It might have been the top of the table decider, but this was one of the more one-sided games we’ve seen this season.

With the Vipers choosing to bat, the Lighning made a good start as Sonia Odedra only conceded two runs of the first over, but the second over bowled by  Beth Langston went for 17, whilst the forth bowled by Dane van Niekerk was almost as expensive, going for 16. By the end of the powerplay the Vipers were well on their way at 57-1.

Suzie Bates, looking much more fluent that she did earlier in the week against the Storm, once again top-scored with 36 off 24 balls; and went on later to take 2-11 with the ball too – if you didn’t have her as an all-rounder in your fantasy team, you need to take a long hard look at your yourself in the mirror tonight!!

One person that no one had in their fantasy team is Linsey Smith. The Berkshire orthodox left-armer was a late injury replacement, and hasn’t so much snatched her chance as smashed it. Today, the Lightning reply had actually been on-track, as Eve Jones bashed her way to a quick-fire 23 – at 4 overs they were 26-0; and with van Niekerk in the form she’s been, you’d have put your money on the Lighning at that stage.

Then Charlotte Edwards threw the ball to Smith. In her first over, she bowled van Niekerk and Sophie Devine; and in her second she added Eve Jones LBW to the list. She didn’t take another wicket, but the opposition were so wary of her by then, she didn’t really need to, ending with figures from 4 overs of 3-16. From that point, the result was never in doubt – Smith’s intervention had basically won the game.

Afterwards, Vipers skipper Charlotte Edwards acknowledged what Smith had brought to her team.

“She stood out for me this summer playing for Berkshire so as soon as we had the injury she was an obvious replacement – she has bowled brilliantly, here at the Ageas especially, and she has taken to it like a duck to water. “

“The double wicket over today really changed the game for us.”

“Linsey just bowls it straight – she doesn’t give it much air – she’s just really accurate and that just shows you in Twenty20 cricket the value of a left arm spinner.”

Lightning captain Georgia Elwiss meanwhile was philosophical looking towards their semi final against the Storm:

“We need to dust ourselves off after today and just say the Vipers outplayed us; but over the five games we’ve played some good cricket, so that’s what we need to concentrate on.”

“We’ve got to go into [the semi-final] positively – it does give us a chance to look at the pitch [and] look at the conditions.”

Southern Vipers’ glove-butler Carla Rudd has told CRICKETher that, after their defeat to Western Storm, they are determined to bounce back and top the group table, giving them a semi-final “bye” straight to the final at Chelmsford next weekend.

With only 3 teams qualifying for Finals Day, the second and third-placed teams will play a semi-final in the morning to determine who will face the top-placed side in that afternoon’s final.

There has been some debate about the advantages and disadvantages of finishing top. There is obviously one less hurdle to leap towards the title on the day, but the team that comes out of the semi-final will have had an opportunity to get the pace of the pitch, and will also have the confidence boost of being “on a roll” after their semi-final win.

But for Rudd and the Vipers the bye to the final is key – something they will effectively* play-off for against the Lightning on Sunday at the Ageas Bowl.

“We are looking to bounce back and win on Sunday,” said Rudd. “There’s been a bit of debate [about the advantages and disadvantages of finishing top] but we want to be top and win, definitely.”

——–

* Theoretically, Western Storm could still top the table too, but without the intervention of the weather (fingers crossed) it would require them to record a HUGE victory against the Diamonds.

Guest reporter Martin Saxon was at Old Trafford for last night’s KSL Roses clash.

‘Low key’ maybe best sums up this meeting of two teams who couldn’t make it to Finals Day. In the end, Yorkshire Diamonds recorded their first win and Lancashire Thunder ended with one win across the competition.

Once play started, it was a very one-sided affair indeed, as aside from maybe the first seven overs of the match, the Diamonds dominated.

After a first over from Thunder captain Amy Satterthwaite that went for 11, Hayley Matthews and Sophie Ecclestone did a superb job to leave Yorkshire 36-2 after seven overs, and it was very much going the home side’s way. Lauren Winfield had also departed to a smart stumping by Ellie Threlkeld off Sophie Ecclestone.

