The ECB today announced that Kia’s sponsorship of women’s cricket has been extended for a further 2 years, running until the end of 2019.

Kia originally signed a 3 year deal to sponsor the England women’s team, which was later expanded to include the “title” sponsorship of the Super League.

The deal was/ is not a huge one in financial terms – the original agreement was worth only a fraction of what Waitrose were paying at the time to sponsor the men’s team – but it was/ is still hugely significant because it is a “stand-alone” deal for the women’s game – not a “tack-on” sponsorship to the men’s game.

And that Kia chose to expand their commitment via the Super League was also big news, because it put a value on women’s domestic cricket for the first time in this country.

Meanwhile Kia are clearly happy that it is a proposition which has worked for them, as they continue to target the “soccer cricket mom” market with their mid-range SUVs, as driven by all the England players.

So why have they only signed on for two years this time?

Well…

[Idle speculation alert!!]

In 2020 the ECB are planning to launch their “City T20” competition.

Right now, the City T20 is only being talked about as a men’s tournament; but following the logic of BBL/ WBBL, might not an aligned Women’s City T20 also make sense?

Put it this way: it would be a remarkable surprise if the idea hadn’t crossed anyone’s mind over at ECB Towers; and that would mean no more Kia Super League after 2019… which is exactly when the extended Kia deal is now scheduled to end.

As the kids say… you do the math!

With just a month to go until England fly Down Under for the Women’s Ashes, coach Mark Robinson has been meeting with his team this week to finalise the squad.

The Ashes squad is officially 15 players, but there may be some wriggle-room in terms of naming different squads for different formats, so who is likely to be in and out?

It is probably safe to say that the 13 players who played during the World Cup are all pretty sure bets to be involved:

1. Heather Knight
2. Tammy Beaumont
3. Katherine Brunt
4. Jenny Gunn
5. Alex Hartley
6. Dani Hazell
7. Laura Marsh
8. Nat Sciver
9. Anya Shrubsole
10. Sarah Taylor
11. Fran Wilson
12. Lauren Winfield
13. Danni Wyatt

This leaves officially just 2 spots to fill, so who is in contention?

There were two players named in the World Cup squad who didn’t play: Georgia Elwiss and Beth Langston; and a further three in the contracted squad: Amy Jones, Tash Farrant and Kate Cross.

One thing you need on a long, distant tour is a versatile all rounder to act as an injury back-up, and Georgia Elwiss is that player – a good enough batsman to be selected on merit and a good enough bowler to fill-in when required – it would be a big surprise if she was left behind, so that’s 14!

The final, 15th spot is where all the big questions lie, which is why England might go with two, or even three, 15ths!

Beth Langston was in the World Cup squad and never got her chance, so it might seem unfair to leave her behind, but (as my dad used to say) life’s not fair… and he might have added that professional sport definitely isn’t, so is there an opportunity for A.N. Other?

Kate Cross is as close as England get to a “Test Specialist” – she didn’t have a great Super League (1 wicket, and an economy rate of 9) but that probably shouldn’t have too much bearing on Test selection, and her batting, which has come on a lot over the past couple of years, could be handy, so there is perhaps a case to be made for her in the Test squad.

If England have a “T20 Specialist” it is Tash Farrant, who has played just one ODI but 9 T20s since her debut in 2013. She opened the bowling for the Vipers in the Super League and took 6 wickets at an economy rate of 6.2 – not terrible numbers by any means, but not exactly “banging down the door” either.

Amy Jones (who should have recovered from the broken finger which kept her out of the last couple of rounds of Super League) is England’s official under-glove-butler* but we have a feeling that Tammy Beaumont keeping-wicket for the Surrey Stars in Super League (even when they had a “proper” keeper – Kirstie White – on the field) might have been a sign from on-high that England will look to turn to her if Sarah Taylor gets injured out in Australia.

In addition to the contracted squad, there are a handful of wildcards. Sophie Ecclestone had a fantastic domestic season – topping the wicket-taking charts in the County Championship – but England are pretty flush with spinners right now, with Alex Hartley, Laura Marsh and Dani Hazell, so she will probably have to wait her turn – it will come – but maybe just not quite yet!

The other outside shots are opening batsman Emma Lamb and fast bowler Freya Davies.

Lamb is one of those players who would thrive if the game we played was more like men’s Test cricket – pace on the ball, and 5 days to bat – but it isn’t. Yes there is a (4 day) Test, and yes it is Australia where the pitches will be faster, but there won’t be serious pace on the ball from this Aussie attack; and besides, who would you drop…?

