On a warm day that threatened showers at North Maidenhead Cricket Club, Surrey fought hard to remain out of the T20 Cup relegation zone, coming away with two wins, while home team Berkshire struggled to stay in contention.

Berkshire v Middlesex

In the first game of the day Middlesex beat Berkshire easily by 56 runs after Beth Morgan starred with the bat, scoring 53.

Berkshire, having won the toss and chosen to field, had made early inroads thanks to some excellent fielding – a great low catch by Ashley Muttitt at midwicket sending Tash Miles packing in the third over of the day, with fellow opener Naomi Dattani falling two overs later for 14, run out by a direct hit from Emily Cunningham at mid on.

But that brought Morgan to the crease, and she was not slow to get going, hitting Berkshire captain Lissy Macleod’s two overs for 10 and 11 runs respectively. By the time she was dismissed in the 20th over, driving a ball of Emma Walker’s straight to Macleod at mid on, she had hit 53 off 41 balls – the only player to finish with a strike rate of over 100. Her partnership of 42 with Amara Carr for the 5th wicket formed the backbone of the Middlesex innings, and ensured they finished on 140-7.

It was always going to be a tough ask for Berkshire to chase down the runs, and they did not help themselves, with two suicidal run outs in the first three overs. Carla Rudd (25) was the only Berkshire batsman to really look comfortable at the crease, but the runs were slow to come – Berkshire not reaching 50 until the 14th over – and, with Middlesex’s Sophia Dunkley (3-7) mopping up the tail, the home side ultimately fell way short of their target.

Middlesex v Surrey

An all-round performance from Hannah Jones carried Surrey to victory against Middlesex in the second match of the day.

Having been put in to bat, Middlesex’s Tash Miles made a solid start on her way to top-scoring with 29, but Naomi Dattani struggled to get bat on ball, eventually dismissed for 2 off 10 balls. Hannah Jones then entered the fray to take the crucial wickets of Sophia Dunkley and Beth Morgan, the latter to a brilliant one-handed catch by Cecily Scutt. A quick 20 off 16 balls from Maia Boucher took Middlesex past 100… just… as they finished on 102-6.

Surrey were soon in trouble as birthday-girl Sophia Dunkley reduced them to 5-2 in the very first over; but a brief interruption for rain handed Surrey a crucial advantage as, with no Duckworth Lewis, the target was reduced by 5 without having to account for wickets. The fight-back was on, led by Jones who finished 26*, supported by Amy Gordon (16 off 17 balls), as Surrey reached the revised target with 1 ball to spare.

Speaking after the game, Morgan praised the “sensible approach” of Hannah Jones, and said that her side had mixed feelings about the day overall:

“We’re very happy with how we played in the first game, but we know we under-performed against Surrey, despite the rain helping us – it made the ball skid on a little bit.”

“We’re disappointed – we probably should have gone away with two wins, but Hannah Jones batted very sensibly.”

— Syd Egan

Berkshire v Surrey

In the final game of the day, a dominant Surrey strode to victory by 10 wickets within the space of 10 overs despite the best efforts of Carla Rudd (41).

Rudd, opening in place of Sherisa Gumbs – who had retired hurt after diving to try to make her ground in the first game – once again carried the team’s batting, with none of her teammates making it into double figures. It meant that Berkshire struggled to post a competitive total, finishing on 83-6 in their 20 overs.

For Surrey, victory was always well within their sights, and so it proved. While Bryony Smith experienced some good fortune – dropped at midwicket while still on 0*, and caught off a Lauren Bell no-ball – the efforts of the Berkshire bowlers were ultimately fruitless, with both Smith (34*) and opening partner Kirstie White (27*) seeing Surrey safely home.

Afterwards Surrey captain Cecily Scutt said that she had been pleased with her team’s performance:

“We stuck to our plans today and with the bowling especially, executed them. Batting, we had talked a bit about partnerships, and we’re starting to see some of the younger girls coming in and doing a bit.

Hannah [Jones] has been bowling really well, and taking lots of wickets. She’s tight, she sticks to her line and plays really positively with the bat – she’s starting to enjoy it a lot, which is really good to see.”