Then Alex Blackwell was the key player in turning the game, contributing 59 off 42 deliveries with five fours and two sixes. Her innings, full of improvised dabs and sweeps, was complemented superbly by the power of Katherine Brunt, who scored 36 in 24 deliveries.

As if the scoring rate had not been quick enough over the last two thirds of the innings, six penalty runs were added to the score for a slow over rate – judging by the lack of urgency shown as the cut off approached one wondered if Satterthwaite and her team were even aware of the regulation. As it was, the extra six runs made very little difference.

Perhaps daunted by the very stiff target, it seemed to be big shots or nothing in the early stages of the reply. Whilst Blackwell and Brunt had undoubtedly hit a lot of boundaries, their rotation of the strike had also been excellent, something that appeared to be missing from the Thunder reply.

After seven overs, Lancashire were 34-2, almost comparable to the first innings, but few in the crowd held out much hope of a home win. Katherine Brunt only conceded five in her first two overs, and was then replaced by one of the world’s leading T20 bowlers in Danielle Hazell.

Deandra Dottin did her best, and was involved in a curious incident when she hit a high full toss towards the boundary only to see Brunt pluck it out of the air above her head withe one hand. The umpire correctly called no ball for a delivery above waist height, but non-striker Threlkeld, thinking a legal catch had been taken, was clearly out of her ground when the stumps were subsequently put down. The umpires allowed Threlkeld to remain even though the no ball Law states all no balls are considered to have been no  balls from the instant of delivery. So under the Laws the ball was never dead and it appears, however much you sympathise with her, that Threlkeld was out under the Laws? One for any umpires reading this?

The end came very quickly with six wickets for 11 runs, and Brunt ending with a hat-trick for a return of 3-6. Hazell recorded an even more impressive 4-10 in four overs.

Whilst taking nothing away from Yorkshire, Lancashire’s batsmen were faced with batting in the twilight under lights, something I imagine few had done before. The Diamonds’ decision to bat on winning the toss was no surprise.

Lancashire Thunder also perhaps go down as the unluckiest side in the KSL. Two of their three original overseas players withdrew, then came the biggest blow with the absence of Sarah Taylor. It all left their batting line up looking rather brittle on paper, as it was surely too much to ask Dottin and Matthews to fly in a few days before the first match and adapt instantly to alien English conditions. Danielle Wyatt was another who could have contributed – given she has an excellent record of run scoring at county level but a poor one for England, many wondered how she would perform at a level in between. The answer was not very well, with just 39 tournament runs.

On a night of few positives for Lancashire Thunder, perhaps the most encouraging thing was the attendance of 875 at Old Trafford for what after all was a dead rubber. In the last two years, England Women have not played in the North (or even in the North Midlands), and tonight has hopefully sent a message to the ECB that there is an audience for women’s cricket in the North.

The key to this match was The County Ground at Taunton: not just the pitch, but the outfield. It made for a balanced game – the pitch had nothing in it for the bowlers; but the boundaries were long, and the outfield gave little away to the batsmen: the ball had to be well-struck if it was to cross the rope.

Batting first, the Vipers benefitted from some scrappy fielding from the Storm, with dropped catches and at least 6 missed run out opportunities. Suzie Bates made what has to be the “stealthiest” fifty of the competition so far – she didn’t look in particularly good nick and when the milestone came up on the scoreboard you felt like you wanted to double-check it was actually correct!

In a way, though, that’s the mark of a great player. She could probably have done with a bit more support, however – both McGlashan and Greenway batted at a strike rate of well under 100; and in the end that left the Vipers maybe 20-odd runs light.

Nevertheless, it looked at the break that if the Vipers could bowl smartly and field aggressively, they were in the driving seat, especially after the first two overs from Tash Farrant and Morna Nielsen went for just two miserly runs between them.

That it wasn’t to be was thanks of course to Stafanie Taylor, who was the only player to make batting look really easy today, finding the boundary 11 times – just one less than the Vipers’ entire 12-boundary innings! As Carla Rudd put it, speaking to CRICKETher after close of play: “There’s not a lot you can do when someone’s batting as well as that.”

