CRICKETher has learned that Berkshire captain (and England vice-captain) Heather Knight is set to miss the first day of the county season, after flying back from a training camp in Sri Lanka only the day before.

This is a major blow for The Beavers; and with their big-name overseas signing, Aussie Alex Blackwell, also yet to arrive, they are looking paper-thin for their opening match-up with Middlesex at Edmonton Cricket Club.

However, Middlesex are also expected to be without a key player – spinner Alex Hartley, who has impressed for the England Academy over the winter.

Knight is likely to play on Monday, against Surrey at North Maidenhead.

CRICKETher can confirm that Holly Colvin looks set to make her return to competitive cricket this weekend.

The former England star, who has over 150 international wickets, took an extended break from the game last year; but has been named in the Sussex squad to face Surrey on Sunday and Kent on Monday.

England’s Sarah Taylor is expected to captain Sussex in both games; but Georgia Elwiss, who isn’t due home from England’s training camp in Sri Lanka until Saturday, will be available for only the Kent game.

Kent have announced the signing of Kara Sutherland as their “Overseas” for the 2015 season.

The Australian left-armer bowls fast-medium and wields a big bat; but as part of a star-studded New South Wales Breakers team, she has had little opportunity to shine recently in the WNCL – batting down the order and bowling third or fourth change. In the Breakers recent WNCL Final victory, she didn’t bowl at all; and was listed to come in to bat at 11.

Sutherland does though offer one significant advantage over the likes of Berkshire’s big overseas signing Alex Blackwell and Sussex’s Erin Osborne, in that she will be available for the whole season. With Kent’s England stars likely to be absent for several matches during the Women’s Ashes, this could be vital as Kent seek to claim a record seventh county crown.

Kent kick off their season against Yorkshire and Sussex at Beckenham this Bank Holiday weekend. Entry is £5, but free for Kent Members, Canterbury Christ Church University students and under-16s.

Former World Cup winner Haidee Tiffen has been appointed head coach and chief selector of New Zealand.

A batting all-rounder, Tiffen played over 100 ODIs between 1999 and her retirement in 2009, when she led New Zealand to the final of the World Cup in Australia, where they were eventual runners-up to England.

Averaging a touch over 30 in ODIs, Tiffen also has a Test batting average of more than 100… considerably helped by having finished Not Out in 3 of her 4 Test innings!

More recently she has pursued a career in teaching.

With so many international women’s teams now going down the route of busing-in coaches from The Other Game, such as Australia’s recent appointment of Matthew Mott, it is positive that at least one of the big sides will have a female coach.

But with New Zealand firmly entrenched in the bottom half of the Women’s International Championship table, Tiffen has a job on her hands, with the White Ferns next round of matches coming up soon in India.

The ICC have announced that in future their player rankings for women’s cricket will be combined across all three formats of the game – Test, ODI and T20.

This replaces the current system whereby separate rankings were produced for ODIs and T20s.

With fewer matches overall, and almost all leading players playing all formats, it was felt that a combined system made more sense; as well as adding more clarity to the system from a marketing perspective – there will now be just one “Number One” bowler and batsman in women’s cricket.

The new “Combined Number Ones” (not yet officially announced) are likely to be Meg Lanning (Batting) and West Indies’ Anisa Mohammed (Bowling).

Sources close to the ECB have told CRICKETher that a radical restructuring of English women’s domestic cricket is being planned, with a new “professional” franchise-based competition likely to be introduced in 2016.

The franchises will be based at existing (Men’s) First Class county grounds, but will sit in a new tier above the existing Women’s County Championship, which will essentially become an Under-19 “feeder” league, with the leading women no longer playing county cricket beyond junior level.

It is understood that there will be fewer teams than the existing Women’s County Championship – perhaps just 6, which would mean room for only one London side – a role for which Surrey are perhaps positioning themselves, with the recent appointment of Ebony Rainford-Brent as only England’s second Director of Women’s Cricket.

The other obvious franchise candidates would be Kent, Sussex, Yorkshire, Lancashire + A.N.Othershire, with geographical logic suggesting a Birmingham-based amalgamation of Warwickshire, Notts and Staffs.

There is also expected to be significant overseas involvement. Currently, WCC teams are restricted to just one overseas player, but with Cricket Australia mooting up to three overseas for their Women’s Big Bash League, the ECB are likely to follow suit in order to provide a degree of reciprocity, with several England players hoping to compete in WBBL.

With Round 2 now complete, Australia remain on top, whilst New Zealand have climbed off the bottom, leaving India at the foot of the table.

(N.R.R. applied but not shown.)

Round 3 Fixtures:

• England v Australia
• India v New Zealand
• Sri Lanka v West Indies
• Pakistan v South Africa