The last time England and the West Indies faced-off was at the World Twenty20 last November, on a sweltering night in St Lucia.

“It feels like a long time ago,” says England opener Amy Jones. “They played very well that day.”

In an intense encounter, the West Indies were on fire – they were sharp in the field and bowled aggressively, putting England under early pressure to restrict them to 115; and then batted frantically to overhaul the total with 3 balls to spare.

The crowd that night were immense – “I remember it was very noisy – very loud!” says Jones. Indeed, it felt like England weren’t facing 11 West Indians but 8 thousand, roaring them on for every wicket, every catch and every run.

The star of the show was Deandra Dottin, whose 2 wickets and 46 runs earned her the Player of the Match award.

On that night it felt like the Windies were back – they had recovered from their humiliation by South Africa at the 50-over World Cup in England, and were looking more like the title holders, who had won the World T20 in India two years before.

Six months later, the West Indies meet England again.

But this was no sizzling night in St Lucia – it was a windy day-nighter in Leicester! There was no roaring crowd – about 300 turned up, despite more than twice that many advance tickets being sold – and no Deandra Dottin.

And without those twin talismen – the crowd and the crowd-pleaser – the West Indies fell to pieces. They let England get a start – putting on 57 for the wicket; and then failed to capitalise on their double breakthrough – allowing England to push on… and then pile-on – scoring 80 runs between the 30th and 40th overs.

They were shocking in the field – balls went over them, past them, and sometimes just right through them – but they looked like they didn’t really care – like they had given up on the series before it had even begun.

Self-belief is a huge part of international cricket – and the West Indies clearly didn’t believe they could chase 318. Kycia Knight’s 16 off 45 balls was not even the epitome – it was the captain Stafanie Taylor’s 1 off 11 balls which really said it all – WE CAN’T DO THIS – painted in capital letters all over their faces.

In some ways, it was worse for the West Indies than that World Cup game against South Africa when they were bowled out for 48. South Africa’s bowlers had the collective game of their lives that day – today England were merely efficient – it was all they needed to be… and they still won by over 200 runs!

Can the Windies recover from this mental drubbing before Sunday’s next encounter at Worcester? It didn’t look like it from their expressions, as they trudged across the outfield back to the team bus after the game.

But England should not be complacent – cricket is a funny game – you can go from zero to hero… and back to zero again… awfully quickly.

Just ask the West Indies!

There are no surprises and no new caps in England’s squad to face the West Indies in the first two of 3 ODIs and 3 T20s this summer prior to the Women’s Ashes.

England have gone largely with experience, including veterans Jenny Gunn and Laura Marsh, and leaving out all of the recent “new” caps, with no room on the bus for the likes of Linsey Smith, Kirstie Gordon, Sophia Dunkley or Freya Davies.

Dunkley’s omission is particularly surprising after she scored over 450 runs at an average of 113, including 2 centuries and 3 fifties, in this season’s Women’s County Championship; but she misses out in favour of Fran Wilson, who has also been in excellent form for County Champions Kent.

Sarah Taylor comes back into the squad, after missing most of the county season through injury, but her Sussex team-mate Georgia Elwiss is not fully fit to return, despite having played for Sussex as a batsman last weekend.

Full Squad

Heather Knight (Berkshire)
Tammy Beaumont (Kent)
Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire)
Kate Cross (Lancashire)
Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire)
Alex Hartley (Lancashire)
Jenny Gunn (Nottinghamshire)
Amy Jones (Warwickshire)
Laura Marsh (Kent)
Nat Sciver (Surrey)
Anya Shrubsole (Berkshire)
Sarah Taylor (Sussex)
Fran Wilson (Kent)
Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire)
Danni Wyatt (Sussex)

Middlesex completed their comeback from their opening day loss to Essex to claim the Div 2 crown with a 20 run win over Berkshire. Two crucial interventions from Katie Wolfe – a rapid 19 off 18 balls batting at number 11, and a two-in-two with the ball to break the back of Berkshire’s middle-order – took Middlesex to the win they needed to overhaul the girls in green at the top of the table.

Meanwhile Essex confirmed third place with a 55 run win over Worcestershire. Cath Dalton top-scored with 70 as Essex posted 197-8, and despite 48* from captain-keeper-batsman-is-there-anything-she-doesn’t-do Chloe Hill, the Rapids could only reach 138-7 off their rain-reduced 43 overs.

Up in Durham, 3-14 from Martha Bilsland helped Wales bowl out their hosts for 175, which Wales chased-down easily thanks to half-centuries from Rachel Priest (84) and Lauren Parfitt (58) for the loss of only 4 wickets.

Finally, Somerset v Devon was called-off, with both teams promising to replay the match later in the season, though it won’t affect the outcome of the division, with no relegation at stake due to the changes coming in 2020.