The final round of T20s takes place on July 30th.

I never thought I’d say this, but… Australia have an Ellyse Perry Problem.

Perry with the bat: superb, glorious, a run-machine. Batting at number 4 for Australia she averages 83.83.

Perry with the ball: nothing special. She has 5 wickets so far in this World Cup, all of which came against West Indies and Sri Lanka. Against New Zealand, Pakistan and England her figures were 0-58, 0-24 and 0-31 respectively.

Four years ago, at the 2013 World Cup, Perry was Australia’s star bowler. Her 3 wickets for 19 runs in the final, as she limped in to give everything for her side, were crucial. As recently as the 2015 women’s Ashes series, she was their leading wicket taker.

She is no longer the same bowler.

This Ellyse Perry can only bowl in 3-over spells. This Ellyse Perry has to bat at 4, sometimes (like yesterday) even at 3, and she is tired. Too often since she was promoted up the order the weight has been entirely on her shoulders: opening the bowling, and then coming in when the openers have both been dismissed cheaply, and doing the hard graft.

Meg Lanning – the consummate professional in press conferences – denies there is a problem. “She can bowl long spells definitely,” she says. “[Bowling her in short spells] is more about the game situation really… It’s just the way that it’s panned out so far.”

Wrong. There is a problem, and Lanning knows it.

Yesterday, bowling in the nets before the England match, Perry couldn’t even muster a run up – she just stepped in off two paces to deliver the ball.

Yesterday, Perry went for 31 runs. She only bowled 7 overs – the last one the 34th, when she was tonked for six by Tammy Beaumont.

Does it matter? It hadn’t before yesterday. Australia had 4 wins from 4 games at this World Cup. But it is starting to.

Australia’s weakness coming into this World Cup was always going to be their pace bowling. Lanning may deny it, but the retirement of Rene Farrell in April and the injury to 18-year-old Lauren Cheatle means they are not exactly overrun with pace options right now. Effectively, with Perry struggling, they are one pace bowler short – quite a burden for Megan Schutt, who wasn’t even selected against Pakistan.

Who are Australia left with? Elyse Villani, apparently, who in the match against England yesterday leaked 42 runs from her 5 overs. Out of options, Lanning even brought her on to bowl the 50th. It went for 13 runs (including 2 wides).

Elyse Villani is a part-time, couple-of-overs-in-the-middle if you want a bit of a change bowler. She is not, and never will be in a million years, a death bowler. Using her as one frankly suggests that all is not rosy in the Australian camp.

So what’s the answer?

Of course you don’t drop Ellyse Perry. If there was one rule of thumb in women’s cricket, it would be: you never drop Ellyse Perry. But why not play her as a batsman only? As Lanning herself acknowledges: “She’d hold her own in the side as a batter.”

It may mean bringing in Sarah Aley, who is probably good enough to enjoy a late-onset international career. It may mean bringing in Belinda Vakarewa. Maybe it means focusing on spin, at the expense of pace. It does mean that you stop tasking Perry with something which she isn’t doing very well anymore. Something which just seems to be making her tired.

The loss to England should tell Australia something important: if they’re going to go on and win this World Cup, they need to sort out their Ellyse Perry problem.

And they need to do it soon.

It’s been a rather eventful World Cup thus far (Wednesday’s washout at Derby not withstanding). We’ve even seen two “upsets” – India beating England in the first match on Saturday, and yesterday, India beating West Indies by 7 wickets.

Both times the media have swooped down upon the result and devoured it like hungry ravens. England’s loss to India, in particular, created some stark headlines in the mainstream press (headlines are not, it’s worth remembering, written by the journalists actually reporting on the game):

Similarly West Indies have now lost 2 games by very wide margins, and it looks increasingly unlikely that they will make the semi-finals.

But is any of this really so surprising?

England are a young side. They have many weaknesses: one of which is that they are NOT good at chasing. India, meanwhile, have enjoyed an incredibly successful few months – including 10 wins out of 11 ODIs that they had played in 2017 prior to the start of this tournament.

