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A big hundred from Ireland captain Gaby Lewis was the difference between the two sides as Lancashire beat Hampshire by 6 wickets to lift the inaugural county One Day Cup at the Utilita Bowl.

Lewis had the Luck of the Irish™ on her side – she should have been given out on 62 – running a sharp single off a misfield, she was out of her crease when the bails were broken via an underarm throw from Abi Norgrove, but the umpire’s decision didn’t go Hampshire’s way, and Lewis survived.

It was a difficult call for the umpire – there was only a frame in it, with the next frame showing Lewis’s bat in the crease – but equally Lewis can obviously have had no complaint if she had been given out; as she would have been if TV reviews had been available, as they apparently were in the men’s final.

Misery was piled on misery for Hampshire a couple of overs later, as history repeated itself as tragedy – Seren Smale given not out, despite once again replays showing she was clearly out of her ground when the wickets were broken. Smale went on to make 72 in a partnership of 144 with Lewis, which broke the back of Hampshire’s defence.

Smale was finally dismissed in the 33rd over – popping a leading edge up to a diving Freya Kemp at short midwicket; but Lewis went on to finish unbeaten on 141 – the joint-third-highest score in the One Day Cup this season.

With 3 overs remaining, Lancashire still needed 21 to win, and Hampshire were still just about in the game; but Lewis piled into a slightly wayward 48th over from Georgia Adams, hitting three 4s as the over went for 16. There was one last moment of hope for Hampshire as Lewis launched the final ball of the over towards Maia Bouchier, running across to deep mid on; but Bouchier could only get a fingertip to it as it went for 4, leaving Ailsa Lister to put the icing on the cake of a breakthrough season by striking the winning runs from Freya Davies’s final deliveries in professional cricket.

There was no fairytale ending for the 29-year-old former England seamer Davies, who now leaves cricket to pursue a career in law; but she leaves the game with her reputation held high and a collection of 35 England caps as well as winners medals from the old Women’s County Championship and the Kia Super League.

On a crisp, bright autumn day, which contrasted sharply with the mudbath of the semi-final earlier in the week, Hampshire were put into bat by Lancashire captain Ellie Threlkeld, and started circumspectly in the face of Lancashire’s dangerous opening bowling partnership of Mahika Gaur and Kate Cross.

Cross passed the bat of Bouchier a few times in the early salvos, leaving the England opener looking down at her bat with a bamboozled expression. A thick outside edge flashed just out of reach of Seren Smale at slip; but Bouchier survived and went on to make 66. It was a solid contribution, but was emblematic of Hampshire’s day, as she failed for the 6th time in the One Day Cup this season to convert 50 to 100 – giving her wicket away with a limp push to mid on off a pretty innocuous delivery from Gaur.

As with Bouchier, so too with both Georgia Adams (77) and Freya Kemp (41). Both did the hard yards, but couldn’t push on in the way Lewis later did – Adams bowled trying to reverse sweep Fi Morris; and Kemp pushing a catch to Lister on the ring.

Hampshire did have a decent final 10 – or more accurately, a decent penultimate 5, as Adams and Abi Norgrove hit out to get them close to the 300 that they really needed on a pitch which played wonderfully well, despite having spent Wednesday under a carpet as the rest of the square was turned to mud in Hampshire’s semi-final win.

Hampshire somewhat got out of jail that day, but they couldn’t pull off that trick twice in a week, and a crowd of 2,500 – most of whom were clearly rooting for a home win – ultimately went home disappointed, as Lancashire celebrated their second trophy of the season, after winning the T20 “FA Cup” at Taunton back in May.

Having underperformed through the regional era, a change of coach seems to have done the trick for Lancashire, with Chris Read finally fulfilling expectations that have so often been stronger than the outcomes. To have done it without their two big run-scorers this season, Eve Jones (injured) and Emma Lamb (on England duty) who between them scored ten 50s and three 100s for the team in the One Day Cup, was against the odds, but showed that they have the depth to potentially be the New Vipers – the team to beat in the new county era.

This week:

• Hampshire’s Mudbath
• Tiers 1&2 ditch their Playing Conditions
• Freya Davies retires
• Sarah Glenn signs for Yorkshire
• Why Australia & India’s World Cup prep is better than England’s

This week:

• Yorkshire & Glamorgan vs the rain at Worcester
• Middlesex to go pro by 2029 – but what does that mean for the rest of Tier 2?
• Why is 2026 Blast Finals Day on a weekday?
• The ICC get their facts wrong about female umpires

Both the One Day Cup and the Women’s T20 Blast use a system of Bonus Points, which is described in the Playing Conditions.

