Five years ago, all-but to the day, South Africa walked out onto this ground at Leicester to take on the West Indies in the 2017 World Cup – bowling them out for 48, before knocking off the chase in under 7 overs. Perhaps Sune Luus had that day in mind when she opted to put England in, having won the toss on one of the hottest days in recorded history in this country.

It was certainly a decision that otherwise looked baffling at the time, and even more so in retrospect, as England posted 371 – their 5th biggest total of all time, falling just 8 short of their highest ever – 378 against Pakistan on tiny boundaries at Worcester in 2016.

Tammy Beaumont produced the perfect riposte to being dropped from the T20 squad for the Commonwealth Games, hitting 119 off 107 balls. Beaumont now sits joint-3rd in the all-time list for hundreds in women’s ODIs with 9, level with Charlotte Edwards, who played almost twice as many matches to achieve that. It was therefore somewhat appropriate that it was Edwards – Beaumont’s former county captain at Kent – who prior to play today presented her with a special commemorative cap to mark her 200th appearance for England.

Beaumont wouldn’t be human if she wasn’t bitterly disappointed to miss out on the Commonwealths, having been such a consistent performer for England over the past few years, but she showed today that she still has plenty of punch left in her, and South Africa took the full force of the blow.

With Emma Lamb passing 50 for the 3rd time in the series, and Sophia Dunkley and Heather Knight also making half-centuries, England looked like the record score was well within their sights, especially after Danni Wyatt had come in and blasted 33 off 14 balls. When Amy Jones was dismissed with 2½ overs left, the stage was surely set to send Issy Wong in to blast the runs they needed; but England’s batting order is apparently a sacred text and instead we were left with a little bit of an anti-climax, with just 4 runs coming from the final over. Does it matter? Of course not! But would it nonetheless have been fun to get the record? Call me old fashioned but… yes!

Once again, South Africa started positively in the chase, with Laura Wolvaardt punishing anything slightly wayward. And there was quite a lot of “slightly wayward” up top from England, on a day which seemed to get hotter and hotter as it wore on.

South Africa kept pace with England for 15 overs, thanks to Wolvaardt, but as soon as she left the fray, LBW trying to sweep a lovely little delivery from Charlie Dean, South Africa started to fall behind. There was a brief resurgence for South Africa when Kapp and Tryon went on the attack in the middle overs, but it wasn’t enough to really worry England – they’d have needed to keep going at the rate they were going for 20 more overs, and that just wasn’t going to happen. Both Alice Davidson-Richards and Emma Lamb bagged maiden ODI wickets, both finishing with 3fers, as did Dean; while Issy Wong joined the party with the perfect fast bowler’s wicket to flatten Shabnim Ismail’s stumps right at the end.

The written press were unanimous in naming Emma Lamb player of the ODI series, in her first full series for England. It was obviously for her batting, but England will be particularly pleased with her contribution with the ball – if she can regularly bowl 6 or 7 overs going forwards, it takes a lot of pressure off Nat Sciver, and gives England that bit more flexibility with Heather Knight so reluctant to bowl herself.

Lamb will not be part of the next England team we see, with a new look for the T20 series ahead of the Comm Games; but no doubt she will be back for the India series in September.

On a day when we’ve seen debate about whether the top men can play all 3 formats, with the retirement of Ben Stokes from ODIs, perhaps it is inevitable that we’ll start to see more format-based teams in the women’s game going forwards too? The T20 leg of this series is going to be very interesting in that respect, and it begins in Chelmsford on Thursday – we’ll see you there!

It is a measure of how far we’ve come in a pretty short space of time that in the “Good Old Days” of the Women’s County Championship… 3 long years ago… 200 runs would get you maximum bonus points. Now it is minimum expectation for a half-decent performance – Stars had an absolute nightmare in one of today’s other games (albeit missing key players to a Commonwealth Games photoshoot) and still got to 198!

So Sparks will have been disappointed to post just 214 against Diamonds on a nicely backed pitch at Worcester. The boundaries were long – only a yard and a half in from those used by the men in the T20 blast – and the ball held up in the sandy outfield; but the other side of that coin was plenty of empty pockets for running ones and twos which Sparks failed to take advantage of for much of their innings.

