A weekend of high drama in the Royal London One Day Championship saw Surrey top Division 1, as Kent dropped points for the first time since 2013.

DIVISION 1 – ROUND 1

Sussex / Surrey – Put into bat by Sussex, England wicket keeper Sarah Taylor made 77, but a disappointing total of 143 was chased-down easily by Surrey, as Nat Sciver and Kirstie White both scored 67.

Kent / Yorkshire – At Beckenham, a depleted Yorkshire were taken apart by Charlotte Edwards, who made 88* to see Kent home by 9 wickets, with 15 overs to spare.

Warwickshire / Nottinghamshire – In a match interrupted at one point by thunder and lightning, Notts chased down 105 to beat Warwickshire.

Middlesex / Berkshire – Cover problems and a waterlogged pitch at Edmonton saw the game abandoned without a ball being bowled. (Full Report… such as it is!! Comment)

DIVISION 1 – ROUND 2

Kent / Sussex – Kent failed to clock up all their bonus points for the first time since 2013, as they made just 185, Deanna Cooper top-scoring with 88*. With Sussex needing 5 off the final over, and then two of the last ball, it could have gone either way… and in fact it went both, as a missed stumping and a disputed run, led to a controversial tie being called. The result was disputed by Kent in an appeal to the ECB; but a final ECB statement upheld the umpires’ on-field decision and the tie was confirmed.

Nottinghamshire / Lancashire Lightning – The Lightning suffered four run-outs as they were all-out for 141 in the final over, which Notts chased-down in a team effort, thanks to contributions from Jane Smit (31) Zoe Richards (28*) and Danni Wyatt (27).

Berkshire / Surrey – Surrey went top after beating Berkshire in a tipsy-topsy-turvy game, in which the telling contribution turned out to be from New Zealander Rachel Candy, who scored an unbeaten 81 off 71 balls as Surrey made 217. Berkshire then got within two agonising runs of victory, before they were all-out in the final over. (Full Report)

Warwickshire / Yorkshire – Chasing 207 after Loz Winfield top-scored for Yorkshire with 64; Warwickshire collapsed to 92/8, with Katie Levick taking a fifer, before they recovered some dignity to finish up on 121/8 after 50 overs.

DIVISION 2 – ROUND 1

Devon / Essex – Essex were bowled out for 98 and Devon chased down the required runs in 36.4 overs, winning by 4 wickets.

Staffs / Somerset – No play due to rain.

Wales / Scotland – Match abandoned without a ball being bowled due to a waterlogged pitch.

Worcestershire / Ireland – Isobel Joyce hit a glorious 127*, the maiden century of this year’s Championship, as Ireland finished on 315-5 and then bowled Worcestershire out for 189.

DIVISION 2 – ROUND 2

Devon / Durham – Devon beat Durham thanks in the main to a 1st-wicket partnership of 144 between Amara Carr (95) and Aylish Cranstone.

Somerset / Ireland – Sophie Luff hit 65 as Somerset posted 223, before blowing Ireland away for just 65, the wickets being shared between England’s Anya Shrubsole, sister Lauren and Jenny Withers.

Staffs / Scotland – A maiden championship 50 for young talent Kirstie Gordon wasn’t enough to save Scotland from a Staffordshire Bull Terriering, as Staffs chased down 194 inside 44 overs, with Eve Jones (54) top-scoring for Staffs.

Wales / Essex – Veteran Lauren Parfitt carried her bat for 109* as Wales beat Essex by a country mile, with only Beth Langston’s 65 saving Essex from total humiliation as they registered 9 single-figure scores, with Claire Thomas taking 3/22.

Rachel Candy starred as Surrey made it two from two this weekend, taking maximum bonus points to lead the Women’s County Championship.

It was Berkshire who got off to the more promising start, on a beautiful early-summer morning at North Maidenhead, as Immy Brown had Holly Knight bowled for 5 and then sent England’s Nat Sciver back to the pavilion, LBW for a golden duck. Susie Rowe (21) and Kirstie White (30) helped steady the ship a little, but with Surrey at 94/5, it was Berkshire who seemed to be on top when Candy entered the fray. But the New Zealander proceeded to smash an unbeaten 81 off 71 balls as Surrey finished on 217.

Berkshire’s reply began disastrously, as both Alex Rogers and Linsey Smith departed for ducks; but England Vice-Captain Heather Knight and experienced Aussie Corinne Hall both hit 50s as The Beavers reached 102/2 at drinks.

Knight was eventually out for 65, when a very, very thin edge was caught behind by Surrey glove-butler Kirsty White, off the bowling of Nat Sciver; but Berkshire were a little behind the rate still when Emily Gerke came in to clobber her way to a maiden championship 50, and take Berkshire within touching-distance of the win.

It wasn’t to be, however. Gerke was run out by Candy for 57, and although Berkshire needed just 11 runs off the last 4 overs, the pressure told, as Rachel Hardy was run out in a disastrous “rabbit in the headlights” moment with Immy Brown, who then handed a regulation catch to Holly Knight at gully to end the game with Berkshire an agonising 2 runs short.

Afterwards, Surrey captain Cecily Scutt told CRICKETher:

“We just tried to spread the field and keep control for as long as possible and then held our nerve at the end.”

Reflecting on a weekend that left Surrey at the top of the table, she praised her team, saying:

“It’s great – we had a few first-game nerves yesterday, but everything came together and we played really well.”

Surrey’s next matches are on the late-May Bank Holiday, at home to Middlesex and Warwickshire; while Berkshire face Notts and Yorkshire at Finchampstead.

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).