The Melbourne Stars WBBL team have announced a star-studded trio of overseas recruits – England all-rounder Nat Sciver, South African captain Mignon du Preez and New Zealand spinner Morna Nielsen.

Nat Sciver, who had a very good international summer winning two Man of the Match awards in the Women’s Ashes, was a surprise omission from the original list of England players set to play in WBBL. Back in September CRICKETher revealed that she was still keen to join the party over in Oz, and her signing is also a big boost for England in terms of getting her match-fit and cauldron-tested for the World T20 in India early next year.

Mignon du Preez is the 26-year-old skipper who is leading South Africa into the professional era from the front, with over 2500 international runs to her name, including a century in her first (and only) Test against India last year.

Morna Nielsen is a left-arm orthodox spinner, who made her international debut in 2010 and has taken over 70 international wickets, with best figures of 4-10 against England in 2012.

The three will compete for Melbourne Stars alongside Emma Inglis, Anna Lanning… and of course The Megastar herself – Meg Lanning, leading what is now looking like a very strong line-up which could go all the way to January’s final.

CRICKETher can exclusively reveal that former Junior Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty will be acting as joint coach for the Cricket Australia XI team at the U15 Female National Championships, to take place at Hobart next month.

Barty will be working alongside Hobart Hurricanes coach Julia Price, who last season took the Tasmanian Roar side to a 4th placed position in the state T20 competition.

It had already been announced that Barty would be participating in the inaugural WBBL for Brisbane Heat, after attending a Southern Stars training camp earlier this year and, more recently, undergoing training with Queensland’s WNCL team, Queensland Fire.

Barty has been quoted as saying that she was attracted to the idea of team sport because: “There’s never a lonesome moment on the field if you’re struggling.”

Now it seems that Cricket Australia are looking to utilise her experience in junior tennis coaching to help talented cricketing youngsters too. As an international athlete who has trained at the highest level, it is also the case that Barty will be able to provide guidance for a new generation of girls coming through into a cricket set-up which is now increasingly professional, with ever-higher expectations of its players.

Cricket Australia’s National Coaching Manager Matthew Betsey told CRICKETher:

“Ash is an experienced athlete with a tennis coaching background and we want to use these skills alongside a ‘cricket’ coach in Julia Price.  It will also help Ash understand the game more deeply before she plays in the WBBL for the Brisbane Heat.”

The WBBL kicks off on Saturday 5th December, with Barty likely to feature in Brisbane Heat’s double-header against Melbourne Stars at the Junction Oval.

It was announced last month that England Academy Head Coach Lisa Keightley would be leaving the role she had done since early 2011 in order to return to coach in her native Australia.

What exactly will Keightley be doing Down Under? Her main role will be with the Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA), heading up their Female Talent Development programme. While she will have work to do – the Western Fury have underperformed in previous seasons – she also has a great deal of talent at her disposal, with the squad having been strengthened this year by the addition of Australian openers Nicole Bolton and Elyse Villani.

But CRICKETher have learned that Cricket Australia will be harnessing Keightley’s talents at national level, too. Next month at the U15 Female National Championships in Hobart, she will be acting as a coach mentor for all State coaches involved in the set-up. Following on from that, she will be coaching the Cricket Australia XI in the U18 Female National Championships, to be held at Canberra in January: effectively the equivalent to her recently-vacated Loughborough role.

While England are therefore left seeking both a head coach and an Academy coach – with Keightley’s replacement not to be selected until the New Year at the earliest – it seems that England’s loss is, for the moment, Cricket Australia’s gain!

Despite losing the first ODI, West Indies recovered to take all six Women’s International Championship points from their 4-match series with Pakistan.

A below par performance from West Indies in the opening game allowed Pakistan to snatch an upset win in St Lucia, as Pakistan overhauled the host’s 222 thanks to 90 from Javeria Khan.

The Windies looked a little shaky in the second ODI too. After bowling Pakistan out for 149, they made the runs thanks to 49 from captain Stafanie Taylor and 28* from Kyshona Knight, but it took them 47 overs and they lost 7 wickets in the process.

In the 3rd ODI, West Indies looked a bit more like themselves, posting 281 with Taylor again top scoring with 98 and her predecessor as captain, Merissa Aguilleira, contributing 68. Pakistan survived to 50 overs (for the loss of 9 wickets) but scoring at just 3.44 they fell over 100 runs short, with Javeria making 73*.

