By Jake Perry

After an opening weekend which underlined just how competitive the season is likely to be, round two of the Women’s Premier League pits two of the early pace-setters against each other at Hamilton Crescent. West of Scotland go into their game against Dumfries and Galloway on the back of a stunning result at Grange Loan, where despite Abbi Aitken-Drummond’s run-a-ball 70, an opening partnership of 126 between Ellen Watson (81) and Nayma Shaikh (44) and two wickets apiece for Anne Sturgess, Nadia Tolliday and Nayma Shaikh set up a two-run win over reigning champions Carlton. 

Their upcoming opponents, however, were just as impressive in sweeping aside RH Corstorphine by nine wickets at Nunholm. Spinning all-rounder Roshini Prince-Navaratnam took 4 for 26 then scored an unbeaten half-century as the home side chased down its target of 96 with more than thirteen overs to spare: for opening bowler Orla Montgomery, it should be a hotly-contested battle in Partick.

“It’s definitely going to be a tough one, especially as we have a few changes to our team,” she said. “We don’t have Hannah Rainey, Hannah Marshall or Roshini available, although we do have Lorna Jack to come back in.”

“So it’ll be a challenge for sure, but we’re hoping to get some early wickets and see where we go from there.”

The addition of Scotland pacer Rainey, now qualified as a vet and working in Cumbria, has made the Dumfries and Galloway attack a particularly potent one. Alongside Prince-Navaratnam, Hannah Marshall took 3 for 11 – all bowled – in her six overs: with fellow seamers Rosy Ryan and Niamh Muir playing important roles, too, Orla is pleased with the balance of the team.    

“Rosh and Hannah have just moved into the area from England,” she said, “and it was an excellent debut for both of them. It’s great to have Hannah Rainey with us, too, to be able to open up with pace from both ends then slow things down with a bit of spin from Rosh: it worked really well.”

“It was a great performance to get us started. We had a strong team, and it was good to get our season going with a win.”

Seventeen-year-old Orla is looking to impress as part of the Scotland set-up, too, having been named as a non-travelling reserve for national side’s recent trip to Malaysia for the Commonwealth Games qualifier. With the Global Qualifier for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup coming up at the end of the year, the fast bowler is keen to do all she can to keep her name in the frame. 

“We have training on Saturdays up in Dollar at the moment, and then I’m doing gym sessions down here as well as lots of bowling out in the middle, trying to get as much in as possible,” she said. “I’m definitely hoping to get into the travelling squad this time: I’m not really wanting to be a non-travelling reserve again, although that was a real honour being selected for it last time.”

“But my aim is to try and get into the main squad itself if I possibly can.”

Elsewhere on Sunday, Northern Lights play their first home fixture at Mannofield, a week after hundreds from Becky Glen and Megan McColl and an unbeaten 65 from Emma Halliwell took them to a record 334/3 at The Grange. The other victors of last weekend, Stewart’s Melville, travel to RHC after a dominant display with the ball, Iris Conlin taking 3 for 7, Izzy Armstrong 2 for 4 and Erin Bridle 2 for 15 in their seven-wicket victory over Watsonians. With four statement wins last weekend – and a wounded Carlton that will be determined to get their title challenge straight back on course – it promises to be a fascinating round of matches once again.

Women’s Premier League – 29 May 2022

McCrea FS West of Scotland v Dumfries CC/Galloway CC (at Hamilton Crescent)

RH Corstorphine v Stewart’s Melville (at Royal High School)

Carlton v Grange (at Grange Loan)

Northern Lights v Watsonians (at Mannofield)

Follow Jake Perry on Twitter

This week:

• FairBreak so far – Full Member batters v Associate bowlers
• Grace Scrivens stars for Kent
• What’s the future of county cricket?
• Richard Bedbrook & the ECB’s approach to the U19 World Cup

A swashbuckling 88 off 62 balls from captain Grace Scrivens was not enough to prevent Kent going down to the second of two defeats in the T20 Cup versus Sussex at BACA in Brighton – Kent’s first reversals in the format since before the pandemic.