So if England do make an “outside” pick it is more likely to be Davies, who the England management clearly see as a long-term replacement for Katherine Brunt, who is 32 now and therefore unlikely to continue much past next year’s World T20 in the West Indies. Heather Knight obviously rates Davies, trusting her to open the bowling for the Storm in the Super League; and although England got through the World Cup with the injury-prone axis of Shrubsole and Brunt playing every match, they might not be so lucky this time, so taking another “proper” fast bowler might be a wise move.

Will Mark Robinson agree? For what it’s worth, we haven’t got a clue… but we will find out very soon!

—————

* Back-up wicket keeper!

Rachel Priest is – as Forrest Gump might have put it – like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get!

Her scores at the World Cup this summer read: 2 against South Africa, 8 against Australia, 8 against Pakistan, 12 against England, 5 against India. Oh…and 90 off 55 balls against the West Indies!

In this year’s Super League, her first two innings were 3 off 8 balls versus the Vipers, and a 4-ball duck against the Lightning.

Then came York: the Storm v the Diamonds.

With the Storm chasing 160, after what Women’s Cricket Blog described as an “iffy” start, Priest reached her 50 off 39 balls… and then she really got going! Finishing on 106*, the second 50 had taken just 25 balls. In total she hit 14 4s and 3 6s, including 15 off an over from Sophie Devine and another 15 off Chamari Atapattu.

In the Storm’s final group match, against the Thunder at Bristol, there was really no “start” at all – just a “finish”! After hitting 10 off the first over from Kate Cross, Priest went on to smash the fastest 50 in KSL history, off 22 balls, with 7 4s and 3 6s.

And so to Hove for Finals Day, with the Storm distinctly unfancied: our statistical analysis said they had only a 24% chance of lifting the title, and our followers on Twitter agreed – just 17% of them made the Storm favourites!

In the semi-final, with the Storm chasing a low total against the Stars, Priest got a bit of a start, hitting a couple of 4s, before horribly missing a fairly innocuous ball from Nat Sciver to be bowled for 11, as the Storm collapsed to 17-4.

Had everyone been right about the Storm?

No! It was Stafanie Taylor who kept them in it, guiding them home with an over to spare, with a patient 37 off 45 balls – Priest was to have one more chance to really make her mark, in the final against the Vipers.

At the half-way point in the final, however, the odds were stacked against the Storm once again. Although the Vipers highest individual score was just 31, a massive “team effort” had taken them to an imposing 145 – all-but 50% more than the Storm had just about managed to chase earlier in the day. There were men in white coats standing outside Ladbrokes on Portland Road, waiting to cart anyone betting on the Storm off to the loony bin!

Meanwhile in the press box, all the talk was of Charlotte Edwards, who had just hit 20* off 8 balls, with no 6s (Lottie does it “old school”) but 4 sweet 4s. If it was a secret that this was to be Edwards’ final game, it wasn’t a very well-kept one, and the fairy-tale ending was already being hotly anticipated and written-up for the morning’s papers.

But Rachel Priest had other ideas.

She hit her first 6 in Linsey Smith’s second over, but it was her brutal treatment of Smith’s third (and final) over which changed the course of the match. It began with a wide; before Smith seemed to pull it back with two dots. Then the damn broke – a 4, another wide, a no-ball hit for 4, the free hit sent for a soaring 6, then 2 more 4s – 26 off the over, and the Viper’s leading bowler quite literally battered out of the game.

By the time Rachel Priest was finally dismissed, brilliantly caught by Danni Wyatt, with a racing dive from deep midwicket to deep mid on, she had made 72 off 36 balls – a strike rate of exactly 200. There was still work to do – the required rate was just a little under 6 at that point – but it was as if Priest’s innings had lifted all the pressure off. Sophie Luff in particular looked a different player from the one who had made a nervous 5 off 6 balls in the semi-final – Priest had made batting look easy again, and Luff, Stafanie Taylor and Fran Wilson (running for Taylor, who was suffering from cramp) eased the Storm to victory with 12 balls to spare.

Charlotte Edwards – her fairy-tale ending denied – said afterwards that the Storm were simply the better team.

They weren’t.

But Rachel Priest was.

She might be infuriatingly inconsistent; but on her day she can be the best player in the world.

And this was her day.