Eve Jones was the mainstay of the Sparks innings, compiling 91, but she took a long time to get going, taking nearly 50 balls to notch-up her first 20 runs, and only real stepping things up once she’d passed 50. That’s okay if the batter at the other end is going great guns, but Steph Butler, Thea Brookes and Ami Campbell chewed up 97 balls between them, scoring only 42 runs – a Strike Rate of under 45. They could… and should… have done better.

Off-spinner Emma Marlow was the pick of the Diamonds bowling, going for just 13 from 5 overs in the powerplay, and also picking up a couple of wickets towards the back-end of the innings to finish with 2-37 off 10.

Lauren Winfield-Hill has more form than a second hand car dealer in a 70s cop drama right now, and she came out to show the Sparks how they could have played on this track.

The key shot which Winfield-Hill played in her innings of 50 from 55 balls wasn’t any of the eight 4s, but a bunt to cover-point – it went straight to the fielder, but it was played delicately enough for Winfield-Hill to run a sharp single.

Those sharp singles were the runs that Sparks couldn’t find, and with Holly Armitage (60 off 63) and Sterre Kalis (46 off 57) following Winfield-Hill’s example, Diamonds brought up a comfortable victory inside 40 overs.

Sparks will be disappointed to have lost this game – they are 1 from 3 now – but they have got the fixture list on their side, with Thunder, Lightning and Sunrisers all to come, so a top 3 finish is still very much in their own hands; but they will need to step up their intent with the bat a little bit if they want to be challenging for the title at Lords in September.

Another day… another ODI… another maiden hundred, as Sophia Dunkley clocked-up her first international ton – carrying England to a massive 337 to beat South Africa by 114 runs.

England got off to a great start with the biggest opening partnership in an ODI since the pandemic – 127 – surpassing the 95 Lauren Winfield-Hill and Tammy Beaumont put on v New Zealand last September, as both Beaumont and Emma Lamb passed 50.

The big opening partnership meant that Sophia Dunkley didn’t get to the middle until the 22nd over, but she batted for the remainder of the innings, only falling on the very last ball for 107 off 93.

Dunkley actually started quite quietly – making her first 25 runs at a Strike Rate of 64, as England went into their shells a bit between overs 20-30, as the heat of the afternoon bore down on Bristol.

Then she and Nat Sciver began to accelerate, before Dunkley exploded past 50, making runs 50-75 at a Strike Rate of over 200, smashing Shabnim Ismail for 16 off an over, including two 6s to opposite ends of the ground – the second a late cut over backward point that will go down as one of the shots of the summer. South Africa had been struggling without Ismail in this series so far, but today they struggled even with her, though she was the most economical of their quicks, going for “just” 64 off 10 overs.

The 300 was on at that point. It wasn’t assured, but with wickets in hand, England should have got well past 300, and indeed they did – going at an Australia-esque 10.5 an over in the death overs to reach 337. No one has ever chased anything like that in a women’s ODI, and South Africa weren’t going to challenge it today.

South Africa started off convincingly enough, and were ahead of the game at the end of the powerplay – no wickets down, and with Laura Wolvaardt on her way to yet another ODI 50.

Wolvaardt has passed 50 over 30 times now in ODIs, but only gone on to make 100 on 3 of those occasions. Contrast with Tammy Beaumont, who has passed 50 just 25 times, but converted 8 of those to a 100. It is a lot to ask Wolvaardt to carry the team, but unless she does, South Africa are struggling with the bat, and the news today that Dane van Niekerk is not going to be able to make it back to fitness for the Commonwealth Games only makes things bleaker for South African fans.

Once Wolvaardt was out, there was only one way the match was going to go, despite more heroics from Marizanne Kapp, as England’s bowlers took advantage to reel-in the wickets.

Bell bowled really well up-top, with no reward; but Nat Sciver struggled again opening the bowling at the other end, going for 8 an over, having gone at 7 in the same phase in the 1st ODI. England’s batting line-up is surely strong enough to be able to field a “proper” 5th bowler, and they really could have done with a Freya Davies out there today. South Africa didn’t make them pay, but Australia would have done.