It was always likely, therefore, that England’s game against India would be a potential banana skin for them in this tournament – just read Syd’s piece here.

Unfortunately, given England’s thumping of Pakistan last summer, expectations tended to ignore the reality of the situation.

What of West Indies? Here is another case study of where media hype around a team comes into its own. Because if you take performances by West Indies in isolation – their victory against Australia in last year’s WWT20 final, their status as finalists in the 2013 World Cup – then of course they look like a good bet to do well in this tournament.

If, however, you dig a little deeper, it becomes apparent that West Indies are the most inconsistent side in global women’s cricket. They were about a gnat’s whisker away from being knocked out before the semi-finals of last year’s WWT20. And their ODI performances have been all over the place in the last 4 years, as I pointed out in my preview piece here.

Actually you don’t even have to dig that far. Just listen to what captain Stafanie Taylor said on the eve of this tournament:

“If I don’t play in a game, the team seems to struggle. I have to remind them that you guys do have the belief and you’re talented, and you can do it. A lot of us lack that belief, so it’s [my job] to remind them of that.”

When you take England’s loss to India and West Indies’ poor start to this tournament in context, then, neither are really “upsets” at all (hence my use of inverted commas).

In fact, to label them as such is actually rather lazy journalism. The trouble is that a lot of those covering cricket only bother to watch the finals of women’s tournaments, and / or the few games a year that happen to be televised. Very little attention is paid to what happens in between.

We want more media coverage of the women’s game, of course we do – and this World Cup is doing a brilliant job of that. But what we also need is well-informed journalism, based on a more than surface-level knowledge and understanding of the global women’s game. Unfortunately, as we’ve already seen in this World Cup, we haven’t quite got to that stage yet.

Let’s keep pushing for it all the same.

Having caught up with the highlights of yesterday’s England game, here are Raf Nicholson and Syd Egan’s thoughts:

Negatives:

• Are England capable of chasing down a total of 280+, of which we are going to see plenty more of in the next few years? Knight said in the press conference: “we backed ourselves to chase that total” – really?! All recent history suggests that England are weak at chasing, and even weaker at chasing big. Although the conditions might have pointed to a “bowl first” day, England need to be wary of allowing teams to post a total that they just can’t chase.
• England are a bowling team, but yesterday it was the bowlers who failed to control the game, and that doesn’t bode well going forward. India’s decision to take the powerplay early clearly got inside Anya Shrubsole’s head – England need to be able to deal with whatever the game throws at them, not simply have a pre-prepared plan and go to pieces when something happens that isn’t in that plan.
• England haven’t really solved their opening dilemma in the absence of Lauren Winfield, who they really missed yesterday. Chasing 6 an over, Winfield would have got them closer to the kind of start they needed, and that in turn would have massively reduced the pressure on the other batsmen coming in – as it was, the run rate seemed to keep on creeping up, and that made things very tricky for the middle order. Also, given events of the last year, is it really fair to put Sarah Taylor in to open? We know it’s not her favoured position. Winfield won’t be back for Tuesday’s game vs Pakistan at the very least, so perhaps England should think about putting their captain in at the top – if Knight is going to be the backbone of an innings, she’d be better off doing it from the outset, rather than coming in when the required rate has already risen and the pressure is starting to tell.

Positives:

• Fran Wilson’s batting. In very difficult circumstances, her 81 shows that Mark Robinson was absolutely right to bring her back into the squad last year from what was essentially the wilderness – an astute call by an astute coach. Plus, if it really was the case that she wasn’t going to play until the Winfield injury, presumably she’s made a point now that she deserves to be an automatic selection for the rest of the tournament.
• Katherine Brunt’s batting. Not content with just being one of the world’s best bowlers, Brunt has also now become a big asset with the bat. It wasn’t quite enough yesterday, but it does show that – were England slightly closer to the total by the time she came in, or even in a situation where they required end-of-innings acceleration in order to pose a more commanding total – she can play the number 7 role that they need.
• Sarah Taylor is back playing international cricket. Still one of England’s biggest assets, it was a solid reboot to what England will hope will be a second flourishing to her international career – because by goodness do they need her.