Taylor herself, referencing those first two overs, reflected that the key was not to rush things early on:

“You just had to play yourself in a bit first and then as soon as you did that you could get the pace of the wicket and then you could actually play your shots.”

“The coach said to me that I should take my time and then as soon as I’m in I could play my shots, and when I started doing that the runs started coming. I think it was actually coming at a good time when the team needed it.”

Guest writer Ben Gardner looks at what each team needs to do in their final games to qualify for Finals Day.

As we enter the final rounds of the Kia Super League, it is impossible not to look ahead, towards Finals Day, and for the mathematicians inside of each of us to try and work out which permutations and combinations can result in our team going through. It turns out that no team can yet relax, and also that every team is in with a chance, no matter how slim, of qualifying for that glorious day in Chelmsford. Read on to find out more.

Southern Vipers – The Vipers, thanks to having won three games out of three, are almost qualified for Finals Day, but can still go out if they lose both their games, concede bonus points in both, and Stars beat Lightning with a bonus point. Then Stars, Lightning, Storm, and Vipers will all be on at least 8 points, and it will come down to net run rate.

Loughborough Lightning – If Lightning beat Stars they are through to Finals Day. If they lose to Stars they can qualify by beating Vipers with a better or equal result in terms of bonus points than that which they lost to Stars. If the results are equal then Lightning will need a better net run rate than Stars. Lightning can also qualify by beating Vipers and finishing on greater or equal points than Storm, with net run rate coming into play if they are on equal points. If Lightning lose both they need lots to go their way. They need Vipers and Diamonds to beat Storm, Diamonds to not win both their games with bonus points and net run rate to work in their favour.

Western Storm – If Storm win both games they are through. If they win one, then they are through if Lightning beat Stars, or if their win equals or betters Stars’ win, with Storm needing a better NRR than Stars if it’s equal. If Storm lose both, then they again need a lot of results to conspire for them. Storm will need Lightning to beat Stars, or Lightning to lose both games, and Diamonds to not win both games with bonus points, and to beat whichever teams are on 5 points on net run rate.

Surrey Stars – Stars will have to wait on other results no matter what their result against Lightning is. They can be knocked out even if they beat Lightning with a bonus point, if Lightning beat Vipers with a bonus point or Storm finish on or above 8 points, and if NRR works against them. But equally if they lose, they can still qualify if Diamonds beat Storm and Diamonds finish on 5 or less points, and NRR works with them. They can also mathematically still finish 1st in the table since Lightning, Vipers, Storm and Stars could all finish on 8 points, at which point it would be decided on net run rate.

Lancashire Thunder – In an almost hopeless situation, Thunder need to win with a bonus point to have any chance of qualifying, and also need Storm to lose both games, and Lightning to beat Stars, or Stars and Vipers both to beat Lightning, and then hope for net run rate to do its magic.

Yorkshire Diamonds – Although point-less so far, Diamonds are still in with a shot of qualifying for Finals Day. They need to win both games, and at least one with a bonus point. They also need Storm to lose to Vipers, and either Lightning to beat Stars, or Vipers and Stars to beat Lightning. If they win both games with bonus points, and the above scenario happens, they will not need to rely on net run rate.

NB: The possibility of any matches ending as no-result was not considered.

Earlier this week we sat down with ECB head of women’s cricket Clare Connor to discuss the new KSL Regional Development Centres, which will replace the existing England Women’s Development Programme for Under 15s, and are set to launch this autumn. She answers all our questions below:

When and why was it decided to open these new Regional Development Centres?

The ECB’s High Performance Manager for women’s and girls’ cricket Jonathan Finch, and everyone he consulted with, decided to decommission the EWDP Under 15s programme last September. That came about because we realised that to identify from county age group cricket 20 cricketers, roughly, to be the EWDP Under 15s squad, and to traipse them up to Loughborough, was a big investment in players that we weren’t massively sure about. We were rewarding performance at that stage rather than looking at development potential.

We then worked out that with the new Sport England funding we have received, we could create these Regional Centres, to reach 120 girls on a much more localised scale, connecting them and giving them the aspiration of their Super League team to look up to.

