On a sunny day at Beckenham, Kent held their nerve to win the T20 Cup in a contest that went right down to the final over of the third game.

As the day began, only Warwickshire had their destiny in their own hands: a win in either of their games would have handed them the Cup after strong performances earlier in the competition. Both Kent and Middlesex, meanwhile, were reliant both on winning their games and on other results going their way.

The first game of the day was thus crucial to both team’s hopes; and it was Kent who kept their title dream alive – while quashing Middlesex’s – with a comfortable 7-wicket victory. Middlesex, having been put in, started slowly and were soon undone by a bit of Suzie Bates magic, as she seized a wicket off her first ball – Tash Miles, caught by Tash Farrant at backward point – and followed it up with the wicket of Fran Wilson four balls later, lbw attempting a sweep shot. It put Middlesex on the back foot and they found it hard to recover, posting just 111, a total which Kent chased down with 9 balls to spare.

Middlesex could thus hope for nothing more than the consolation prize of victory against Warwickshire, but this nonetheless seemed to be enough to spur them on. Warwickshire had posted a mammoth 137-8 in their 20 overs, thanks to the aggressive intent of openers Amy Jones (29 off 20 balls) and Georgia Hennessy (36 off 37).

It looked an enormous ask, but Middlesex proved themselves equal to the task as England Present came together with England Past in the form of Fran Wilson and Beth Morgan. Coming together on 40-2, the two shared a 98-run partnership and fortune favoured the brave as they rode their luck in the form of dropped catches and missed run-outs by a nervous-looking Warwickshire side. An improvised ramp shot for four over Wilson’s head in the final over helped seal the deal for her team, as they won by 8 wickets.

Fran Wilson Brings Out the Reverse Ramp © Sam Gibbs

Thus it all came down to the third and final game of the day between Kent and Warwickshire. Put in by Kent, Warwickshire were under enormous pressure after their poor showing against Middlesex, but openers Jones (40) and Hennessy (37) laid a solid foundation, taking their side to 55-0 at the halfway point. Once they were dismissed, in the 13th and 14th overs respectively, it was left to Marie Kelly and Jenny Gunn to frantically push for singles in the last 5 overs as the pair dragged Warwickshire to a competitive 126-4.

It might have proved enough, but the old adage that catches win matches came home to roost and, while Warwickshire’s fielding was much improved from their first game of the day, dropping Bates twice in the course of the first four overs was a costly error. Bates went on to amass 43 before finally being caught by Becky Grundy at backward point in the 12th over.

A glimmer of hope shone upon Warwickshire as Charlotte Edwards and Tammy Beaumont both followed Bates back to the dug-out, with Kent still requiring 39 off the last 5 overs, a figure that became 30 off the last 3 and 7 off the very last over of the day – still more than a run a ball. But a Greenway straight drive for four ensured that Kent brought home the silverware, winning by 7 wickets with two balls to spare.

Alice Davidson-Richards Played A Couple of Crucial Knocks © Sam Gibbs

While Kent’s England players are often shouted about, today the calm composure of Alice Davidson-Richards (30* and 19*) deserves special mention: coming to the crease in difficult circumstances both times, she was ultimately crucial to the two wins that her team needed to secure the Cup. The Bears, meanwhile, were left cruelly ruing what might have been.

Kent Celebrate the T20 Cup © Sam Gibbs

Afterwards Suzie Bates, who ended the T20 season as Div 1’s highest run scorer, reflected to CRICKETher:

“We didn’t have a great start [to the T20 season] at Wokingham – we lost two close matches and we knew we had to win everything from there, [so] we said at the start of today that everything else was out of our control, and we just had to play good cricket.”

“Warwickshire played 18 overs of pretty outstanding cricket and probably deserved a win, but it just shows in Twenty20 cricket two overs can change the game pretty quickly, and it just shows the experience of Lydia Greenway coming through in that final part of the game.”

Australian captain Meg Lanning will play no part in this summer’s Kia Super League, after being ruled out with a shoulder injury.

Lanning was crucial to the hopes of the Surrey Stars, who yesterday suffered two huge defeats in a warm-up double-header against Loughborough Lightning, with the Lightning posting over 200 in the second match, thanks to 91 from Georgia Elwiss, and the Stars well behind the D/L rate when the rain came down to bring proceedings to a close.

The Stars will be permitted to replace Lanning, and an announcement on that is expected shortly.

Fran Wilson:

Were you nervous going out there today?

