During the first 3 seasons of regionals, overseas signings in the RHF Trophy and CE Cup felt somewhat ad-hoc; but increased budgets this year have meant players being signed for longer blocks on a more strategic basis. While some teams have gone down the route of hiring internationally retired superstars, such as Deandra Dottin at Thunder and Dane van Niekerk at Sunrisers (neither of whom have set the summer on fire), others have opted for utility all-rounders, like Erin Burns at Sparks and Nadine de Klerk at Blaze.

Neither Burns nor de Klerk are anywhere near superstar territory – Burns has won just 6 caps in a lengthy career, and while de Klerk has played 60-odd, she had a poor World Cup, taking just 2 wickets and finishing the competition as her side’s most expensive bowler. And yet… here we are – de Klerk finishes the group stages of the CE Cup as its leading bowler, having taken 14 wickets at an Economy Rate under 6, with Burns also making the top 10.

The one semi-retired superstar who has had a successful CE Cup is Anya Shrubsole – with Vipers missing key players throughout the competition due to England red-ball warm-ups ahead of the Ashes, their player-coach has stepped-up with 9 wickets, to keep their campaign alive into Finals Day.

The other key player keeping Vipers hanging in there (and compared with previous seasons, it has been a case of “hanging in”) has been Linsey Smith, who ranks 2nd with a tournament-leading economy rate of 4.89, despite having bowled a lot of overs in the powerplay. (And amazingly, that tournament-leading economy rate for once doesn’t need to be caveated with “minimum x overs bowled” – it is actually the real leading rate!)

In terms of future prospects 20-year old Grace Hall, in her first season with Diamonds, might be one to keep an eye on, having out-bowled a lot of bigger names to make it into the top 10. She isn’t super-quick, but with a slingy, almost round-arm action and (appropriately enough for a true-born Yorkshire lass) a great yorker, she offers something a bit different which England might want to be taking an interest in, in the near future.

Ranking = Wickets / Economy

This week:

• Who’s on track for CE Cup Finals Day?
• Our take on THAT Thea Brookes interview
• Where the PCA gets it wrong
• Syd has a bonkers idea about Bryony Smith… & an excellent one about women’s county cricket

On a breezy day at Bristol, Storm cruised to a win which was ultimately far easier than the 4-ball margin on the scorecard would suggest.

Chasing Sparks’ 135, Storm got off to a decent start, with Dani Gibson playing some authoritative strokes early on, finding the boundary in each of the first 3 overs. Gibson has been a key player for Storm this season, but she couldn’t push on today, caught low at extra cover by Erin Burns for 18 off 14.

With Ami Campbell holding on to a difficult low chance to dismiss Nat Wraith, Sparks could have had an opening, but Storm continued to tick along at just over 8 an over, reaching 51-2 at the end of the powerplay with Fran Wilson having taken over from Gibson as the playmaker.

With Irish allrounder Orla Prendergast in tow, Wilson guided Storm to 77-2 at 10 overs, gradually whittling down the rate as she dinked it all around the ground in the manner of… well… Fran Wilson.

Prendergast should have been caught on 20, skying an easy chance to deep mid on, only for Georgia Davis to misjudge it horrendously coming out of the midday sun, shrivelling in embarrassment as it plopped onto the turf a yard behind her.

The partnership between Wilson and Prendergast yielded 57 runs before Wilson’s innings came to an end for 34, stumped coming down the track to Hannah Baker, easily Sparks’ standout bowler on the day.

The runs dried up a bit without Wilson’s impetus, but this was partly achieved by Sparks bowling-out trump-card Hannah Baker, turning the required 21 off the final 4 overs into something of a formality.

Sparks had a couple of opportunities to keep it interesting – a chance to stump Luff off Georgia Davis went begging, and Luff was also dropped off the first ball of the final over; but Prendergast then guided the next delivery over the ring into the vacant outfield to bring up the winning runs, the Irish international finishing 46* off 43 balls.

Sparks (who, at time of writing, are not mathematically out of the tournament, but are very close to being so) will take the positives from a productive (if chancy!) knock of 22 off 23 from Davina Perrin and a highly professional 66 off 45 balls from Aussie veteran Erin Burns.

Perrin had her first little bit of luck on 6 when a lofted drive passed inches from Sophia Smale’s outstretched right hand as it went for 4; and was then horribly dropped by Smale the following delivery. She continued to live a charmed life playing largely over the infield, until finally caught on the ring by Chloe Skelton for 22 off 23.

At the half-way mark, Sparks were 57-3 and staring down the barrel at a somewhat sub-par total. But with Burns on 17 having faced just 14 deliveries, there was an opportunity to build something defendable, and it was an opportunity Burns took, putting on 66 with Abi Freeborn.

Neither found the boundary as much as they might have liked, but both ran hard between the wickets to make up for it – going into the death overs at 99-3 with the chance to capitalise on their wickets in hand. Burns’ innings ended on the second ball of the final over but a strong death phase took them to 135 and gave them something to bowl at, albeit ultimately not quite enough.

The win keeps Storm’s slim hopes of reaching Finals Day alive, though this may change with 3 other matches completing later today.

The ongoing row between FIFA and the TV companies over the value of broadcast rights for the upcoming Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer (or this winter, if you are actually in Australia or New Zealand) is a watershed moment for women’s sport, and a dangerous one. But the real danger isn’t quite what everyone wants you to think it is.

In a nutshell, FIFA are threatening to withhold the TV rights to the Women’s World Cup from European broadcasters unless they pony-up significantly more cash, insisting that the rights are worth something much closer to what the TV companies pay for the men’s tournament. In a spectacular display of chutzpah, they are invoking equality to make their argument – suggesting that the TV companies are now the ones holding back the growth of women’s sport.