With the County Championship having already retired, like some Edwardian maiden aunt, to a convalescent home in Kent, there was little but pride to play for in the final round of the tournament. Under these circumstances, it was perhaps fitting that it was the two great rivals of recent years – Kent and Sussex – who played out the key game of the weekend.

There is little love lost between the two counties, who have shared 14 of the last 17 titles, and whose animosity boiled-over in the infamous Beckenhamgate affair in 2015; but despite Kent having claimed the trophy, it was Sussex who had the final word with a huge 160 run triumph at Kent’s home Spitfire Ground.

Having won the toss, Sussex captain Georgia Adams (65) elected to bat and put on 118 for the first wicket with Izzy Collis (67). England’s Georgia Elwiss, making her comeback from the injury that ended her tour to the subcontinent early this spring, then added a 3rd half-century of the innings, as Sussex posted 268-6.

In reply, the champions – albeit missing half their team due to England call-ups ahead of the international season which starts this week – were skittled out for just 108, with Tara Norris, Cassidy McCarthy and Chiara Green taking two wickets each.

Elsewhere, Hampshire had an even bigger margin of victory as they walloped sorry Surrey by 192 runs. There were half-tons for Charlie Dean and Lucia Kendall as Hampshire posted 273-9, before dismissing Surrey for 81 – 3 wickets apiece for Danielle Ransley and Fi Morris.

Rain affected both the other two matches, but both nonetheless produced results – Hollie Armitage making 59 as Yorkshire secured second place, chasing a Duckworth-Lewis adjusted 206 against Notts; whilst the Duckworth-Lewis calculations set Lancashire 58 from 10 overs to beat Warwickshire, which they cantered to thanks to Eve Jones (27* off 19) and Emma Lamb (24 off 14).

So… that’s that for the Women’s County Championship, which is set to be taken behind the woodshed by the ECB after 23 years. (Conversations we’ve had suggest that rumours of a climb-down by The Powers That Be are little more than wishful thinking, we’re sorry to say, and though a delay is possible it would be little more than a stay of execution.)

It’s been a blast, and we’ll miss it like crazy, but there will still be cricket in years to come, because the 50 over game isn’t going anywhere – not yet, anyway! [Don’t give them ideas- Ed.] 

[* Bonus points for Berkshire and Devon on Play Cricket are wrong – these totals are correct!]

A huge century from Heather Knight kept Berkshire in pole position in Div 2, but Middlesex also won twice to set up a showdown between the two for the title next weekend.

Having beaten Durham on Sunday (full report here) Berkshire travelled to Wales on Monday, where 69 from Alex Griffiths helped set up a total of 232-9 – a target that looked an awfully long way off when Berkshire’s number 9, Millie Allerton, walked to the crease to join Heather Knight at 153-7. But Knight – in what was almost certainly her last match for the Beavers – drove on, eventually hitting the winning runs in the 48th over, as she finished with 159* off 125 balls, with Allerton still there on 17* at the other end.

Middlesex’s weekend began at Sophia Dunkley’s alma mater – Mill Hill School – where they hosted Somerset. For once this season, Dunkley was upstaged – she “only” made 54, as Cordelia Griffith took the limelight with 112 off 106 balls, as Middlesex posted 246-8. Somerset were then bowled out for 214 – Katie Wolfe cleaning-up the tail with a hat-trick at the end!

Dunkley and Griffith were then in the runs again as Middlesex defeated Devon by 8 wickets on the Monday (full report here).

These results mean that next weekend sees a de-facto “final” between Berkshire and Middlesex at Mill Hill, with the likelihood that the winner will top the division. (Though it is definitely mathematically possible for Berkshire to lose the match and still finish first due to the way bonus points work*.)

Elsewhere, there were 4fers for Anje Lague – 4-23 in Essex’s 65-run win versus Devon – and Emily Arlott – 4-25 as Worcestershire beat Somerset by 4 wickets; with Worcestershire leapfrogging Durham off the bottom of the table having also won in Wales.

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* E.g. Middlesex make 201-9 = Berkshire +4 for bowling; Middlesex +4 for batting; Berkshire make 200-2 = Berkshire +4 for batting; Middlesex +0 for bowling +10 for winning = Berkshire on 100; Middlesex on 99.

Kent have won a record 8th Women’s County Championship title – seeing off both their closest rivals over the Bank Holiday weekend to crown themselves with a game to spare.

Taking on Yorkshire at Harrogate, Kent were bowled out for 121 off the final ball in a rain-affected game – Fran Wilson and Maxine Blythin joint-top-scoring with 32. It proved 5 too many for Yorkshire, who finished 116-7, Leah Dobson 30* at the end.

