England all-rounder Nat Sciver has been ruled-out of next month’s ODIs against South Africa with an ankle injury.

There is no doubt this is a serious blow for new coach Mark Robinson ahead of his first tour – Sciver was one of the few England players to come out of last summer’s Women’s Ashes with her balance in credit, chalking up two Man of the Match performances in the series.

In the recent WBBL, Sciver’s batting form has been somewhat indifferent – averaging just 13 at a strike rate of 91; but her bowling has been impressive – 18 wickets at an economy rate of 6.2, putting her joint-3rd* on the list.

Sciver is replaced in England’s ODI squad by Tammy Beaumont, who was already selected for the T20 leg of the tour; and the hope is that Sciver may be able to rejoin the squad for the T20s.

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* Prior to Sunday’s final.

The WBBL title is heading to Sydney, after the Sixers beat the Hobart Hurricanes to join the Thunder in Sunday’s final.

In the first semi-final, the Thunder looked to have under-performed with the bat against the Perth Scorchers, posting just 118 with only Alex Blackwell (39 off 41) and Stafanie Taylor (24 off 25) really making much of a dent in the scorers’ inkwells.

The Thunder looked in even more trouble as Elyse Villani raced to 23 off 9 balls, but at the other end Charlotte Edwards was already getting tied-down before Villani was run out in the 5th over, and from there the Scorchers were never quite in it, the Thunder winning in the end by 8 runs.

To say the second semi-final was rain-affected is something of an understatement. With the match between the Sixers and the Hurricanes already reduced to 14 overs, the Hurricanes (possibly unwisely in retrospect) chose to bat, posting  a respectable 86 – a Run Rate of 6.14.

Then the rain came down again, and despite a window of an hour-and-a-half before the men’s semi-final was due to start, the Sixers’ target was reduced to 55 off 8 – a Run Rate of 6.88, less than a run-an-over difference, with obviously all their wickets in-hand.

With no pressure whatsoever, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry made the runs without loss, with 10 balls to spare. All credit to them, but harsh on the Hurricanes, who might justly be asking if it is time to look at reducing the wickets in hand as well as adjusting the total in these kinds of situation?

Of the six successful Women’s Cricket Super League bids, all bar one are located at county cricket clubs – the exception being Loughborough University. How will hosting a Super League team at a non-county venue work in practice? CRICKETher spoke to Jo Emmett, the leader of Loughborough University’s successful bid, to find out more about the details.

Emmett confirmed that – despite the ECB’s initial consideration that the Loughborough University ground would not be suitable for WCSL matches – they are intending to host their WCSL games at the university ground. “Every season Loughborough MCCU hosts First Class cricket against county opposition and in 2013 the University hosted women’s international cricket when England last took on Pakistan,” Emmett told CRICKETher. “A comprehensive facilities outline was included within our bid, and as such we don’t envisage there being any issues with the ground being used to play WCSL cricket this summer.”

Clearly the ECB were impressed with Loughborough’s bid; Emmett sees this as attributable to their “strong background in delivering performance sport programmes”, as well as the “holistic environment” Loughborough offers, in which athletes from a variety of sports train alongside each other in top-quality gym facilities.

Loughborough’s successful bid might also have had something to do with their involvement in the flourishing Netball Superleague (the elite domestic netball competition in England and Wales). The Loughborough Lightning netball team was set up over a decade ago, and has seen ticket sales and fan engagement grow year on year. Emmett revealed that those marketing the WCSL team will draw on this experience, which she considers to be “invaluable for us for setting up a new fan base as a WCSL host.”

It is interesting that Loughborough clearly intend their WCSL team to be fully integrated with their current university women’s cricket programme, with Emmett labelling the Super League squad as “the pinnacle of our development system, comprising students, national and international players who have trained together throughout the whole year where possible.” The intention, Emmett told CRICKETher, “is for a seamless player development environment… Our philosophy is based on running one women’s cricket development programme”.

Emmett confirmed that Loughborough are currently looking to work with a variety of local partners going forward, now that their bid has been successful. In particular, CRICKETher can reveal that their bid was supported by Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and Leicester-Shire and Rutland Sport (the County Sport Partnership for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland) – and that they are now in talks with Leicestershire County Cricket Club regarding closer collaboration.