The broadcasters in return argue that they just don’t have any more money.

And the thing is… the broadcasters have a point.

The BBC in particular can’t just pop down to Cash Converters and magic-up more wonga – it can’t sell more ads, or put up subscriptions – its income is based on the license fee, which is currently frozen until 2024, at a time when inflation is running at well over 10%. Every penny it spends on buying the rights to the Women’s World Cup is a penny it can’t spend on other things… like… cricket.

ITV isn’t quite that constrained, but the emphasis is on “quite” – it would have to sell a lot of adverts (at some not-exactly-prime times, given the schedule of a tournament on the other side of the world) to justify paying more. Again, if it does, that’s probably money that is going to come from something else too.

So we’ve reached a crossroads – one where we must face an important question. But what is that question?

If you ask FIFA, the question is: Are the rights to the women’s tournament worth the same as the men’s?

But the real question is this: Are we going to take let FIFA blackmail us into taking yet more money from other sports (like… say… random example… cricket!) and giving it instead to the richest sport on the planet?

In short: Are we going to continue to let football eat everything?

And when you look at it like that, I think we probably know what the right answer is.

So how can we cut through and reach a solution?

We all (well… everyone reading this site, anyway) want more money for women’s sport, and FIFA do have a point that the rights for the men’s and women’s tournaments should be of equal value.

But as someone once said, there is no magic money tree! Increasingly, the only way to find more money for women’s sport is going to be to cut some of our spend on men’s sport.

In this particular case, the broadcasters have wayyyy overpaid for the rights to the (men’s) World Cup – an event that legally has to be shown on free-to-air TV – for far too long, and that needs to change. So the answer is for the BBC to offer FIFA more money for the Women’s World Cup – but only if they accept a corresponding deduction in the value of the men’s rights.

Long term, that is the only sustainable solution for a fair balance not only between men’s and women’s sport, but also between football and every other game on the planet.

It may have been the 1st of May, but no one had told the weatherman, who served up a morning of April showers at Wormsley as Central Sparks trudged towards a sub-par 183-9. But the sun came out to shine on the Vipers’ pursuit, as they survived a couple of wobbles to chase down their target with 3 wickets and the better part of 9 overs to spare.

Sent in by Vipers captain Georgia Adams, Sparks openers Eve Jones and Chloe Brewer were ready to get the game underway at 10:30 before a violent rain shower sent everyone rushing back to the thatched-roofed Wormsley pavilion as the covers were rushed on, delaying the start of play by twenty minutes.

With the match finally underway at around 10:50, Eve Jones played out a maiden to Lauren Bell’s first over, before Charlie Dean opened at the opposite end – a match-up likely intended for Jones, who Dean has got out twice in regionals. But it was Chloe Brewer who found herself heading back early, caught and bowled by Dean for a two-ball duck.

This brought Abbey Freeborn to the crease, who put on 56 with Jones on her way to a slightly tortuous 43 off 96 balls.

Jones herself was adjudged LBW to Georgia Elwiss for 34 in the 19th over. Replays suggested the decision was arguable, with the ball looking to be going down leg, but with no DRS in regional cricket, Jones had to go; and there was no doubt whatsoever about the dismissal of Davina Perrin two balls later – comprehensively bowled by Elwiss with middle stump pegged-back.

Freeborn continued in partnership with Ami Campbell, who led Sparks’ brightest phase of the game. An over from Elwiss went for 9, and one from Alice Monaghan for 10, putting Sparks 88-3 at the half-way mark, still with a shout of passing 200 if they maintained their pace; but they couldn’t do so, and Freeborn ultimately became the first of Georgia Adams’ 4 victims in the 35th over.

Katie George did her best to liven things up in a brief cameo, which included her and Campbell sending a rare Danni Wyatt over for 15. But even though George’s 23 off 28 represented by far the best strike rate of the Sparks innings, it was still only 82, and once she was dismissed the wheels really started to rattle as Sparks subsided to 183-9, some way short of a par total these days in domestic cricket, albeit in conditions which were not ideal.

Sparks’ only hope was to bowl Vipers out, and they got off to the perfect start – Grace Potts catching McCaughan for 0 off Emily Arlott in the opening over. Having made quick runs at the back end of the Vipers innings on Saturday, Elwiss found herself in very different territory trying to navigate the powerplay with Maia Bouchier. Elwiss defended and defended, never really looking comfortable against the pace of Arlott or Potts, and was next out in the 9th over for 6 off 28 balls, with Vipers 13-2 off the first 9 overs.

A 9-run 10th over made the powerplay look slightly better, but at 22-2 Vipers were still far short of where Sparks had been at the same stage – 30-1.

Danni Wyatt came and went, unable to resist a classic Issy Wong full toss – planting it into the hands of Chloe Brewer – and Bouchier followed shortly afterwards for 25 off 39 balls. At 46-4 Vipers did not look comfortable, and a repeat of their season-opening loss to Sunrisers could definitely have been on the cards.

But a 115 run partnership between Georgia Adams (50) and Charlie Dean (42) turned the tide, taking them to within touching distance of the target at 161. It wasn’t champagne cricket… it wasn’t even prosecco cricket… but it was effective cricket, as Adams and Dean dialled down the risk meter to get the job done.

The dismissals of Adams and Dean in consecutive overs gave the Sparks a bit of hope, but Emily Windsor (10) and Rhianna Southby (8 off 7 – the only innings in the game with a strike rate of 100) carried Vipers home for their second win of the bank holiday weekend.