This was supposed to be the harder of England’s two home international series this summer, representing a sterner test than Pakistan, who were dispatched without winning a game back in May. But if that was the plan, nobody seems to have told New Zealand, who folded like a paper plane – England winning by 9 wickets with 172 balls left in the tank.

With England having… how can we put this diplomatically… shall we say “anticipated” a spin-friendly pitch, they went into the game with all three spinners plus two seamers, meaning one of the batters had to step out, and that one was Alice Capsey – the first time she’s missed an ODI when she’s been fit since her debut in September 2022.

It’s a big call to leave out your most talented young player, going into a series England have admitted they are planning to use to experiment a bit, with a top six averaging 31 years old and only one player under 30 – 25-year-old Maia Bouchier. But is is also very on-brand for England’s current management, who aren’t particularly interested in the future beyond their own tenures – they presumably believe that Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt will still be around for the next 50-over World Cup, and after that… who cares?

The theme of the Pakistan series earlier in the summer was mainly that whilst England didn’t play well, Pakistan played worse, and England therefore came out on top. At least here, England can say that they put in a decent team performance. In particular England’s bowling against Pakistan lacked bite, and on more than one occasion they couldn’t find the penetration to finish off their opponents even when they were on the ropes. That meant we were all looking for a response in Durham, and it is fair to say we got it.

New Zealand got off to a bit of a flier, but once wickets started to fall, they tumbled. The only weak link in the attack today was Lauren Bell, who Tammy Beaumont felt compelled to make excuses for in the press conference. It is now an open secret that Bell is trying to add away-swing to her repertoire, and she did bowl one very good ball moving away from the right-hander, which probably deserved a wicket, but unfortunately the other 17 deliveries she got to send down today were a bit of a mess. It’s like she has totally ghosted the deliveries that were working for her, in favour of a dashing new delivery that she can’t actually pin-down to a date, let alone a situationship; and… I just hope it’s worth it.

That aside, England’s bowlers were top-draw today. I have been sceptical of Lauren Filer in the past, but she outbowled Lauren Bell when Storm played Vipers at Bristol a couple of weeks back… and I said so… and she did it again today, so… I’m saying so again! She wasn’t on a sixpence with every delivery, but she does seem to be exercising increasing control without sacrificing the pace which is her key weapon.

The first of New Zealand’s two collapses started with the run out of Georgia Plimmer, who was hit on the boot by a straight drive from Kerr who had already committed to the run. The ball ricocheted to Maia Bouchier at short midwicket, who threw the ball in before Plimmer could reach the striker’s end. The commentators banged on about how unlucky Plimmer was, but I thought this rather downplayed an absolutely outstanding piece of work from Bouchier to effect the dismissal, because the ball didn’t go “straight to her” (long, hard stare at Nick Knight) – it went three yards to her left, so she had to move, pick up the ball, switch hands and then throw the ball in (which she did all in one graceful movement) right on the money for Amy Jones to finish the job.

It was definitely the best thing Maia Bouchier did all day, which is saying something because she went out and played a fantastic knock in partnership with Tammy Beaumont to turn the win, which was by that point inevitable, into a rout. Bouchier seems to be a player that thrives on confidence, and right now that confidence is obviously sky-high – her and Beaumont were clearly having fun out there, and it was fun to watch – England were finally inspiring and entertaining. Maybe there’s a slogan in there for the next marketing campaign?

167 runs from Blaze’s brace of Bryces (try saying that quickly after a couple a couple of pints down Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem!) saw the Notts-based side finally win a regional trophy at the third time of asking, after having lost both of last year’s finals to Southern Vipers following their regeneration from Loughborough Lightning in 2023.

Earlier in the day – the first (and I guess, last) in the brief history of the tournament to feature two semi-finals – Vipers were sent home by Stars; whilst Blaze had progressed at the expense of Sparks.

Having thrashed Stars by a country mile just 3 days ago at Hove, Vipers fell just 6 runs short chasing 163 for victory. Some poor bowling at the death, with Lauren Bell’s 16th and Georgia Adams’ 17th overs conceding 13 and 11 runs respectively, allowed Stars to post a total that was perhaps 10-15 runs over par. Having let Stars get away towards the end, Vipers really needed one of their top order to take advantage of what was a decent pitch and post a really big score, but whilst Danni Wyatt and Charli Knott both got starts, neither could go on, and it was left to Charlie Dean to try to clean up behind them. Dean is a useful late middle-order bat, and may one day be more than that, but for now expecting her to get the job done by herself when the top order has failed is a big ask. She’s done it once this season, against Diamonds, but she couldn’t quite repeat that today, and Vipers fell by the wayside, missing their first final since the late 17th century.

