the possibility that they could even get a game if an injury crisis hits their team.

With so many talented players to choose from, it will be interesting to see if Fitzpatrick goes by potential – which could favour youngsters like Ireland’s Elena Tice and Scotland’s Kirstie Gordon – or by current ability, which might make Ireland’s Izzy and Cecelia Joyce likely picks.

Although the ECB received a massive 27 “Expressions of Interest” in acquiring one of the 6 teams which will participate in next summer’s inaugural Women’s Cricket Super League, it has been suggested that they may struggle to translate these into actual bids when the deadline comes around at the end of this year.

Almost all of the submitted Expressions of Interest were led by existing First Class counties, who are the only ones with access to the one thing you need above all else to host a team: a ground!

(Notwithstanding the fact that educational institutions have been repeatedly posited as potential hosts, Clare Connor made it clear at the launch event that even Loughborough’s ground would not meet the required standards!)

Clearly then, the counties hold the keys to the kingdom – they have the grounds; not to mention the coaches, the indoor schools… and the actual experience of running a professional cricket team, which should not be underestimated!

However, the word around the game reveals a worrying picture of cold feet at county board level, echoing what Lizzy Ammon has written here:

“Privately some county chief executives have said to me that they are concerned about the realities of being a host team.”

Unsurprisingly, when you start to dig a little bit deeper, a lot of this seems to come down to money. With a couple of notable exceptions, the First Class counties aren’t exactly swimming in it, and Super League looks at best like a break-even exercise.

Yes, the ECB have talked big money… and to be fair, it is a lot more than the women’s county sides currently get… but it still isn’t lottery winnings, by the time you’ve annualised it and divided it around 6 teams. Back of an envelope calculations carried out by CRICKETher suggest that the Aussies are investing almost twice as much in WBBL.

Super League is also a risk, the kind of which the counties feel very nervous about pursuing in the current climate; with the suggestion being that if they could be sure they’d break even, they might go ahead; but given the impact even a fairly small loss could make upon their overall bottom lines, there are serious concerns.

None of this is insurmountable of course; and the likelihood has to be that with 27 frogs to kiss, the ECB will still find their 6 princes… but they just might have to sign a couple of pre-nups first!

In what must have been pretty-much her last act as England Academy coach, Lisa Keightley has culled almost a quarter of last year’s class in announcing this year’s expanded intake.

Sonia Odedra, Carla Rudd and Paige Scholfield have all been dropped; and whilst the door has been left open for Georgia Hennessy, she has also not been included at this time.

For 27-year-old Odedra, who was technically in the full ‘Performance’ squad and who has been part of the Academy setup since 2009, this looks likely to close the door on her England career. She may have only a single Test cap to her name; but it is one more Test cap than most of the rest of us will ever have, and it is something that she should remember with pride as she moves on.

Rudd and Scholfield have both been victims of other’s successes rather than their own failures – namely budding Lancashire glove butler Ellie Threlkeld and Middlesex tonker Sophia Dunkley. However, both Rudd and Scholfield should keep heart and look to the opportunities that next year’s new Super League will provide to get their cricketing careers back on track.

Warwickshire’s Hennessy is also not named in the current squad, after dropping out of the Academy program this summer with personal issues. However, an ECB source has told CRICKETher that the way is open for a possible return in future.

Finally, one other person not returning this winter is Academy Head Coach Lisa Keightley herself, who is going back to her native Australia to take up a job with the Western Australia Cricket Association in Perth.

England Academy – Winter 2015/16:

• Georgia Adams (Sussex)
• Hollie Armitage (Yorkshire)
• Ellen Burt (Sussex)
• Stephanie Butler (Staffordshire)
• Freya Davies (Sussex)
• Sophia Dunkley (Middlesex)
• Sophie Ecclestone (Cheshire / Lancashire)
• Katie George (Hampshire)
• Alex Hartley (Middlesex)
• Evelyn Jones (Staffordshire)
• Emma Lamb (Lancashire)
• Sophie Luff (Somerset)
• Alex MacDonald (Yorkshire)
• Bryony Smith (Surrey)
• Eleanor Threlkeld (Lancashire)