Can you provide more details about the Sport England funding?

We’ve received talent funding for the 2013-17 funding cycle from Sport England. That talent funding has mainly gone into the Academy programme each year (home and away), the EWDP Under 19s and the EWDP Under 15s. Last year we were then awarded some extra “Reward and Incentive Funding” because we had done everything that Sport England had tasked us to do with that original pot of money. We then worked with Sport England to decide how best to spend the extra money, and the decision to go ahead with the Regional Centres came out of that conversation.

We’ve got that extra funding to run for 2 years, and we’re in the process with Sport England at the moment of putting together our submission for the next funding cycle. The current funding cycle ends on 30 March 2017.

How will the players be selected to train at these Centres?

The counties have continued doing their talent ID system, as before, to create a long-list of talented age group cricketers, based on what the counties have seen them do in county age group cricket but also the potential that they see in them. That long-list has been split into KSL regions, and in mid to late September those players will be attending talent identification days. Based on that, players will then be allocated to the Regional Centres.

What age range will the new Centres cater for?

It’ll be fairly open-age. The broad age range will be 13-16. The EWDP Under 19s will still run as a squad of about 20, because we do want to focus in on them and give them some central Loughborough time. I am envisaging 70% of the girls at the new Centres being 13 or 14. I doubt we’ll go much lower than that.

What will the programme look like at the new Centres, and where will they be based?

I don’t know yet. I am presuming that the Vipers, for example, will be at the Ageas Bowl – they’ve got such an amazing facility there – but there’s nothing to stop the training being at Sussex sometimes.

We’re splitting the funding from Sport England between the 6 KSL hosts, and they will each be presenting us with their plan as to where things will be based and what their programme entails. Jonathan Finch as our High Performance Manager will make sure he believes that is a good use of public funding.

By October half-term all six will have started their programmes. All six will deliver about 12 days between October half-term and the end of the year, and that will be a mixture of skills development and assessment and education type stuff that we would previously have done centrally through the EWDP 15s. And then we’ll continue from there.

Will the new Regional Centres be in competition with each other?

No – it’s really important to get that across. These Centres are purely about how to reach more players on a more local level, to give more players more opportunity to have an equitable route into the elite end of the game.

How do these new Regional Centres fit in with existing county girls age-group / club cricket?

It’s important to stress that competitive cricket for the selected players will still be for their county age group teams. These Centres are about development programmes in the off-season, which lots of counties do not give their girls.

The key in all of this is the connection and relationship with those people working hard in counties, with their county age group girls, to make sure that if they are selected onto a regional centre, there is communication. The regional opportunity is not to replace anything you get through county age group cricket – it will be complementary. We need to make sure, and this is not always easily achieved, that the communication between that regional infrastructure and the counties is tight.

The main thing we’re trying to do more and more is not just look at this with an ECB lens about what we think – it’s about trying to do what is right for the player. The most important thing is that the player feels that they’ve got the best support, and the support is fit for purpose for that player, both from a geographical perspective and from the perspective of: has she got the best coaching we can get for her?

What we don’t want to do is to have 14 year olds at the end of a school week driving for 4 hours from Truro (for example) to somewhere, to arrive tired and stiff and to not really enjoy it.

We definitely will not be taking players out of anything, and if there is a county training session going on and the county says “this is a really important team-building session for our under 15s”, we wouldn’t just take that player and say “no, she’s coming here”. That’s not how we want to work at all.

Given that this is being funded by Sport England, will Welsh players be able to be put forward to attend the Centres?

Absolutely, yes. Welsh players are still included within anything the England and Wales Cricket Board wants to do – any Sport England funding we get includes Wales. For example, Glamorgan Cricket Board will be treated the same as any other county.

Are more changes in the pipeline for U15s, U19s or the Academy?

There probably won’t be massive structural change coming. We’re considering aligning the Academy with the men’s equivalent programme – they’re the Lions when they play proper matches, but the programme is called the England Performance Programme. We’re looking at all of that at the moment.