And finally…

• We’ve come a long way from the first game of the 1973 tournament, which was played on a tiny village ground at Kew Green. But given that this was the biggest women’s cricket tournament this country has ever seen, given that it was England, it was India, it was a Saturday and the weather was good – the crowd at Derby (c.2500) was a bit disappointing, particularly as we’d been promised a “sell-out”.

Photo copyright Ruth Conchie

It took Sophie Devine a mere 4 days to adjust to English conditions. She flew in from New Zealand last Wednesday; by Sunday she was out in the middle tonking the Berkshire bowlers all around the park in her trademark hard-hitting fashion. On Monday she did exactly the same to the Middlesex attack, smacking 122 in 78 balls.

When we spoke to her she was relishing being out in the middle again: “It’s nice to be outside – and in the English summer, which apparently I’ve brought with me!”

Explaining her decision to sign for the Bears, she said: “I’ve had a long injury lay off [she missed the Rose Bowl series against Australia back in February due to a dislocated thumb] so for me, coming over here, it was about getting game time. I seriously considered staying at home but the opportunity to come over here and play outside was a big factor for me.”

Strategically it may also prove to be a significant decision ahead of what looks set to be the biggest World Cup in the history of the women’s game. Devine is in fact the latest in a series of Kiwi recruits to the County Championship, joining her skipper Suzie Bates (at Hampshire), Holly Huddleston (Middlesex), Amy Satterthwaite (Lancashire), Lea Tahuhu (Surrey) and Rachel Priest (Berkshire). New Zealand, it seems, are putting faith in the fact that their top players are likely to benefit far more from time over here adjusting to English conditions than an indoor training camp back home.

Devine agrees. “Playing cricket’s always going to be of help. The girls back at home are training hard, but it’s always different when you’re training indoors on artificial surfaces, so it’s massive for us. A lot of the Kiwi girls have been here for a good period of time as well, so they’ll be well acclimatised.”

What does she make of New Zealand’s World Cup chances? She shrugs off the suggestion that they are favourites this time around. “I don’t think so! Australia have to go in as favourites, seeing as they’ve been so dominant since they won the last one 4 years ago. England at home too – it’s always a massive advantage to be playing at home.”

“But anyone on their day can win it. With the format how everyone has to play everyone it opens a lot up, and puts pressure on every single game. It’s going to be tough.”

For the moment, she is enjoying being welcomed into a winning side (Warwickshire remain the only Div 1 side unbeaten so far this season), and one which she says contains “a lot of talent”:

“I haven’t even had a proper chance to train with the team, but they’ve been lovely. They’ve welcomed me in – and I haven’t been given too much rib about my accent!”

Devine may not see New Zealand as favourites in the forthcoming World Cup, but there’s no doubt that a team with her in their top order is going to be tough to beat. Here at CRICKETher we’re pretty certain that we’ll be seeing her walking out to bat at Lords come July 23.

In a hard-fought game at North Maidenhead it was Nottinghamshire who ran out the eventual winners against Berkshire, as they successfully chased down the 106 runs required with 5 wickets remaining.

Top-scorer of the day was Berkshire’s Rachel Priest (51) but even she could not save the Beavers from defeat, as Notts finished the weekend with 2 wins under their belt. It was a disappointing end to stalwart John Dickinson’s long reign as manager.

Notts had started the chase slowly, reaching 41-1 in the first 17 overs, but when the second wicket fell in the 18th – Megan Burton succumbing to the pace of Ashley Muttitt – it brought Jodie Dibble to the crease. Alongside fellow former England international Sonia Odedra the two began to bat with real intent – Odedra later admitting that the gloomy skies and imminent possibility of rain had pushed them to force the run rate upwards.

They put on a quickfire 34-run partnership in 5 overs before Odedra holed out to substitute fielder Izzy Clayton at mid on, 8 runs short of her half-century. Dibble (22) went two overs later, plumb LBW to Lissy Macleod, but Notts already had 85 runs on the board at that point and the long experience of Jane Smit (19*) saw them home without much cause for concern.