Blaze in contrast kept better control of the ball in their semi-final against Sparks, leaving them requiring a somewhat more manageable 141. A partnership of 58 between Tammy Beaumont and Kathryn Bryce gave them a solid platform, before 19-year-old Josie Groves came in at the end to smash 14 off 4 balls at a Strike Rate of (fires up Excel…) 350 (gosh!) and get the Blaze over the line.

Having been pushed to the wire in their semi-final, Stars had to come right back out again for the final, with barely time to change into clean socks. We’d debated before the game whether the advantage was to play the first semi-final and have some time to rest-up, or play the second semi and carry your momentum through to the final. The physical advantage of the former, or the psychological advantage of the latter?

It subsequently became clear that today at least, the psychological advantage was outweighed by the lack of time to rest and recuperate. Batting first, the Stars looked slightly off the pace second time around, and fell away significantly at the end of their innings, compared to their dig earlier in the day.

If it hadn’t been for the first over of the final going for 18, Stars would have been well, well short. Blaze bowled well overall, but the stars were Heather Graham, who was clinically efficient taking 3-16; and Josie Groves, who polished-up her earlier heroics by taking 3-33, adding two more stumpings to the one she’d grabbed earlier. (Remarkably, she had never taken a stumping in regional cricket prior to today.)

Stars found the going harder and harder, falling off significantly at the end of their innings, scoring just 16 runs in the death phase, compared to the 38 they’d struck against Vipers.

Blaze’s reply got off to a luckless start with Tammy Beaumont run out at the non-striker’s end when a Marie Kelly drive was deflected onto the stumps by Tash Farrant. But… was it unlucky? Watching the replay, it looks pretty clear that Farrant did it deliberately. I’d heard rumours that some players had been practising turning what was once a rare, random mode of dismissal into a calculated play; and if players like Farrant can start doing this consistently, it adds a fascinating new dimension to the game, with batters having to be more careful than ever about backing-up.

Kelly also went early, but that brought the Bryce sisters together and once they got going, Blaze never looked like losing. The Bryce’s partnership to dismantle Sunrisers at Lords a couple of weeks ago was one of the most dominant batting displays I’ve seen in regional cricket, and they repeated the trick today, with Kathryn the first to pass 50, followed by Sarah as the Blaze engaged cruise-control and sauntered to victory.

The Stars were again suffering for playing their matches back-to-back, visibly tiring in the field. (The one player who kept going was Sophia Dunkley, exposing the gulf in fitness that remains between the England players and their regional counterparts, despite several years now of domestic professionalism.)

The margin of victory, with “just” 8 balls to spare, might look slim on the scorecard, but for Blaze it was never in doubt – a fully deserved title, having topped the league by a clear game with just one defeat in the T20 season. For the Bryces it represented a second triumph, after having taken Scotland to T20 World Cup qualification earlier in the summer. Both achievements will I’m sure have been equally sweet.

This week:

• Dani Hazell to coach Durham – what a coup!
• Should counties retain regional names?
• What will Tier 2 look like?
• A very dull England squad announcement
• Kirstie Gordon’s England v Scotland dilemma

In a match that existed in a strange No Man’s Land between the professional and amateur eras, Surrey beat Middlesex by 6 wickets at The Oval to retain the London Cup.

It was a day high-profile enough for there to be a multi-camera live-stream, and for us to be told off for briefly walking on (the very edge of) the outfield on our way over to the press box; but low-profile enough that said press box was not actually open!

On the field there was just one full time professional on show for Surrey – Southern Vipers keeper Rhianna Southby – and unless Southby moves to Surrey next season, it is likely that none of today’s Surrey side will feature for the county next season as pros in Tier 1. (Ironically, the most probable destination for any of them wishing to continue to play cricket next season in Tier 2 will be Middlesex.) Meanwhile, the most senior player of the field for Middlesex was Sunriser Kate Coppack.

After a disastrous start which saw them lose a wicket in each of the first 3 overs of the powerplay, Middlesex stuttered to 28-6 in the 9th over, before a 58 run partnership between Artemis Downer (35*) and Sonali Patel (26) gave the visitor’s innings some credibility – more so, at least, than their professional male counterparts who were in the process of being dismantled for 78 in their T20 Blast match against Somerset on the north side of the river! Middlesex finished on 96-8 – Downer and Patel the only batters to make double-figures.