Throughout the Kia Super League, we’ll be featuring short interviews with players, coaches & other interesting people we find around and about at the grounds. In yesterday’s Surrey Stars win over Lancashire Thunder, left-arm spinner Alex Hartley featured heavily, taking 3-11 in her 4 overs. She answers our quick-fire questions below…

If not Surrey Stars, who would you like to win?

I’m going to have to say Loughborough Lightning, because Evelyn [Jones] and Macca [Alex MacDonald] play there.

Who would you like to see playing in KSL that isn’t?

I’d love to see Meg Lanning come over and play. Unfortunately she couldn’t this year because she’s injured, but it would be great in future.

Favourite KSL player?

Er…that’s hard! Tammy Beaumont (so I don’t get kicked out of the house!)

Justin Bieber or One Direction?

Justin Bieber! Without a doubt!

Favourite cricket ground?

I love the Ageas Bowl.

Favourite thing on the menu in Nandos?

Lemon and herb butterfly chicken and chips. I’m not a spice person!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully being England’s number 1 spinner and winning the World Cup!

Where do you see women’s cricket in 10 years?

Hopefully it’s massive. With the KSL we want thousands of people coming to watch, so hopefully it’ll get like that.

Guest reporter James Piechowski was at Guildford yesterday to see Surrey Stars defeat Lancashire Thunder.

Result: Surrey Stars won by 7 wickets (with 28 balls remaining)

Going into this match, both sides had played 3 games, lost 2 and won only 1. The result from Monday’s game, with the Southern Vipers earning a bonus point win over Yorkshire Diamonds, meant that both sides playing yesterday had clear daylight between them and the bottom of the table. With Vipers essentially through, and Diamonds needing a miracle, four sides were effectively competing for 2 qualification spots. This match was basically an eliminator of sorts, as the losing side would be left relying on other results and a bonus point win in their final match to have any sort of chance.

Either Stars or Thunder getting through to finals day seemed unlikely, but they had hope to hold onto. In order to get into the top three, a minimum of 5 points would be required, even if Lightning or Storm lost both their remaining games. Realistically, six or or seven points may even be needed to qualify. That left both sides desperately needing a win to ensure their campaigns could continue on positively. In fact, the extra bonus point win would be preferable. It was, as the old adage goes, a “six-pointer” if ever there was one. With just one more game remaining for both sides after this, Thunder would be facing a wounded Diamonds side in a sure-to-be feisty Roses clash. Stars had a slight run rate advantage, and the added bonus of playing Lightning, a team they would need to overtake, last. Nothing could be guaranteed though. The points were there for the taking, but who could hold their nerve best?

The sun may have struggled to poke through the clouds over the Guildford ground at times, but this did not dampen the friendly carnival atmosphere, many spectators choosing to sit at the boundary’s edge to get close to the action. And the crowd of several hundred were certainly treated to an entertaining match.

Thunder got off to a bad start as West Indian opener Hayley Matthews was adjudged to be lbw to Marizanne Kapp, second ball of the innings. She offered some dissent to the umpire, indicating that she had hit the ball. In came Thunder captain Amy Satterthwaite and she would stay out in the middle until the end of the innings. It was the promising Emma Lamb who took the attack to Tahuhu in the next over though, using her feet well and punishing anything wide or over-pitched. Lamb has an attractive, dynamic batting style, and faces relatively few dot balls. She strikes regular boundaries, and also works the ball well into gaps for singles and twos. She is fast in running between the wickets. In the field too, Lamb impresses, being quick to the ball and secure in her handling. She was out yesterday though to a rather unnecessary slog at Kapp, having scored 27 off 17 balls. It was a rash shot, something that she can hopefully eliminate with more experience.

After 11 overs, Thunder were 66-2 with Satterthwaite and Laura Macleod going well. They would have been aiming for a total of at least 130. But Alex Hartley, in her second over, triggered a middle order collapse that saw 6 wickets fall for 17 runs in 5.4 overs. At the end of this flop, Thunder were 83-8 with just over 3 overs left, and looking at a total of just over 100. Hartley was the main difference yesterday. She has a boundless energy about her that she channels into her bowling to allow her to be accurate and difficult to hit cleanly. Her fielding is not always to the standard you’d expect, but her bowling is invariably excellent, and yesterday was no exception.