Yes, I was nervous. Obviously it’s been 5 years since I last played. I think I’ve grown up a lot in that time, but I was definitely very nervous. But I’ve worked hard on my game and I knew exactly what I wanted to do, just hitting the sweepers hard, running hard. If you simplify it, it takes away the nerves really.

Did it feel like you were on debut again?

Pretty much. We were joking, we were saying that if it’s been a 5 year absence everything should be wiped and you should just start again! So I might propose that!

Was the pitch quite hard to score runs on?

Yes, it was pretty tough, especially [Bismah] Maroof bowling really slow. But I guess that’s a lesson learnt for the next game.

Heather Knight:

What was the pitch like?

I think it was probably a slightly worse pitch than we thought. We thought it was going to be an absolute belter when we started…I think Pakistan put their best fielding performance in, and when they took the pace off [the ball] it was quite hard to score. Probably we didn’t get quite enough boundaries in the powerplay, but the main thing is we got a score on the board and the bowlers were outstanding.

With the short boundaries today, did you think there were going to be more chances today to score boundaries?

No, they’re the same boundaries that we’ve played on for the last few games. They’re the boundaries we’ve been used to, and I think it’s something that’s worked quite well…Fran was brilliant today. Like she said, she knows her game much better now and has really progressed in those 5 years, and hopefully there won’t be another 5 year absence now!

Jenny Gunn bowled particularly well today?

The batters have taken all the plaudits this series, but I think the bowlers had their day in the sun today. They were brilliant: Jenny Gunn at 30 and Sophie Ecclestone at 17 doing the business at each end is really nice to see. Jen was outstanding. She knows her plans very well and executed them brilliantly today.

You chose to open the bowling with Nat Sciver today. Is that something we’re likely to see again?

In T20 you’re sometimes trying to get one step ahead of your opponents, and do something slightly different. We feel Dani Hazell is probably our best powerplay bowler, and I think she showed that today. The worst overs as a bowler, the ones most likely to go for runs, are the ones at the back end of the powerplay…We decided to [open] with Nat today, we thought we might get a little bit of swing and bounce as well. It might be something we see again, it might not!

The ECB have today confirmed to CRICKETher that there will be no live Sky Sports TV broadcast of any KSL matches this summer, including Finals Day on 21st August.

However 7 of the matches, plus Finals Day, will be broadcast live ball-by-ball on BBC Test Match Special.

In addition, the ECB’s digital channels will be producing a vast array of content throughout the competition, and OPTA will be live scoring every game.

It had previously been hoped that – following on from their coverage of England Women’s matches against Pakistan this summer – the inaugural KSL Finals Day would be covered by Sky. However, due to the men’s NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day being on 20th August (with the reserve day on 21st August), it is now felt that it would not be logistically possible for Sky to cover both events.

While Sky will not be offering live coverage of the tournament, they will be pulling together an exclusive “behind the scenes” piece working with three of the six KSL teams to document the first year of the competition.

Tammy Beaumont:

Did you feel confident from the outset today?

“Yes, definitely. Knowing that you’ve done quite well in the ODIs, you’ve got a bit more freedom to take a few more risks in the T20s. If I didn’t get away today I’m sure Lauren [Winfield] would have at the other end – we’re working really well together at the moment. It’s nice for it to come off.”

What have you worked on in your game over the past 5 or 6 months?

“Certainly since Robbo has come in, he’s wanted me to go out there and try and strike the ball hard. It’s something I do quite naturally: with my backlift being a little bit different, it helps generate a lot more power into the ball, and that’s something that I’ve been aiming to do. If one day I go out there and get caught on the ring that’s not the end of the world, as long as I’m trying to hit the ball hard – that’s the main aim, keeping it that simple.

“The other thing is just letting it come to me a little bit longer, and keeping my hands through the ball as long as I can really.”

How much is it about having fun?

“I think that’s where we’re at as a team. Whatever we do, we work hard or train hard, but we do it with a smile on our face. A lot of us play our best cricket when we’re enjoying it, and that’s certainly something that we’re trying to keep replicating each game, and the more and more we’re playing at the moment the more we’re enjoying each others success.”

Does it feel like a different side compared to the one that was knocked out of the WWT20 in the semi-final?

“Yes, potentially. There’s just a lot more freedom to do what we’ve been working on so hard. We’ve all been working on things in the nets [and] there’s just that freedom to go out there and do it, and know that if you fail then it’s not going to be the end of the world. Yes, there’s always more pressure in an international tournament, but we’d probably take that freedom now.”