Issy Wong made the batters uncomfortable with some short stuff, and picked up 3 wickets, but it was Charlie Dean who really cleaned-up, nagging her way to 4-53 from her 10 overs. She also took one of the most spectacular crowd-catches you’ll ever see off her own bowling – a rolling dive to her left which deserved a definite “10” for artistic merit!

Everyone’s thoughts will now turn to the T20 leg of the series, leading into the Commonwealth Games, with England’s squad being announced tomorrow; but there’s still one ODI to go, and England will be looking for a clean sweep. It is forecast to be one of the hottest days England has ever seen next Monday. It could be even hotter for South Africa.

Until tonight, Emma Lamb hadn’t scored a single run in international white ball cricket – three caps; two balls faced; no runs – though she had, of course, made a solid 38 off 69 balls in the Test at the end of last month.

But given how consistently she has made runs in domestic cricket over the past few years, it felt like it was only a matter of time before she made a proper score for England, and tonight was the night.

I didn’t dare to jinx it by tweeting it in public, but at 6:29pm this evening I texted a friend, saying: “If Lamb plays 100 games she will never have a better chance to score a 100 for England.”

Lamb set off as she meant to go on – at the 5-over mark she was going at a Strike Rate of over 100, and she pretty-much maintained that throughout her innings.

Lamb’s selection tonight was the only change to the names on the team-sheet from the World Cup final – it was Lamb in for Shrubsole – but the lineup was definitely a new look for ODIs, with Lamb opening alongside Beaumont and Dunkley coming in at 3, with Nat Sciver staying at 4 and Knight shuffling down the order to 5; and then Wyatt in at 6 and Amy Jones at 7.

It’s a long batting line-up, but it means only 4 bowlers and leaves England either trying to get a full quota out of Nat Sciver, or fill in with Lamb (who did the job for a couple of overs tonight) or Knight. I’d be more comfortable with 5 bowlers, but with Amy Jones struggling in international cricket – she’s made just one 50 in her last 12 innings – England are obviously nervous about the batting. Is it time to look at another wicket-keeper? The problem is that she is far-and-away the best keeper, so she keeps her spot for the moment for that alone, but the very best international teams don’t carry their keepers for long…

Given their margin of victory here, England should feel comfortable bringing in Bell for the next match at Bristol on Friday, at the expense of Wyatt. Not that Wyatt has done anything wrong, but it makes for a better-balanced team and gives England another attacking option with the ball, which (oddly, given they bowled South Africa out) did look to be lacking at times, especially when the Tryon-de Klerk partnership was starting to look like a thorn in England’s side.

As for South Africa, they would have known this tour wasn’t going to be an easy one; but without Ismail… without van Niekerk… and now without Lee… they really look very short of the mark. They saved the Test by blocking and successfully praying for rain, but there was no hiding behind the weather at Northampton – in the pounding heat, they wilted, and the rest of the tour could be about to get very, very sticky for them.

Coming into this match after a convincing win over Sunrisers last weekend, Stars thought they had a real chance to upset Vipers at Hove – the ground where Vipers had wobbled a year before in the RHF as an Em Arlott hattrick had seen them go down to Sparks by 120 runs. Vipers were without Wyatt, Dean, Bell and Shrubsole; while Stars had both Freya Davies and Alice Davidson Richards back in the lineup; plus Alice Capsey back in some form with a half-century in that game against Sunrisers.

And there were a couple of occasions during the match when it looked like Stars were in the ascendancy. Batting first, Vipers made just 35 runs off the powerplay, for the loss of 2 wickets. 3 balls later, Ella McCaughan joined Maia Bouchier and Georgia Adams back in the dugout, and Vipers were 35-3, with another upset definitely on the cards as Paige Scholfield joined Georgia Elwiss at the crease.

But Georgia Elwiss is making cricket look like an easy game at the moment, and on a decent enough track, she began to lead a patient rebuild. Scholfield’s dismissal in the 20th over brought Emily Windsor to the middle, fresh from her 7-day rolling jaunt up at Loughborough, and the “steady as she goes” approach continued, with Elwiss going at a Strike Rate of about 75, and Windsor progressing from an initial Strike Rate of 30 to the dizzy heights of 60.