Credit should also be given to Kapp, whose accuracy meant that she was one of the only pace bowlers to not go the distance yesterday, finishing with 2-18. And Laura Marsh bowled so well in partnership with Hartley to restrict Thunder in that middle period, that Rene Farrell, a bowler usually called upon much earlier in the innings, was not given a bowl until the 17th over and thus could only complete 2 of her available 4. Stars certainly have a wealth of bowling options available. Yesterday they offered an improvement to an admittedly sloppy display in the field against Western Storm. The three run outs were well executed and hurt Thunder badly. The fielding was not perfect though. Hartley dropped a catch she should have taken 99 times out of a hundred, a dolly popped up off her own bowling, made all the more galling as it was Satterthwaite when she had just 10; and also Lea Tahuhu grounded a more difficult chance running in from the boundary.

Thunder did not help themselves with a few questionable decisions out in the middle. The batting order, with Macleod promoted above Deandra Dottin and Danni Wyatt, looked short of the power needed to set a challenging total. When Dottin and Wyatt did finally arrive at the crease, there was extra pressure after Macleod had used up 23 balls and only scored at a strike rate of 74. But they gave their wickets away somewhat timidly. Thunder had lost their nerve. The problem was that Satterthwaite, although a fine batsman, is more of an accumulator in style, and in the New Zealand team she has made her name playing in often relies on the likes of Bates, Devine et al to provide the punch. With Emma Lamb making the only fast cameo for Thunder yesterday, and the middle order collapse, Satterthwaite – not exactly at her fluent best – was left to rebuild the innings with little support. The total of 102-9 appeared to be about 30 runs short on a good track and fast outfield.

Thunder only hit 9 fours; in reply, Stars managed 16. In the end Satterthwaite tried her best in difficult circumstances, and did well to carry her bat, but only making 34* after arriving at the crease in the first over tells its own story. In the field for Thunder, I could not understand why the excellent Matthews was held back after bowling a cheap opening over until the 11th over; a combination of Kate Cross, Dottin and Satterthwaite being preferred instead. Of those bowlers, only Dottin looked like doing what Thunder would have needed to make things close.

The Stars reply was swift and telling. Tammy Beaumont offered another fine display, working the ball all around the wicket and striking boundaries with aplomb.

Bryony Smith is some prospect – more than just a pinch-hitter promoted from the middle-order. When she hits the ball, it stays hit; she is brutal when cutting outside off stump, and on the drive. She is not all about power though: a deft ramp shot over her shoulder which scooted to the rope for 4 showed she has finesse, too. By the time she was out in the 7th over, trying to hit Dottin for another leg side four but caught by Satterthwaite, Stars had already broken the back of the chase and Nat Sciver, Cordelia Griffith and Kapp continued the necessary impetus to see them over the line with the bonus point, with 4 balls to spare.

The result leaves Thunder only able to achieve a maximum of 5 points which is very unlikely to be enough to qualify, seeing as 3 teams already have that tally. For Stars, they face a key match away at Loughborough against Lightning, on Friday, which may well turn out to be another eliminator. This convincing win yesterday will give them confidence that they can put in the strong performance that will surely be required.

There have been a few one-sided games in this competition, but today takes some beating. On a glorious batting pitch, Lancashire Thunder somehow conspired to fall over themselves to get out; and the Surrey Stars then absolutely hammered them with the bat from ball 1 of over 1. With both teams having struggled so far at points in KSL, this level of dominance really wasn’t the match I was expecting to see when I woke up this morning.

So what happened? Well, for one, the Stars have clearly been doing exactly what Nat Sciver told us they’d be doing after that dramatic loss to Western Storm on Sunday – working on their fielding. Diving stops; skilful catches; and three run-outs. Perhaps the best was Cordelia Griffith’s effort to dismiss Tash Miles from short fine leg: she spotted that Miles was starting a run, used her head, quickly grabbed the ball and threw it straight to Beaumont behind the stumps, who had ample time to remove the bails. Really neat work.