The game had earlier been reduced to 48 overs a side thanks to a short shower, and Nottinghamshire made the most of the favourable bowling conditions – damp and overcast throughout the morning – after winning the toss and putting Berkshire in to bat. Sophie Munro, fresh from her five-fer on debut yesterday, left the Beavers reeling at 0-2, having sent back both Annabel Flack and Carla Rudd without scoring.

It was left to Priest and Macleod to rebuild and, after Berkshire eventually got off the mark in the fourth over of the day, the pair put on 69 for the third wicket – including a huge one-bounce four from Priest over midwicket – before Macleod was unluckily adjudged LBW to Dibble for 18.

Priest pushed on and just about made it to her half-century (dropped on 49* by Yvonne Graves at square leg), but was out bowled trying to sweep Dibble shortly afterwards, leaving Berkshire 4 down with 78 runs on the board.

From there it was an uphill struggle for the remaining Berkshire batsmen, who crawled along for a while, between them managing to push Berkshire’s total up to above 100 before Munro (4-28) and Lucy Higham (3-9) eventually cleaned up for Notts in the space of 39 overs. Ultimately 105 was a respectable but not quite competitive total.

Notts captain Sonia Odedra told CRICKETher after close of play that she was extremely happy with her side’s performance this weekend:

“2 out of 2 is perfect for us. It was important for us to win these 2 games to give us a chance to stay in this division. I’m really proud of the team and what they’ve achieved so far.”

“It got a little bit close in the end when we lost a few wickets, but I had confidence, we’ve got a long batting order and the important thing is we got over the line.”

In the third annual London Cup fixture between Middlesex and Surrey, this year held at Radlett CC, Middlesex made it 3 from 3 after Natasha Miles hit a skilful half-century in her captaincy debut.

Having put 150 on the board Middlesex must have been reasonably confident of the win; but the game came right down to the wire, with Middlesex overseas star Holly Huddleston ultimately holding her nerve bowling the final over to see her side home by a mere 3 runs.

Surrey had won the toss and put Middlesex in but, after Naomi Dattani went early (caught behind for 0 in the third over), they let things slide in the field with some rather erratic bowling – including a total of 18 wides.

Beth Morgan (40 off 34 balls) and her captain took full advantage, sharing an 89-run partnership before Morgan was finally caught at cover in the 12th over. Cath Dalton then joined the party with a quickfire 21 off 13 balls. Miles herself was a mere two balls away from carrying her bat, but was stumped off the penultimate ball of the innings, finishing with 54 runs to her name (49 balls).

Surrey needed to bat at almost 8 an over to emerge victorious, which seemed unlikely until two particularly wayward overs from Dalton and Gayatri Gole, which went for 19 and 18 runs respectively, leaving Surrey 57-1 after 7 overs. From there on in they kept up there or thereabouts with the required rate, as Sophie Pout (29), Bryony Smith (16), Hannah Jones (27) and Aylish Cranstone (31) chipped in with vital runs – Smith, Jones and Cranstone all finishing with strike rates well above 100. Cranstone’s innings was particularly impressive as she deftly steered the ball into the gaps on both sides of the wicket.

Jones was the last of the four to fall, as Milly Pope took a good low catch at fine third man to send her off in the 17th over. By then Surrey required 28 runs off the last 20 balls – but the reintroduction of the fiery Huddleston to bowl out her remaining 2 overs just about prevented them from scrambling over the line.

Miles, who was named Player of the Match, told CRICKETher after the game that she had enjoyed both the match itself and the experience of captaining her side:

“It did get quite nerve racking but this is the cricket we train and play for. I loved every minute of it!

The captaincy is a challenge. I haven’t done it in a long time so I’m just trying to get my bearings again. The girls are just so great to work with, though – Beth batted brilliantly. Cath came in and threw her hands through the ball and really connected well.

It was really fun to see us be so positive after our start to the season [they lost both of their opening fixtures in the County Championship], and hopefully we’re going to take this success forward.”