Stars Innings

• The Stars innings never quite got going – Claire Nicholas was exceptionally economical in the powerplay – conceding just 5 runs in her first 3 overs (overs 1, 3 & 5). Admittedly, she conceded 9 in her final over (over 7), but by that point the pattern of the game had been set; and 100 didn’t feel like a par score at all.
• It was the Storm’s spin attack which controlled the game – their quicks went for 6-an-over on average; their spinners just 4.57.
• But… to be fair to them… the quicks were more than twice as likely to take wickets – taking a wicket every 2 overs bowled; compared with one every 4.5 overs for the spinners.

Storm Innings

• The Storm’s reply was a case-study in not panicking, despite losing wickets – they were always on-course with the rate but at 4-wickets down after 10 overs, with all-but-one of their “big” batsmen back in the dugout, they could so easily have hit The Big Red Button.
• The last “big” batsman was Stafanie Taylor; but she didn’t “bat big” – she batted at a Strike Rate of just over 80 – that’s absolutely not a big number, but it was enough of a number as long as she stayed in – and she did! She was there to guide the tail home and hit the winning runs with 7 balls to spare.

• They say slow and steady wins the race! Well, not always; but it did in this semi-final!
• In contrast to the Storm, the Stars spinners were more expensive – going at 6.4-an-over, compared to 4.5 for the quicks.

NB – Because there were no cancelled games in Div 1 this season “Average” points didn’t come into it, so we’ve shown total points for clarity; but technically it was average points that counted.

NB – Because there have been no cancelled games in Div 1 this season (amazingly!) “Average” points won’t come into it, so we’ve shown total points for clarity; but technically it is average points that count.

At The Top

At the top of the table, either Yorkshire or Warwickshire (or even Lancashire at a pinch) could win it.

• Yorkshire, playing Notts – Equal (or better) Warwickshire’s result.
• Warwickshire, playing Lancashire – Better Yorkshire’s result but more than one point. (If they are equal on points, Yorkshire win because they won the game between them yesterday.)
• Lancashire, playing Warwickshire – Win big and hope Yorkshire lose big.

At The Bottom

At the bottom, one of Kent, Middlesex and Sussex will accompany Berkshire down to Div 2 next season.

• Kent, playing Berkshire – Win… probably! (It is technically possible that they could win and still go down, if they somehow contrived to get a lot fewer bonus points than the loser of Sussex v Middlesex.)
• Middlesex, playing Sussex – Win, or hope Kent lose!
• Sussex, playing Middlesex – Ditto – win, or hope Kent lose!

On a melting hot day at The Oval, the two El(l)yses – Villani and Perry – hit 71 and 68 respectively, as the Lightning beat the Stars by 81 runs, to finish their Super League campaign with a second bonus-point victory. But for the Lightning it was the best of times and the worst of times, as despite the result they failed to qualify for Finals Day.

On the same pitch where the men had hit over 400 runs in the T20 Blast the previous night, Lightning skipper Georgia Elwiss won the toss and chose to bat against the Stars, with the Lightning knowing that not only did they need the win, but also for other results to go their way, to have any hope of semi-final qualification; whilst for the Stars a win would seal direct entry to next Friday’s final.

Opening the batting with Amy Jones still injured, Sarah Glenn lasted just 3 balls, caught by Rene Farrell at mid on off Laura Marsh for 0.

Elyse Villani was soon into her stride however, swatting Marsh dismissively for a huge 6 over backward square, as she plundered 17 from the England offie’s 2nd over.

Replacing Marsh, Nat Sciver bowled a maiden to Ellyse Perry, but could do little to halt Villani’s scoring rate in the following over as she continued to find the boundary regularly, helped by some poor fielding from the Stars.

Villani reached her 50 off 28 balls in the 8th over, with another big 6 over cow corner off Alex Hartley, whilst at the other end Perry drifted on at a Strike Rate of well under 50. By the time Villani was out, for a 39-ball 71 – caught by Sophia Dunkley at long off – Perry had made it into double-figures… just… on 10!

Having come in in the 1st over, Perry hit her first boundary (a 6 off Hartley) in the 12th, as she finally started to get motoring.

Incoming batsman Georgia Elwiss meanwhile looked like a lady who hasn’t played much cricket, as she scratched around for a 13-ball 6.

In the meantime Perry pushed on, and by the time she brought up her 50 – smashing the penultimate over, bowled by Nat Sciver, for 22 – she had accelerated sufficiently to push her Strike Rate over 100 – finishing on 68* off 53 balls, as the Lightning posted 171-3, with Thea Brookes playing a useful supporting role to Perry, with 14 off 13 at the end.