Sophie Ecclestone:

A week ago when we saw you playing at Wokingham, did you ever expect that this would happen?

“I would never have expected where I would be now. Getting to take my first international wicket is something I would never have dreamed of, especially at the age of 17. I’m not even an adult yet!”

Were you happy with the way you bowled today?

“Yes, I am very happy with the way I went today. I thought I’d be more nervous, but as soon as I walked past the rope I was fine…it’s just an unbelievable feeling.”

Did Mark Robinson talk to you a lot beforehand about the bowling plans?

“He kind of just let me get on with it, because he knows it’s my debut and he knows that Trev [Heather Knight] and me have got it sorted! He left us to it!”

There was a resounding cheer at Leicester today when Heather Knight hit the single that would take her to 50, in her debut match as England captain.

There was also a moment, 3 balls earlier, when Knight – on 49 and poised to take any chance of the elusive single that would put her into the record books as the first woman ever to take 5 wickets and score 50 in an ODI – was so eager to dash out of her crease having made contact with the ball that she slipped and fell.

For some reason that moment didn’t get cheered quite so loudly. Yet somehow it symbolised the ineffable quality that is Heather Knight-ness: graceful, no; gets the job done, yes.

It may have been Tammy Beaumont (70) and Natalie Sciver (27*) who hit the pretty strokes today – the cuts through point and the straight drives that will live on in the memory – but it was Knight who always looked like she would be there until the end. Some captains are born; some are made; some have captaincy thrust upon them. While Knight may fall into the latter category, it does not stop her already looking like she is quite happy just to get on with the job of winning, thank you very much.

One senses that even Knight’s eagerness to run that single when on 49* was more about seeing her team to victory than anything else. “Nat [Sciver] tried to bring it up [that I was close to my half-century] and I was like, ’don’t even think about it, you finish the game, don’t worry about me’,” she said after close of play. “It was a nice thing to get the 50, but the win was the main thing.”

Did today feel entirely convincing? No. Against better teams the fumbles by England in the field – of which there were too many – would have proved costlier; Beaumont might well have been run out earlier in her innings by a more experienced fielder. And there is still a feeling of scepticism about Mark Robinson’s New Order hanging in the air. If this series is a chance to blood new players, why does this team look suspiciously like it did 12 months ago when it lost the Ashes? Why no Fran Wilson, no Alex Hartley?

Yet the one aspect of the New Order that is both new and convincing is the wonderfully collaborative style of captaincy which it looks like we will be seeing more of over the coming months. When someone captains a team for a decade it becomes difficult to question their thought processes. Why, players might ask themselves, would I bother? The captain knows what they are doing. Today, it was very apparent while England were in the field that when decisions were being made, all of their bowlers were involved. Kate Cross at mid-on giving guidance to Katherine Brunt; Knight and Anya Shrubsole, the new vice-captain, heads bent together over the ball. Even Amy Jones could be seen deep in conversation with Nat Sciver after she had conceded 8 off her first over.

“We want to work as a team,” Knight said, tellingly, in the post-match press conference. “That’s something that’s going to be really big going forward: having that bowling attack together and getting them communicating and talking it through.”

It begs the question: should Knight really still be fielding at slip? Yes, she is the best England have in the position; but Lauren Winfield snaffled a good catch there today. If captaincy is to be ever more collaborative, requiring Knight to run all the way up and down the pitch just to exchange a few words with her bowler is going to be a tall order. It contributed to a slow over rate today; and in any case, doesn’t she have enough weight on her shoulders already?

Perhaps even Heather Knight – Wonder Woman as she was today – can’t quite do everything.

Then again, perhaps not.

New Zealanders Morna Nielsen and Amy Satterthwaite have become the latest international stars to sign for the inaugural Kia Super League.

The pair replace Australians Megan Schutt – who is injured – and Sarah Coyte – who has decided not to travel to England for personal reasons.

Nielsen, a left-arm spinner who is currently the ICC’s number two-ranked T20 bowler, will be playing for the Southern Vipers, alongside teammates Suzie Bates and Sara McGlashan.

Meanwhile Amy Satterthwaite – who topped the batting averages in the recent Women’s World Twenty20 – will help to strengthen the batting line-up of Lancashire Thunder in the likely absence of Sarah Taylor.

The Kia Super League kicks off on Saturday 30th July when Yorkshire Diamonds play Loughborough Lightning at Headingley.