In the final match, Pakistan again guarded their wickets well, but somewhat at the expense of scoring runs, and a total of 182 off 50 overs would have been plain embarrassing if not for 44* off 43 balls from Asmavia Iqbal at the end of the innings. In reply, Taylor again played the captain’s innings, ending 87* as they chased Pakistan down inside 43 overs.

Pakistan’s real problem is that a scoring rate of well under 4 in all three Championship ODIs isn’t going to win you many matches at this level.

Meanwhile, for the West Indies it was “Job Done”, but it was really Taylor that saved them with the bat, as their bowling looked toothless and their fielding a bit sluggish, with general fitness levels looking very questionable, it has to be said.

Finally… a BIG THANKS to the West Indies Cricket Board for making all of these matches available on live-stream with multi-cameras, the occasional replay and full commentary – it just shows what can be done if there is a will, even when you are one of the poorest boards in the game!

The (Australian) Daily Telegraph has a long article on the simmering row between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association over who pays the salaries in the rapidly professionalising women’s structure over there.

The piece is worth reading, but if you are in a hurry the TLDR is this: CA would like the girls to be paid out of the pot already allocated for professional cricketers; while the ACA say this money was set aside just for the men and CA need to stump-up additional sums for the women.

The article does though contain one significant factual error:

“What has annoyed some female players is that while they’re the No. 1 team in the world and hold the Ashes, they’ll earn an average of $85,000…” [Emphasis ours.]

In fact, the “average of $85,000” figure not is correct – $85,000 (c. £40,000) is not an average but a maximum, earned by the handful of players who are on the top-tier contracts – the likes of Lanning, Blackwell and Perry. Other Southern Stars regulars – the Alyssa Healys and Nicole Boltons – earn a lot less than this, and the average is probably considerably less than half of the $85,000 quoted.

This is not to say that things in Australia aren’t going in the right direction – they indubitably are – or that the Telegraph aren’t making an important point… but getting the facts right nevertheless always helps!

The ICC have today announced details of the prize money and new format for the next World Cup, to be hosted by England in 2017.

Prize money for the 2017 tournament will now stand at $1 million, a huge rise from previous tournaments. While prize money for the men’s event (currently £2.5 million) is still significantly more, the ICC Board has also agreed that the 2021 event, in New Zealand, will be worth $1.2 million overall, and this therefore does appear to be a step in the direction of equal prize money for both sports.

Additionally, it has been announced that the 2017 World Cup will be an eight team round-robin competition, with the top four sides progressing to the semi-finals, followed by the final. This guarantees each team at least seven matches, and is a change from the 2013 tournament format, whereby the 8 participating teams were split into two groups and played 3 games each, before the top sides progressed to the “Super Sixes”.

Lastly, the ICC has confirmed that the Women’s Championship, which sees all of the top 8 teams in the world play each other in order to determine who automatically qualifies for the next World Cup, will continue after 2017 into a second cycle. The Championship has effectively acted as a Future Tours Programme for the women’s game since it was introduced in 2014, and its continuation is welcome news for the sport.

Queensland Fire (102-0) bt Tasmania Roar (101)

Jess Jonassen took 3-19 as the Roar whimpered to 101 all out after Holly Ferling had removed both Tasmania openers cheaply.

Beth Mooney (49*) and Grace Harris (48*) then knocked off the runs inside 16 overs without loss, for the double bonus-point win.

Given that somebody has to drop points somewhere, bonus points could be critical in determining who finishes inside the top two to qualify for November’s final.

Vic Spirit (220-4) bt ACT Meteors (218-6)

A team-effort batting performance from ACT saw them reach 218, with Erin Osborne (48) top-scoring as all of the top 7 made it into double-figures.

The Spirit lost Hayley Jensen for a duck in the second over, but sometimes an early wicket isn’t what you need… especially if it is one that brings a certain “Meghann Lanning” (as the CA scorecards insist on calling her) to the crease.

Lanning went on to make her first hundred of the campaign, though she played second-fiddle for a lot of her innings to England’s Danni Wyatt, who cracked 84 off 73 balls, including 10 4s, as Victoria crossed the line inside 44 overs.