This left Kent needing 15 points from their game the next day against Lancashire to make the title mathematically certain, and this they achieved as promising teenage fast bowler Chelsey Rowson took 4-24 to bowl Lancashire out for 161. An undefeated half-century from Fran Wilson then wrapped things up with 6 overs to spare, to send the trophy back to its forever-home in Kent!

Elsewhere, Hampshire picked up their first two wins – Providence Cowdrill taking 4-19 as they defeated Warwickshire, and captain Katie George hitting 80* to see off Notts. Warwickshire also finally got a win on the board – Amy Jones smashing 101* off 96 balls to defeat Surrey – completing a sorry weekend for Surrey, who also lost to Notts despite a run-a-ball hundred from Bryony Smith.

Meanwhile England fans will be delighted to see that Sarah Taylor made her return for Sussex, after missing most of the season through injury; though it didn’t help them much as they failed with the bat yet again versus Yorkshire – bowled out for 139. Sussex did get a win against Lancashire, thanks to Nancy Harman who took 4-19 as Lancs failed to chase 135 in a rain-reduced match at Kate Cross’s home club ground – Heywood CC.

A maiden century from skipper Amara Carr proved in vain, as Sophia Dunkley drained Devon’s Div 2 title hopes with her 5th consecutive 50+ score in the Women’s County Championship for Middlesex.

Having won the toss, on a day when the weather could not make up its mind whether it was hot, cold, windy or still, Devon chose to bat at picturesque Eastcote Cricket Club.

Middlesex got an early breakthrough with the big wicket of in-form Georgia Hennessy – Katie Wolfe, having passed the bat several times in the early overs, going up for a huge appeal for caught behind, and Hennessy walking without the umpire needing to raise his finger.

Gaya Gole then clean-bowled Claire Varcoe for 1; but the match soon seemed to be turning in Devon’s favour, as Amara Carr and Emma Corney played sensibly, paddling the ball around to bring up their 50 partnership in the 19th over, and taking the score to 77-2 after 20 overs.

Carr brought up her 50 off 55 balls in the 27th over, and Corney’s half century followed shortly afterwards off 84 balls. The hundred partnership came too, but was finally broken shortly afterwards as Corney was bowled by Sonali Patel for 56.

Emily Edgecombe came and went – caught behind off Emily Thorpe for 3 – but Carr, who will be playing for Middlesex in the T20 London Cup at Lords this week, bustled her way on through the 80s and 90s to bring up her maiden County Championship hundred off 104 balls.

Carr was finally run out at the death on 105, by a direct hit from Naomi Dattani as she went for a sharp single, as Devon finished on 222-9, with Gole the pick of the Middlesex bowling taking 3-16.

In reply, Naomi Dattani and Cordelia Griffith – the latter fresh from a hundred the previous day against Somerset – got off to a flying start, with some generous help from the extras column, but were pegged-back a bit by a pair of maidens towards the end of the powerplay, which finished 56-0.

Dattani’s innings was ended by Charlie Phillips, though perhaps not in a way that the bowler herself would have wanted – the Middlesex captain caught by Ellie Mitchell off a high full toss for 19.

Griffith brought up her half century in the 22nd over, and she immediately followed it up by taking advantage of a very short boundary to smash a straight 6 over the sightscreen in celebration.

After 65 off 66 balls, Griffith didn’t quite get the full force of the bat on a lofted drive straight down the ground and was caught – Mitchell again the catcher – to give Phillips her second wicket of the afternoon.

Phillips had a chance for a third in her final over, but put down a tough caught and bowled opportunity from Sophia Dunkley, to finish with 2-41.

Dunkley passed 50 and was dropped again on 51, but gave no further alarms as her and Tash Miles (36*) cruised past the target with more than 5 overs to spare – Dunkley finishing things off with a lovely lofted drive for 4, to close on 75*.

Dunkley currently averages 113, having scored 451 runs in the Championship this season – yes it is Div 2, but surely enough to earn her selection for England’s up-coming series against the West Indies?

Meanwhile Middlesex go into a virtual “final” next weekend against leaders Berkshire, with the winner likely to take the Div 2 title as the County Championship draws to a climax one last time.

After their win at Yorkshire yesterday, Kent are now 15 points away from winning the last ever Women’s County Championship at Newton Le Willows CC on Merseyside today, where they meet Lancashire.

After Lancashire lost yesterday to Sussex, Kent’s nearest challengers are now Nottinghamshire on 64 points – Kent have 85* – 21 points clear with two games to play.

Notts could in theory reach 100 points with two “18 pointers” but because Kent have the head-to-head win against Notts in the bag, that means they only need to match them – i.e. Kent need to reach 100 points to take the title with one game left to play.

They can do that today by (a) winning, for 10 points; and (b) taking 5 of the 8 available bonus points.

Here’s a reminder of how bonus points work:

Bowling

Bowling points are pretty simple – you take wickets; you get points!