Loughborough’s current detailed marketing plan, submitted as part of their bid, will target students, staff and the wider local community – but Emmett also was keen to stress to CRICKETher that Loughborough’s status as the only Midlands-based Super League team means that they are also now looking to make contact with counties, clubs and cricket boards across the region, and to ensure that all cricket fans in the region “are aware of the opportunities to watch WCSL matches at Loughborough… We are very proud to be representing the Midlands.”

As for what Loughborough might choose to name their WCSL team, that is sadly to remain under wraps for now – but do watch this space!

Charlotte Edwards Kia Sportage might be back home in England, but who needs a car when you’ve got the England captain as your designated driver? Edwards hit 63 off 51 balls as the Perth Scorchers surged towards a last-minute semi-final spot in WBBL, joining Sydney Thunder, Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers in the knockout stages.

With the Stars facing the Thunder in the morning, it could have all been over by lunch time for the Scorchers; but despite restricting the Thunder to just 104, the Stars just didn’t align for Melbourne and they blew their chance of guaranteed qualification by 6 runs; leaving them on 14 points with a NRR of 0.034.

This meant that the Scorchers had to beat the Renegades to join the Stars on 14 points, but to qualify they would also need to slightly improve their NRR, which was 0.005 going into the final day.

It was another English woman – Nicky Shaw – who did the first part of the job, taking 3-28 as the Renegades were restricted to 108; before Edwards took the wheel as the Scorchers knocked off the runs in 15.2 overs.

Elsewhere,  the Sydney Sixers completed their remarkable “zeroes to heroes” comeback – from last place at Christmas, with just one win from their first 7, they won every match since to finish 3rd – beating the Hurricanes today on the final ball to seal the deal.

Sussex Chief Exec Zac Toumazi has responded to this week’s announcement of the Super League franchises hosts by saying he wishes the competition “every success”… before going on to damningly question the ability of the project to deliver on its key goals.

Sussex gave serious consideration at the highest levels to the idea of bidding to be a host, but in the end decided against doing so – a “strategic decision” which Toumazi attributes rather mysteriously to “a number of factors”.

Rumour has it that fundamental to this was the refusal of the ECB to guarantee the availability of key players from the county to the Super League team; so there is apparently some surprise at Sussex that other hosts (e.g. Yorkshire re. Katherine Brunt and Lancashire re. Kate Cross) do seem to have been given just such assurances.

More generally there was the feeling that Sussex have invested significant time and money in the development of players, the rewards of which they deserved to reap themselves, rather than see leak away to other teams via the stroke of an ECB pen.

Nevertheless far from walking away, Toumazi promises to double-down on the county’s efforts, with an innovative new coaching program for 2016, building on the county’s success at grassroots and elite levels, which Sussex argue will provide a “sustainable future” for the women’s game in terms of both participation and performance… with the clear implication that they believe the Super League will not.

The ECB has today announced the six hosts selected to compete in the inaugural Women’s Cricket Super League this summer. The hosts are as follows:

• Hampshire Cricket (in conjunction with Berkshire, Dorset, the Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Sussex, Wiltshire and Southampton Solent University)
• Lancashire County Cricket Board
• Loughborough University 
• South West (in conjunction with Somerset, Gloucestershire and the University of Exeter)
• Surrey County Cricket Club
• Yorkshire County Cricket Club

 All six teams have been awarded hosting rights until the end of the 2019 season.

The big surprise is the omission of Middlesex, who submitted a bid in conjunction with the MCC, but were ultimately unsuccessful. It is likely that the ECB felt that having two London-based teams was simply not feasible.

Another interesting inclusion is Loughborough University. Despite the fact that the ECB’s National Performance Centre is based on site, the ECB has previously stated that grounds would need to meet a certain minimum standard in order to host WCSL games, and Clare Connor stated back at the original launch event last June that Loughborough’s on-site pitch was unlikely to meet the required standards.

The Super League will run from Saturday 30th July to Sunday 14th August, with the date of the final – along with team names for the six successful hosts – still TBC.

Ireland have announced that they will be hosting South Africa this July/ August, playing 4 ODIs and 3 T20s against the Women Proteas who currently sit 4th in the ICC Women’s International Championship table.