With the Stars needing well over 8 an over, Tammy Beaumont got a start, reaching 11 off 11 balls, before Kristen Beams was granted an LBW after what must go down as one of the longest and loudest appeals in history!

Lizelle Lee meanwhile couldn’t pick up where she left off after the other day’s 72, and was caught at deep square by Sonia Odedra for 1 off 8 balls – that gave Perry a wicket-maiden; though it could have been a double if she had not immediately dropped Nat Sciver on 0 – an admittedly difficult caught and bowled chance which was hit back at her very hard.

Perry picked up another wicket in her 3rd over – Marizanne Kapp bowled playing down the wrong line at a straight delivery – leaving the Stars 25-3 at the end of the powerplay.

With the required rate having climbed to well over 10, it was already looking like the Lightning’s day. Bryony Smith holed-out to Villani at long on – a good catch over her right shoulder; but with Nat Sciver getting going at the other end – hitting Georgia Elwiss for three consecutive 4s – there was still hope for the Stars.

That hope disappeared however with a furious Sciver smashing her bat down onto the pitch, having been bowled by Sarah Glenn for 24 in the 12th over.

Sophia Dunkley was bowled by Beth Langston for 8, exposing her stumps as she looked to play a rather too premeditated leg glance; whilst Sonia Odedra took another solid catch at deep square to dismiss Laura Marsh; then a third running around to mid off to bag Rene Farrell.

The inevitable last wickets came two-by-two – Becky Grundy bowling Grace Gibbs for 9 (including a 6), and then Alex Hartley for a golden duck – the Stars finishing on 90 all out, 105 runs short.

The result means that the Stars miss out on direct final qualification, and will contest the semi-final against the Storm next Friday afternoon at Hove for the right to meet the Vipers in the final; whilst the Lightning finish 4th overall, just missing out on Finals Day.

Afterwards, we spoke to a slightly disappointed Georgia Elwiss, who told us:

“Unfortunately we didn’t get into our stride quick enough over the tournament, and that’s what has cost us; but it is nice to finish with a win like this, and for people to show what they can do.”

“We always know that Ellyse Perry will start a little bit slower than others, but Elyse Villani was brilliant – taking all that pressure off her [Perry] so she could play her natural game – both of them were outstanding today and really showed their class. It was a flat pitch, but Surrey have got an all international attack and they bowled quite well those last 10 overs, but we always know that Pez [Perry] can catch up when she gets in.”

It will come as no surprise that the leading batsmen and bowlers in KSL17 are the established stars; but what about the non-internationals – those who have never played international cricket?

There are actually some significant differences in the contributions of the non-internationals at the different teams.

At the Western Storm, they’ve done a fair bit of work in both departments; whilst at the other end of the scale at the Surrey Stars, they’ve had very little to do in either!

At the Thunder they’ve done their share of the batting – much of that is Eve Jones, who has faced 14 of the 30 overs that non-internationals have batted for. Over at the Vipers they’ve bowled a lot more than they’ve batted – mainly thanks to Linsey Smith, who has bowled all four of her overs in every game so far – i.e. 16 of the 26 total.

Overs Batted = Balls Faced / 6

Non-International Batting Rankings

In the Batting Rankings, the leading player is Sarah Glenn, who comes in at 14 in the overall list. (Although Hennessy and Jones have both scored more runs, Glenn “wins” thanks to her vastly superior Strike Rate.)

Georgia Hennessy and Eve Jones have also both impressed. Although both have very similar numbers, they’ve come in very different ways: Jones, the steady anchor, has run at lot more, with just 47% of her runs coming in boundaries; whereas Hennessy, the bit hitter, has 63% of her runs in boundaries, including three 6s!

Batting Ranking = Runs * Strike Rate; [X] = Overall Rank

Non-International Bowling Rankings

In the Bowling Rankings, it’s deja-vu all over again as Linsey Smith has conclusively proved that she is not a “One Hit Wonder” by replicating her standout performances from last season, breaking into the overall top 10 at number 9. Wales’ Claire Nicholas, in her debut KSL season, is just behind her, also making that overall top 10.

Leading batsman, Lightning’s Sarah Glenn also makes the bowling list, having taken 2-8 in her only bowling cameo versus the Thunder – a statistical quirk perhaps, but wickets are wickets! Alice Davidson-Richards also makes both lists – 7th in batting and 3rd in bowling – no statistical quirks involved there!

Bowling Ranking = Wickets / Economy