At the 30-over mark, Vipers were 119-4, heading for a total of around 200. But having rebuilt so meticulously, they were now at the stage were they could afford to start taking a few risks.

Overs 30-40 saw a significant step-up in the run rate. Having gone at 4-an-over for 20 overs, they doubled that to 8 an over, and then to 10 an over at the death, to post more than 300. They did pay a price, losing wickets to finish 9 down, but in a sense that’s the perfect 50-over innings – using all the resources at their disposal.

Emily Windsor was key to this, with 90 off 79 balls.

Although the last 20 overs was when the Vipers began to really step on the gas, Windsor had been building the whole time – her Strike Rate starting off in the 20s and finishing at over 100 – the progress being pretty close to a straight line.

In contrast, Elwiss was much steadier for her whole innings, chugging along nicely at 75.80 until the last 10, when she started to throw the bat a bit more.

Perhaps the most significant innings in the greater scheme of things though was 17-year-old Freya Kemp, who entered the fray in the 43rd over. Let’s not forget that this was only Kemp’s second List A game; and she was selected in theory as a bowler; but at Hove she smashed 40 off 23 balls, including a 6 over cow corner, into the 3rd row of the Sharks Stand. There are only a handful of players in the world that can do that, and yesterday Kemp joined them.

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but with Capsey, Scrivens and now Kemp – all still teenagers – doing what they are doing, it is starting to feel like we’ve potentially got a golden generation on our hands; and Richard Bedbrook, in his new role heading up England’s pathway, needs to use every ounce of his considerable soft-power to ensure that they get the opportunities they need in the next couple of months to really push on. All 3 have the potential to be spending some of next winter in South Africa… and I’m talking about a World Cup, but not the Under 19 one! It would be a tragedy if any of them spent the Hundred batting at 8 or 9 and bowling the odd over here or there.

But I digress…

With Vipers having posted over 300, Stars were going to need to bat well; but this is a team that really can bat well, and Bryony Smith and “Test Centurion Alice Davidson Richards” (to give her full title – TCADR for short) got them off to the perfect start, taking them to 60-0 off the powerplay, well ahead of the worm.

Stars remained ahead of the worm for pretty-much their entire innings, but wickets were key and they began to lose them, as someone once said, first slowly then all at once, collapsing from 154-5 to 173 all out. Paige Scholfield was the key beneficiary, wrapping up the tail to finish with 3-29 off 5.4 overs; but all of the 7 bowlers used by the Vipers finished with at least one wicket as the Stars fell away, losing in the end by 133 runs.

Stars were despondent. Covering the match for the ECB Reporters Network, we were required to get quotes from a Stars player at the end, and we found ourselves casting around wondering if there were any Stars players who didn’t look like they were going to punch us if we asked them for an interview!! Bryony did it in the end… and she didn’t punch us, but she did seem very down. It was a tough day at the office to be sure, but I still think on balance Stars will probably be at Lords in September. There’s no “on balance” as to who they’ll be facing though, and I wouldn’t bet on a different outcome either – Vipers are just too good.

Prior to this match, Tumi Sekhukhune had faced 81 balls in international cricket, scoring 24 runs in 11 innings, coming in at 9, 10 or 11. She has a “DNB” (Did Not Bat) next to her name on 37 of her 48 international scorecards.

In this match, she has faced 173 balls and scored 42 runs; but it is the former of those numbers that has really counted. In the 1st innings she may have only scored 9 runs, but she was party to a further 48 runs scored at the other end, taking South Africa past 250 and on to 284. Then in the second innings, after coming in as a nightwatcher, she saw off an massive 134 balls while her partners and (as she increasingly grew in confidence) her, took the game to safety – only the 3 centurions faced anything like that many balls in this match.

Oh… and she did it all whilst not being dismissed.

By the end of the afternoon session, England had thrown everything at her – Issy Wong… Sophie Ecclestone… the kitchen sink. Lauren Bell went over the wicket, round the wicket; angling it in, angling it away – nothing worked. England were clean out of plans – Sekhukhune was like a brick wall: England couldn’t have got past her with a bulldozer.