Rhianna Southby – a decent tail-ender in regionals, who hit 25* here, coming in at 8 for Vipers a couple of weeks ago – opened the batting for Surrey. She played the shot of the day – cracking a full toss off Gaia Gole through mid on for 4 in the opening over – but was cleaned-up by Kate Coppack off the first ball of the second over to end her involvement in proceedings. Coppack then added the scalp of Surrey veteran Kirstie White three balls later – well caught behind the stumps by Georgia Irving.

Surrey’s rebuild, led by Amy Gordon (25) was steady rather than spectacular, taking Surrey to 46-3 at the half-way mark, putting them slightly behind on WinHer, which to be fair is based on professional cricket, but is still a reasonable indicator that they weren’t exactly in a commanding position at that stage.

All it was going to take though was two-or-three big overs, and Surrey found them with Thea Brookes leading the charge, taking 11, 7 and 10 off the 11th, 12th and 13th overs. Thereafter was pretty plain-sailing for Surrey, with Brookes finishing 26*, as Charlotte Stubbs hit the winning run in the 18th over.

The game has travelled a long way since the first London Cup won by Middlesex at this ground in 2015. The Kia Super League has come and gone, and by the end of this season regionals will have followed it to the great trophy cabinet in the sky. Whether we’ll see this fixture played again is an open question, with Surrey not expected to field an amateur team next year, whilst their professional side will be in Tier 1. With Middlesex competing as amateurs in Tier 2, any future games would likely be embarrassing mismatches. But while it lasted, it was fun; and if it doesn’t continue, we can only say: So long, London; it was indeed a good run.

In the 13th over of the Storm innings at Bristol on Sunday, Niamh Holland tried to play a sweep shot to a dreadful full-toss off Georgia Adams. The ball ballooned up into the air and 3 Vipers fielders descended upon it, only for it to equilaterally triangulate them perfectly and land safely on the grass between them. It was a moment that summed up a day when things didn’t quite click for Vipers.

And yet… they came away with the win nonetheless, thanks to an electrifying sprinting catch on the boundary by Alice Monaghan to dismiss Heather Knight, who was looking on course to notch up a One Woman Win for the Storm on their final visit to Bristol before they morph into Somerset at the turn of the season.

Had that catch evaded Monaghan’s outstretched grasp – as it had every right to do – it would have gone for 6, leaving Knight needing 18 off 11 balls – an ask which felt well within her, given the way she was dominating proceedings. Say what you like about the England captain (really… I have!) but she was a different class out there today, scoring 64% of Storm’s runs off the bat at a strike rate of 123. No one else was close – not for Storm (their next highest scorer was Sophie Luff who made 12 off 19 balls) nor Vipers.

The 137-9 that Viper had posted, having been put in to bat after Storm won the toss, didn’t feel par, even if it mathematically was – a typical first innings score in the Lottie Cup is 138. Oddly it was not top-scorer Georgia Adams who looked the most convincing of the Vipers batters, but Aussie overseas Charli Knott, who made 37 before having what might politely be termed a “senior moment” – dancing down the pitch to Amanda-Jade Wellington, and getting stumped as a consequence.

Wello is the Stump Queen – she has taken aroundabout 130 wickets in WBBL, with fully a quarter of them stumped. No one else comes close to that number – Alana King is closest, with 15% of 100-odd wickets stumped – so Knott needs to learn a lesson there, and… well… as Taylor Swift once so nearly said: Can you just Knott!

Vipers were kept at bay with the bat partly by a really positive performance from Lauren Filer, who took 3-8 from her 4 overs, with just the one wide in extras. They were good wickets too. She induced a poor shot from Maia Bouchier in her first over; forced Freya Kemp so far back into her crease that she trod on her own stumps; and finally did Nancy Harman for sheer pace. Filer outbowled her key rival for a slot in England’s T20 XI – Lauren Bell – with Jon Lewis there to see it too.

Both Filer and Knight deserved to be on the winning side, but with Dani Gibson still out injured, Storm just didn’t have the batting to finish the job, when all it would have taken was someone staying with Knight that little bit longer.

As for Vipers, how many times have we said about them that the key to success is winning when you aren’t at your best? Here at Bristol, we find ourselves saying it again.

This week on the CRICKETher Weekly:

• State of play in the #CECup
• What should double headers look like next year?
• Surrey announce their first 4 contracts – but where will England players end up?
• Why the USA should have hosted a women’s World Cup (not a men’s one)

A huge last 3 overs struck by Nat Sciver-Brunt and Alice Capsey lifted England above 300 for the first time in an ODI since 2022, when they crossed that mark 3 times – twice against South Africa and once against the West Indies.