A winning team that achieves a run rate of 1.25 times that of the opposition shall be awarded one bonus point. 

There’s a problem with this though: it’s wrong!

But… how can it be wrong? The Playing Conditions are akin to “laws”, are they not? If it says it in the Playing Conditions, it is right by definition!

It all comes down to one simple word: maths!

As soon as you say the word, people’s eyes glaze over. (In fact, I’ll be willing to bet there were a few people who didn’t even click on this article, because they were worried it would include maths. Which to be fair, it does!)

It isn’t true that “nobody” likes maths. I’ve met thousands and thousands of people in my life, and at least 3 of them liked maths (hi Tom & Tom & Matthew!) But in general most people think maths sucks!

So instead of “doing the math” we outsource it to a computer – in this case the NV Play system that is used for scoring matches in the One Day Cup.

This means that in practice the Playing Conditions don’t actually matter – NV Play is The Truth and (despite what it says in the Playing Conditions) NV Play doesn’t award a Bonus Point to a winning team that achieves a run rate of 1.25 times that of the opposition.

Instead it awards a bonus point to a winning team that achieves the target in 0.8 times the number of available deliveries.

To be fair, this often results in the same number, but not always, even in a totally “normal” match. If the team batting first scores 200 runs, 1.25 times the Run Rate can be achieved in 40.1 overs; so (according to the Playing Conditions) you should have an extra delivery; but you don’t!

This comes into much sharper focus when there is a DLS adjustment. In yesterday’s crucial match between Durham and Surrey, the match was reduced to 29 overs and Durham’s Required Run Rate ratcheted up significantly, meaning that (going by the Playing Conditions) it would have been impossible for them to achieve a win without scoring at 1.25 the times of the opposition.

Sidebar: The Playing Conditions do give a hint that things might be different in DLS situations, stating that “Where matches are shortened and targets revised through the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern system, bonus run rates and bonus defensive targets are derived as a function of the revised target score” but the phrase “as a function of” is mathematically meaningless, and doesn’t actually state how the calculation should be made.

But NV Play in fact required them to achieve the adjusted target of 225 in 23.1 overs – which would have required scoring at almost twice the Run Rate Surrey had achieved. It was an all-but impossible ask, and if nothing else answers my question as to why they didn’t appear to be trying to do it.

Whether or not this is fair, we can leave as a question for another time – it isn’t really the subject of this article.

But I do think it is quite bad that the Playing Conditions state a definition for Bonus Points that is flat-wrong; if for no other reason than it leads to confusion, because most people (including us) don’t have access to NV Play, so we have to do the calculations ourselves. How can we hope to calculate it correctly, and give correct information to fans, if the definition in the Playing Conditions is completely wrong?

The Playing Conditions need to be updated, to clearly state how Bonus Points are actually calculated.

Will they be?

I’m not holding my breath.

(And in the meantime, I’ll be fixing my Bonus Point Calculator!)

With 4 games remaining to be played on Saturday, Surrey, Durham and Somerset are still all in with a mathematical chance of qualification.

They key fixtures are Surrey v Durham and Somerset v Warwickshire

Here are the possible scenarios.

Surrey Win (w. Bonus Point)

• Surrey Qualify on points

Surrey Win

• Surrey Qualify on points

Surrey v Durham – No Result/ Tie

• Surrey Qualify on points or NRR – Although Somerset could draw-level with Surrey on 31 points with a Bonus Point win, it is practically impossible for Somerset to overturn Surrey’s NRR advantage. (If Somerset scored 350 and then bowled Warwickshire out for 1, it still wouldn’t be enough!)

Durham Win (w. Bonus Point) + Somerset Lose (or N/R)

• Durham Qualify on points

Durham Win (w. Bonus Point) + Somerset Win (no BP)

• Durham Qualify on points

Durham Win (w. Bonus Point) + Somerset Win (w. BP)

• Durham Qualify on NRR… probably – A Bonus Point win for Durham will have increased their NRR sufficiently that it would be very difficult for Somerset to overtake them. (The narrowest possible Bonus Point win for Durham would leave Somerset needing to score 300 and bowl Warwickshire out for 100.)

Durham Win + Somerset Win (no BPs)

• Durham Qualify on NRR – If Somerset win without a Bonus Point, Durham will almost certainly qualify on NRR. It is possible for Durham to win and their NRR to drop slightly, but not by enough for it to be possible for Somerset to overturn with a non-Bonus Point win. (And if Somerset win with a Bonus Point, they qualify on points anyway – see below.)