The result means that Vic Spirit (13 points) go top from Queensland Fire (10), though the South Australian Scorpions (9) have a game in hand in 3rd.

WNCL resumes on October 31st, with Vic Spirit facing the Scorpions at home in Melbourne.

South Austrlia Scorpions (246) bt Westen Australia Fury (157)

New Zealander Sophie Devine, who earlier this year smashed a T20 half-century off just 18 balls against India, was at it again for South Australia today hitting 56 off 54 against Western Australia at the WACA. Coming in at 7 with the Scorpions in a little bit of bother at 148-6, she dragged them on towards a decent total, putting on 30 with Sarah Coyte and then dominating a 65 run partnership with Sam Betts.

The Fury’s reply got off to a disastrous start, with Elyse Villani out for a duck in the first over… and it was pretty-much downhill after that as (…who else?) Sophie Devine took 4-17. Nicole Bolton was in good form again, making 71, but for the second time this weekend she found herself propping up a losing cause as WA subsided to 157 all out.

The bonus point win puts the Scorpions top of WNCL after 2 games, level on points with Vic Spirit who are pushed into second on net run rate.

South Australia Scorpions (281-5) bt New South Wales Breakers (280-7)

England glove-butler Sarah Taylor smashed 101 off just 103 balls as the Scorpions posted 281, with Bridget Patterson (72) and captain Lauren Ebsary (72*)  also contributing.

The Breakers’ reply was all about Alex Blackwell. who built big partnerships with Ellyse Perry (36) and Nicola Carey (45) on her way to 118* but brilliant death-bowling from Megan Shcutt (4-42) saw NSW fall just short.

Vic Spirit (114-8) bt Tasmania Roar (110)

In a low-scoring match in Brisbane, Extras (26) top-scored for the Roar, as they were bowled out for 110, with leg-spinner Kristen Beams taking 3-24.

Vic Spirit made hard-work of their riposte – losing 8 wickets along the way to 114, with only Sarah Elliot (30) Kirsty Lamb (24*) and Meg Lanning (18) making it into double-figures, although they did get the runs quickly enough to grab a vital bonus point.

Queensland Fire (255-6) bt ACT Meteors (244-9)

From a potentially disastrous 11-3, the Fire recovered to post 255, mainly thanks to a massive 4th-wicket stand of 193 from Jess Jonassen (82) and Delissa Kimmince (100).

In response, opener Katie Mack gave the Meteors some belief through the middle overs, until she hesitated slightly after calling a sharp single and was run out for 61. ACT soldiered-on in what was very-much a team effort, helped by a number of dropped catches in the field, but ended their 50 overs 11 runs short at 244-9, with Sammy-Jo Johnson taking 3-37 for the Fire.

ACT Meteors (184/3) bt Tasmania Roar (182)

New Zealand’s Lea Tahuhu took 3-12 as Tasmania were bowled out for 182 in the final over; with Berkshire overseas Crinny Hall top-scoring for the Roar with 64.

Katie Mack then made 67 and Sara McGlashan 62* as the Meteors chased them down inside 38 overs – McGlashan winning the game with a 6!

Vic Spirit (246/4) bt Queensland Fire (245/7)

Southern Star Grace Harris opened for Queensland, smashing 67 off 56 balls, with Kirby Short (60) and Beth Mooney (49) also chipping-in as the Fire posted 245/7, with England’s Danni Wyatt taking 3-40.

Victoria got the runs with an over to spare, with Sarah Eliot (52) and Meg Lanning (89*) making the key contributions.

New South Wales Breakers (220/9) bt Western Australia Fury (219/5)

Western Australia got off to a furious [*sorry!] start with Nicole Bolton hitting the first century of this season’s WNCL – 104 off 141 balls- after an opening stand of 143 with Elyse Villani (48). The Fury lost steam a bit towards the end, but still managed to reach 219 for the loss of 5 down, with England’s Laura Marsh bowling 10 wicketless overs for 33.

In reply, fifties from Rachel Haynes (72) and Ellyse Perry (57) looked to have put the Breakers in a strong position. However a late collapse made things very squeaky for NWS, but they were nevertheless somehow able to scrape over the line with 9 wickets down and just one ball remaining!