With 47 overs gone, England were 255-5, and 300 looked out of reach. NSB was on 94 off 108 (a Strike Rate of 87) and Capsey on 23 off 33 (SR 70). But in the remaining 18 balls, Capsey hit 16 off 9 (SR 178) and Sciver-Brunt 30 off 9 (SR 333), adding 47 runs in 3 overs to finish on 302-5. This isn’t quite a record – for example, India scored 62 from their last 3 overs against England at Canterbury in 2022 – but from the data on Cricsheet* it appears to be the 4th most runs scored in the final 3 overs of an ODI in the professional era; which gives you an idea of the scale of it.

NSB’s hundred – her 9th in ODIs – draws her level with Tammy Beaumont and Charlotte Edwards for the most ODI centuries for her country. It wasn’t her most fluent ton (though how good a player do you have to be, to have “bad” hundreds?) but starting with the two consecutive ramps for 4 that brought up the milestone, followed in the next over by consecutive 6s off Diana, it was an innings with the explosive ending of a superhero movie that will live long in the mind’s eye. At last, England were entertaining and inspiring, if only for 15 minutes.

Prior to that, England’s innings had followed a familiar pattern from this tour – decent numbers that you felt slightly flattered the actual performance on the field. Tammy Beaumont was clearly struggling with her timing, so what possessed her to then try a ramp – a shot that is invariably fatal if you don’t time it perfectly – will remain a mystery up there with how they built the pyramids, or why anyone bought “that” Ed Sheeran single**.

Was TB playing her last match for England here? My guess is not – I think she’ll play against New Zealand, and will also captain the team in Ireland in September; but only because the thing that should happen, won’t.

As I tweeted somewhat controversially, it feels like the time has come for Heather Knight to call it a day in ODIs. Her innings here of 12 off 17, with just one 4 off a streaky inside edge that could have gone literally anywhere, just looked tired more than anything; despite the fact that she passed on WPL and didn’t play much regional cricket leading into this series. Given that Knight isn’t going to play against Ireland anyway, I think the time is now to hand over the baton before the New Zealand series.

There are clear reasons not to give the captaincy to any of the “obvious” candidates. Nat Sciver-Brunt doesn’t appear to want it; and nor does Amy Jones. Sophie Ecclestone isn’t in the frame, or she would have retained the vice-captaincy; and Charlie Dean would create selection issues because she isn’t England’s best spinner, meaning you totally eliminate any flexibility with your spin options – you’d have to pick both her and Ecclestone for every game.

Which brings us to Grace Scrivens! No, she hasn’t played a match for England; but she is an absolutely exceptional leader and cricketing brain, as England acknowledged by making her England A captain aged just 19. It would take an extraordinary player to make her debut as captain against New Zealand next month, but I believe she is up to it, and will be a fantastic captain to lead England through the next 10 years – Scrivens should replace TB opening the batting and take over the captaincy now. It won’t happen. But it should.

Anyways… Jack Rule on Twitter called this suggestion “absolutely insane“, and he’s right! But what can I say? We are where we are, thanks to England’s refusal to engage with any succession planning; so insane is what we’ve got – embrace the madness Jack, it’s all we’ve got left!!

(Oh… and for the record, I believe Heather Knight should retain the T20 and Test captaincies over the winter; though Scrivens should play in the Tests as vice captain.)

Back on the field, England still had some formalities to complete to win the series, and Pakistan acquiesced in familiar fashion – they kept up with the rate for the first 15 overs, but having lost 3 wickets in the powerplay they didn’t have the engine-power to keep it going, stuttering before ultimately suffering yet another late-order collapse to defeat by a statistically huge margin. Muneeba Ali did her bit with 47, and Aliya Riaz chipped in with 36; but it never felt like Pakistan were going to chase 200, let alone 300.

England didn’t bowl brilliantly, but partly because they didn’t really have to. Sophie Ecclestone did however achieve the record everyone has been talking about – the fastest player ever to take 100 ODI wickets… as long as you count only matches where she actually bowled! (A definition of the record we should acknowledge that some dispute.)

Ecclestone said afterwards that she wanted to win trophies – specifically the Ashes and a World Cup – rather than break records. I instinctively feel like the fans will agree with her there; and I believe it will happen for her too. But perhaps no longer under this captain.

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* Caveat – Cricsheet is great… and (and I’m not gonna lie, this bit is quite important!) free… but it isn’t quite complete.

** Insert literally any Ed Sheeran single here!