Durham Win + Somerset Win (w. Bonus Point)

• Somerset Qualify on points

CAVEAT: The above is hopefully accurate, but as always:
DO NOT BET YOUR HOUSE ON SYD’S MATHS!!

You can’t rush a New York Cheesecake – not when you are baking it, anyway! (When you are eating it – yes, rush away!) But in the baking, it needs to cook low and slow.

In that sense, Sterre Kalis’s match-winning half-century for Yorkshire in their One Day Cup semi-final showdown against Middlesex was the perfect New York Cheesecake – cooked low, and cooked slow.

As Kalis faced her first ball from Saskia Horley at the start of the 11th over, Yorkshire were in just a wee bit of trouble, having lost two set batters – Lauren Winfield-Hill (for 16) and Erin Thomas (for 38) – within the space of 4 balls. That left the visitors 55-3, with both batters at the crease on nought.

The situation wasn’t desperate by any means – chasing a lowish 194, Yorkshire had time on their side. But given that the head-t0-head between the teams this season read “Middlesex 2 – Yorkshire 0”, including a 10-wicket drubbing in the final of the Tier 2 Blast, the honorary Yorkie from Den Haag in the Netherlands must have been wondering if history was about to deliver it’s infamous second encore, this time as farce?

So she dug in.

You could almost hear her telling herself – low and slow; low and slow – as she and Maddie Ward added just 15 runs in 9 overs between the 10th and 19th. A 4 driven down the ground by Ward at the start of the 19th over was the first boundary since the 8th over.

Even with 8 off the 19th over, the entire early middle phase produced just 23 runs for Yorkshire – it was soporific stuff, and for a brief period the game turned against them. Though it wasn’t really relevant, with no rain forecast, they fell behind on DLS, and also on the WinHer Win Predictor.

Nonetheless, Kalis didn’t panic – despite facing dot after dot (45 of ’em in all!) of defensive shots back to the bowler, or drives to fielders on the ring; and despite going at a Strike Rate of well under 50, she kept her cool, and lowly… slowly… the small crowd at Radlett began to wake up and smell the cheesecake.

Two-and-a-half an over, became three-and-a-half an over, helped by some woeful fielding and a succession of dropped catches from Middlesex. But at the point Ward was dismissed (Artemis Downer finally holding on to a skier at cow corner) Kalis was still only on 29 off 57 balls, at a Strike Rate of just 51.

The entrance of Ami Campbell did then flick a switch – the shots got bigger and so did the run rate. Kalis’s next 36 runs were scored from just 22 balls – 3x the Strike Rate she’d been going before – to get Yorkshire home with more than 10 overs to spare, with Campbell 34* at the other end. A New York cheesecake, perfectly baked.

Some credit must also go to Yorkshire’s bowlers – particularly Beth Langston, who bowled 10 in a row up-top, taking 2-38 and deserving some of the credit for the wickets that fell at the other end too. By the end of the 12th over, Middlesex had lost Issy Routledge and Artemis Downer, both edging pacy deliveries from Langston to Lauren Winfield-Hill behind the sticks; as well as Finty Trussler and Pippa Sproul. Those 4 between them have scored nearly 60% of Middlesex’s runs in the One Day Cup this season, so losing all for barely a peppercorn meant it was always going to be an uphill struggle for the home side.

Captain Saskia Horley fought back with 83 off 100 balls to get Middlesex back into the mix, assisted by an unbeaten 48 from Gaya Gole, and if the Middlesex tail had been able to wag just a little more it might have made a big difference. Chasing something more like 220 or 230 wouldn’t have allowed Kalis quite the luxury to slow-bake her innings the way she did.

It was a disappointing end to the season for Middlesex, but given the way the dice were loaded against them as basically an amateur side playing Yorkshire’s professionals, they should be immensely proud to have achieved a first-placed finish in the table, in addition to their Blast win.

And as he lined up commiseration beers for his side, Middlesex’s Director of Cricket Alan Coleman praised them for what he described as an “unbelievable season” in which the Tier 2 side have won 18 of their matches 21 matches:

“The pride that they can take in the cricket they’ve played is immense. As a club, we couldn’t be prouder of what they’ve achieved.”

For Yorkshire, they march on to next weekend’s final, where they face Glamorgan, with nothing less than a win the minimum expectation.

This week:

• Tier 2: Yorkshire, Glamorgan & Middlesex v The Rest
• ⁠Tier 1: Warwickshire go out
• ⁠Grace Harris in Australia’s World Cup squad
• ⁠Is it right to price World Cup tickets so low?

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