Opening the batting in the second match of this double-header, 18-year-old Scrivens treated the Sussex attack with growing contempt, building to a crescendo in the 17th over when she walloped fellow teenager Mary Taylor for 15 runs including her only 6.

Dominating both sides of the wicket, Scrivens was assisted by some woefully poor fielding, perhaps reflecting that the County T20 Cup is now essentially an amateur competition. In those circumstances, you’d expect a full-time professional to be a class above, as indeed Scrivens was. With Charlotte Edwards taking notes from the boundary, it wasn’t hard to wonder if we might be witnessing a future England coach get an early glimpse of her future England captain?

Ultimately Scrivens fell in the final over – stumped coming down the track to Chiara Green – but the 145-7 on which Kent finished looked like a good total on a chilly, overcast day, with some big boundaries that held the ball up in its tracks, with fielders more than a few times able to retrieve it having come to a standstill a few feet short of the rope.

In reply, Sussex lost Mary Taylor early, bringing Georgia Elwiss to the crease. Elwiss was initially happy to play second-fiddle to Ella McCaughan, on her way to 32 off 35, but upon McCaughan’s dismissal picked up the pace in a partnership of 79 with Paige Scholfield. Scholfield’s 47 off 27 broke the back of the chase, and although she was comically run out, ending up at the same end as Elwiss who had shown absolutely no interest in a second run following a quick single off Ryana Macdonald-Gay, the stage was set for Nancy Harman to help finish things off with a quick-fire 15 off 8 balls – her and Elwiss getting Sussex home with 6 balls to spare.

It gave Sussex their second victory of the day, after a somewhat less exciting match earlier had seen them win by 8 wickets, having restricted Kent to 90-7 off their 20 overs, with Scholfield taking 3-14, bowling with visibly more zip than last season, having apparently fully recovered following a back operation last spring.

A run-a-ball half-century from McCaughan did the business for Sussex in the chase, with a little help from Scholfield (27 off 17) to get the job done with 6 overs to spare. Sydney Gorham was the only Kent bowler to take a wicket, snagging the scalp of Elwiss caught behind; though 17-year-old Alexa Stonehouse (0-10 off 3), who is heading to Trent Rockets in The Hundred this year, also looks like she may be one to keep a close eye on over the next couple of seasons.

Stumped – a memoir of the author’s days as a cricket umpire – is a book of two innings: the first his early years, umpiring men’s league cricket in Kent; and the second, his seasons umpiring women’s cricket in Melbourne.

Its 200-odd pages are divided more-or-less chronologically into 51 short chapters, the very longest of which can be read in a couple of minutes, almost all of which centre around a particular match, often using it to reflect upon a wider facet of the game: pubs (very much part of the game in Kent apparently), teas, LBWs, and so on!

For women’s cricket aficionados, the second half of the book will obviously be the focus. After umpiring a handful of men’s games upon his return to Australia after his years as an expat in England, and not enjoying the more combative experience, Harrison informed the convenors of the Cricket Victoria Premier Umpire’s Panel that he would continue as an umpire only if he were able to stand exclusively in women’s cricket.

They acceded, and so the next few years were spent in the women’s game in and around Melbourne, watching the rise of the likes of Sophie Molineux, Elyse Villani, and of course Meg Lanning, about whom he describes a memorable incident arising from the Australian captain-to-be encroaching upon the pitch when fielding at silly mid on during a club match.

“By law, that is a ‘No Ball’ and I called and signalled exactly that,” writes Harrison.

“What followed was a wildly disproportionate reaction from [Lanning] as she expressed her obvious displeasure and absolute disbelief at the decision…. In the end, I suggested that she should contact the MCC, if she wanted to seek any clarification (or have the law changed).”

The whole book is chock-full of such anecdotes, recorded with wry, dry Aussie humour, which slip down like a pint of bitter on a hot day. And like that pint of bitter, it will be followed by another and another, until the barrel is dry. It’s the kind of book to have by your side, ready for a wet weekend when you still need your cricket fix. And in that regard, it won’t disappoint.