It could have been so much worse for Thunder – the one catch that did go begging today was by Alex Hartley, who missed a caught and bowled chance off Amy Satterthwaite when the captain was on just 10* (she went on to make 34*). It’s a little ironic that the overseas player who Thunder only called in as a last-minute replacement when Sarah Coyte bowed out is now their leading run-scorer in the competition (with 130 runs to date).

Fortunately Hartley – who admitted after play that she was “really angry with myself” after the drop – kept her cool, her captain kept the faith and Hartley went on to take 2 wickets in her very next over. Whether or not the Stars qualify for Finals Day – that will depend on whether they can beat Loughborough Lightning on Friday – this competition has vindicated our long-held belief that Alex Hartley is one of the best spinners in England. With 7 wickets across 4 games, she also happens to be the KSL’s (joint) leading wicket-taker to date, and her scalps include Lauren Winfield, Sara McGlashan and Deandra Dottin – not bad going!

Surprising stat of the day: top run-scorers so far in KSL are Nat Sciver (169), Amy Satterthwaite (130), Tammy Beaumont (112) and…Emma Lamb (also with 112). With scores of 25, 26, 34 and 27, Lamb hasn’t rivalled the sheer dominance of the innings we’ve seen from the likes of Sciver, but her strike rate has been well over 100 and, as Satterthwaite put it after close of play, “She’s played exactly like we would want her to”. At just 18, she’s got a bright future ahead of her.

Talking of bright futures, Bryony Smith is clearly loving life right now – as the cheeky ramp shot she played over her shoulder for four today showed. Amy Satterthwaite, speaking after close of play, said that the opening 6 overs of the Stars’ innings had been vital: “I thought from the way the wicket was feeling at the time that [our score] would be just enough to try and scrape the win. The way they started left us in a pretty sore position to try and come back after the first six… In Twenty20 that first six can win or lose you the game.” Smith may have gotten herself out in the 7th over, but her 30 off 26 balls was an essential part of those crucial first 6. After Linsey Smith’s effort yesterday with the ball, perhaps we should be renaming this competition the Smith Super League?

A magnificent first international century from opener Laura Wolvaardt, and a remarkable 4th international 5-for from leg spinner Sune Luus, sealed an unassailable 3-0 lead for South Africa in their ODI series versus Ireland.

Opening the batting with Trisha Chetty, who herself went on to make 95, Wolvaardt played positive but virtually chanceless cricket from the start, the seventeen year old taking the lead in a record first wicket partnership of 192, before finally swinging and missing at a straight one from Louise McCarthy, as she tried to push on after passing 100 – her knock ending on 105 off 125 balls.

A rapid 22 off 13 balls from Mignon du Preez looked dangerous, before she dozily allowed herself to be run out, hesitating outside her crease after surviving an LBW appeal; and Ireland thereafter pulled things back somewhat – veteran Ciara Metcalfe the pick of the Irish bowlers with 2-37 – as the visitors closed on 260-6.

Irish openers Clare Shillington and debutante Una Raymond-Hoey came out with real intent – hitting 26 from the first two overs, and reaching 38 before Shillington was bowled off the final ball of the 5th over. The run rate then slowed significantly as Ireland lost Cath Dalton and Gaby Lewis cheaply – the latter the first of Sune Luus’ victims, as she tried to loft her back over her head, and was caught off a shot that was all loft, and not enough back over head!

That brought Kim Garth to the crease, who put on 99 with Isobel Joyce, and had the Irish thinking “maybe, just maybe”; but after Joyce was caught, mis-cutting a full ball straight to du Preez at point, Ireland’s hopes rested on Mary Waldron staying with Garth. Waldron hung on for 5 overs, but with the run rate climbing, she came down the pitch to Luus and was stumped with the score on 191. Ireland were to add just 2 more runs to their total as they were bowled out for 193, Garth stranded on 51* and Luus finishing with 5-32.

Afterwards Laura Wolvaardt spoke to CRICKETher about her hundred:

“It is quite amazing – it hasn’t really sunk in yet but it is a great feeling and hopefully the start of many more. [On 99] I was more nervous than I think I’ve ever been in my life – it was really stressful. I’m just happy I got bat on ball and didn’t stay on 99 for too long, because I think I might have died!”