To be fair, there were a couple of chances right at the end – an edge that flew high past vacant 4th slip, and another that Sophie Ecclestone should have held on to at 2nd slip; but they were emblematic of England’s day. To get the win, they were going to have to play flawless cricket, and they didn’t quite do that. Amy Jones dropped one behind the stumps; while Tammy Beaumont under the lid, and Ecclestone again at 2nd slip, couldn’t hold on to two half-chances that were offered later in the morning session. (Beaumont’s would have been a very, very good catch if she’d taken it, but you don’t win matches like this without taking very, very good catches; while Ecclestone’s was technically not a “drop” because it did bounce, but if she’d gone forwards rather than back, I think the chance was there – you may or may not agree!)

The weather was obviously “a” factor in the result, but South Africa were making reasonable progress towards saving the game regardless. With a lead of 48 and 5 wickets in-hand, we were actually potentially looking at a scenario where it was England left with a tricky final session, having been set 150 off 15 overs at the end.

So the South Africans, with all their injury problems, can be proud of their performance. Can England? They will certainly be more disappointed than the South Africans not to get the result – they were definitely the favourites coming into the match; but Bell bowled really well (and Heather Knight clearly agrees, because she consistently opened up with Bell); Wong got crucial wickets; Alice Davidson-Richards got to write her name on the honours board of Test cricket; and Emma Lamb finally got a solid England knock under her belt.

And of course, Nat Sciver did just what we’ve come to expect Nat Sciver to do, taking home the Player of the Match award – she really is the lynchpin of this England team, so crucial to their success in every format.

Heather Knight said in the press conference that she felt England had played the game they wanted to play, and I think they did play positive cricket. The wait for a result goes on, but as with the Test at Manuka in January, this wasn’t by any means a “bore draw”. Hopefully South Africa in particular will look at this match and feel that this is a viable format for the future. How awesome would 4 days at Newlands be for a return fixture in 2024?

What do the ICC and the Weather Gods have in common? They all hate women’s Tests! It’s been 9 years since a women’s Test in England saw a full 4 days play – the Women’s Ashes Test at Wormsley in 2013. Since then we’ve had rain at Wormsley (India 2014) Canterbury (Australia 2015), Taunton (Australia 2019), Bristol (India 2021) and now Taunton again!

Having lost more than 50 overs today, and with more rain around tomorrow, England’s hopes of forcing a result in this game looked to be circling the drain until the intervention of Issy Wong in the short final evening session. Wong took 2 wickets to leave the South Africans 55-3 going into the final day – a deficit of 78 runs with 7 wickets in hand.

Crucially, those wickets included the biggest prize in the South African lineup – Laura Wolvaardt – who had looked so solid in defence until confronted by Wong’s variations, which seemed to leave her in a mental muddle, resulting in a half-hearted drive taking a thick edge to Nat Sciver at gully. It was disappointing from South Africa’s premier batter, with the close of play in sight, and leaves South Africa realistically hoping that the weather has a big say in things tomorrow – if we get anything like 2 sessions in, England will expect to bowl them out, possibly even winning by an innings, which really didn’t look likely 48 hours ago after South Africa had posted 284 on the first day.

There will be plenty written about Issy Wong this evening – and rightly so – but one other star, also on Test debut, has been umpire Anna Harris, who has not put a finger wrong in this match. Reviewing her decisions is proving a futile game – when she says it’s out, it stays out! She detected a faint edge which saved Goodall from an LBW in the 4th over; and I’d be willing to bet she also knew that Goodall had got an edge again a few overs later off the bowling of Lauren Bell, but neither Bell nor Amy Jones appealed for the catch behind, and the chance went begging. Harris is still only 23, but already we’re wondering if she is the best umpire in the world; and she is certainly a lesson for those who think you have to have played top level cricket in order to umpire it.

And talking of top-level cricket… we shouldn’t forget Nat Sciver’s renewed contribution this morning.

After a quiet start to see off Kapp, Sciver and Sophie Ecclestone significantly upped the run rate on the way to England’s declaration, going at very-nearly 6-an-over – a good one-day run rate – in the final 10 overs of the innings before Heather Knight called them in. Those extra 20 runs could prove absolutely crucial tomorrow as England chase the game, but the Weather Gods will also be in hot pursuit! Will they be able to save South Africa? I think they’ll have to work hard to thwart England now.