Batting

Batting points are a bit more complicated, because they are calculated on the run rate, rather than the number of runs. To give you an idea, we’ve shown a 50 Over Equivalent score below; but remember if your side are chasing, it is really how quickly they score the runs rather than how many they score.

NB – If you are all-out, the run rate is calculated based on the full allocation of overs.

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* Play Cricket says 84, but Kent’s batting bonus points from yesterday are wrong – 121 runs / 36 overs = 3.36 RPO = 3 bonus points, not 2! (HT @WomensCricDay for pointing this out!) This is now corrected!

A half century from Australian overseas Sophie Day set Berkshire up for a 36-run victory over Durham, which combined with Devon’s loss to Essex put the Beavers 11* points clear at the top of Division 2 of the Women’s County Championship.

Day, together with Emily Cunningham, got Berkshire off to a great start on the way to a hundred partnership – Cunningham hitting Rachel Petherick for 4-6-4 in her second over, as the Beavers, whose batting has struggled of late, cantered to 50-0 off the first 10 overs.

After seven 4s and one 6, Cunningham was eventually undone by one that kept low from England Academy leg-spinner Helen Fenby, LBW for 41; but the left-handed Day went on to bring up her 50 in the 28th over with a pull through midwicket for two, before being bowled shortly afterwards by Hannah Knowles for 59.

England captain Heather Knight followed shortly afterwards, caught off a toe-edge for a nice 38, but with the score on 174 Berkshire were already in a very strong position.

With heavy drizzle coming down and the ball slipping around like a raccoon on roller-skates, spinner Laura Ellison struggled with her length, finding herself called for no balls for both high full tosses and double-bounces – but still managed to get the wicket of Anya Shrubsole, who plonked a full toss straight into the hands of Ami Campbell at mid off.

But a 40-run partnership between Lissy Macleod and Amanda Potgieter took Berkshire past the 200 required for maximum batting bonus points. Potgieter was eventually clean-bowled for 15 by Hannah Knowles; but Mcleod continued to tonk and bonk her way to 53 off 43 balls, helping Berkshire to a final total of 284-6.

In reply, Durham made it through the powerplay for the loss of just 1 wicket – Laura Hockaday LBW to Anya Shrubsole; but a second wicket followed almost immediately afterwards – Rachael Petherick also LBW to Phoebe Graham, leaving them 42-2.

Durham kept wickets in hand, but the run rate was starting to climb, and by the time drinks were taken at 17 overs it had already hit an ominous 7-per-over.

Remarkably though Durham, who had just the one win coming into this match, were keeping up more or less with that rate, hitting at around 7-an-over to keep the chase in sight, as Rachel Hopkins and Becky Glen targeted cow corner with some lusty blows to put on 81 for the 3rd wicket, until Glen became the 3rd LBW dismissal of the innings to Kate Coppack.

But the turning point came with the dismissal of Hopkins, who got to a half century before she went for one big shot too many against Macleod, lost her balance and was stumped for 54.

As darkness began to descend upon both Durham and the greying skies above North Maidenhead CC, Ami Campbell (42) skied a slog-sweep towards Heather Knight at long off – the England captain making no mistake taking the catch; and Emily Cunningham took a brilliant one-handed catch at gully, leaping high and back to dismiss Laura Ellison off Phoebe Graham for 16.

Berkshire’s thoughts could then turn towards bonus points, which they duly reeled-in, Graham finishing with 3-39 and Coppack with 3-38, as Durham closed on 249-9, with Berkshire taking a maximum 18 points from the game.

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* The current table shows a 9-point gap, but Devon have incorrectly banked bonus points from their abandoned match against Berkshire last weekend, which (we assume!) will at some point be removed.

With 4 wins out of 4 already in the Women’s County Championship, Kent are in a very good position to seal the title this weekend, as their official Twitter account tweeted:

However… they do need to do a little bit more than “just” win those two games.

Kent’s nearest challengers are Lancashire, who right now have 57 points – so assuming they do indeed lose to Kent on Monday, the most they can therefore get is 101 points – 8 bonus points v Kent, and two “18 pointers” from their other two fixtures.

Assuming, again, that Kent have beaten Lancs, Kent would have the “head to head” so would only need to finish level on points to win the title – ergo 101 points is Kent’s target!

Kent currently have 69 points – so two wins alone (with zero bonus points) takes them to only 89 points.

However, two wins with maximum (18) bonus points will get them to 105 – 4 more than they need.

So in other words the thing to watch is Kent’s bonus points – they can afford to drop 4 over the weekend and they will then be champions on Monday evening, regardless of anything that happens elsewhere.

Of course, this situation will have changed by Sunday evening, depending on the results of other games, so stay tuned and we’ll keep doing the maths so you don’t have to!