The ODI’s are scheduled for July 24, 26, 29 and August 1, followed by the T20s on August 4, 5 and 7, with venues yet to be confirmed.

Prior to that, the sides will also encounter each other in the group stages of the Women’s World T20 in India in March.

Having recently won the WWT20 Qualification tournament, beating Bangladesh in the final, Ireland have firmly established themselves recently as the No. 1 “Associate” nation in the women’s game.

As such, and they will provide a genuine test for a South African team who are on the up, but were themselves in a similar position only a few short years ago.

Cricket Ireland Performance Director Richard Holdsworth has told CRICKETher that Ireland are focussing on their independent future, following news of their withdrawal from the Women’s County Championship.

Holdsworth said that although Ireland had in fact been offered the opportunity to participate in a restructured Women’s County Championship following the introduction of the Super League in 2017, they had made the decision to focus their resources instead on building their own expanded calendar.

“The cost has been a factor,” admitted Holdsworth. “Cricket Ireland has been investing significant funds into participating in these two ECB competitions, and the feeling of our Cricket Committee and management is to invest now in more international fixtures both home and abroad.”

But there were other overriding issues too, not least the challenge of participating in an overseas competition, when almost all of the squad are 100% amateurs with full-time day jobs:

“The nature of the fixture list meant we often flew in very late in the evening before matches, or very early in the morning, neither of which were great preparation for elite cricket.”

Now Ireland are looking to build on their own local programs, with Holdsworth promising that the money saved would be ploughed back into the domestic game, including an enhanced “Super 3s”, following the launch of the competition just last year.

Holdsworth thanked the ECB for their on-going co-operation and expressed the hope that it would continue at more of an international level:

“The ECB has been, and continue to be very supportive… [and] we are also hoping the ECB will be able to play more representative matches against Ireland, particularly with their Academy program.”

With Ireland having recently qualified once again for the T20 World Cup, firmly establishing themselves in the “Top 10” as arguably the leading “Associate” nation, clearly the only way is forward now for these ambitious girls in green!

In a last-minute move which has forced the ECB to frantically rejig this summer’s fixture list, Ireland have stunningly withdrawn from the Women’s County Championship and Women’s T20 Cup.

Ireland have been part of the English “county” scene since 2012 – a project which was intended to give their international players a boost by playing more regularly against higher quality opposition than was possible within their own domestic setup.

But it was an expensive undertaking. Unlike the English counties which are subsidised by the ECB, Ireland have had to bear the full costs of participation themselves, including playing all their fixtures “away”, adding to the financial burden of flights and hotel rooms; and CRICKETher understands that this was the major factor behind their decision to quit.

But equally, given that Ireland have qualified for the past two World T20s, not to mention giving Australia some good games last summer, perhaps it could also be argued that the initiative had successfully run its course.

Plus as previously reported on CRICKETher, the ECB had already announced that their participation would end in 2018 anyway, following the introduction of the Super League in England.

As a result of Ireland’s withdrawal, their Divisions (Division 2 of the County Championship and Division 1 of the T20 Cup) will now consist of just 8 teams, with only one side being relegated – though given the changes coming in 2017, the matter of relegation is perhaps somewhat academic.

Additionally, the Division 1 T20 fixture list has been extensively rejigged. The “triple-header” format, where 3 teams all play each other on a single day, is retained overall; but with each county now having one single-header against a “local” rival.

New Zealand coach Haidee Tiffen has said she concurs with plans to include a New Zealand based franchise in the WBBL.

The suggestion of adding a New Zealand-based team to the Men’s BBL was mooted by former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori back in December [here] with BBL Chief Exec Mike McKenna promising “we’ll look at it”.

The logical corollary of that would be an aligned WBBL franchise, and in an interview with the New Zealand Herald [here] Tiffen has said she is supportive of this idea.

There are obviously a lot of questions raised by this – not least, a franchise which was basically just the White Ferns in a different uniform would almost certainly be too strong and upset the delicate balance of the competition.

But teams are already restricted to five “stars”, of whom three can be overseas, so a change in the regulations which added the top White Ferns to the “stars” roster but allowed the New Zealand franchise to register other local players as non-overseas would be one possible solution; opening the way for what would clearly be a massive shot in the arm for the women’s game in New Zealand.