The ECB has announced this morning that it has bowed to pressure and will permit contracted England players to remain in Australia for the full duration of the WBBL, allowing them to participate in the final… if of course, their team makes it that far in the franchise competition!

The ECB had been reluctant to sanction this, because England’s tour to South Africa follows so hot on the heels of the WBBL; but after petitioning from Cricket Australia and the players themselves they have given way.

Now, instead of coming home to England, the 7 WBBL players – Charlotte Edwards and Katherine Brunt (Perth Scorchers), Heather Knight (Hobart Hurricanes), Kate Cross and Lauren Winfield (Brisbane Heat), Sarah Taylor (Adelaide Strikers) and Danielle Wyatt (Melbourne Renegades) – will fly directly to South Africa, where the ECB has arranged a pre-tour training camp for the entire England squad at the High Performance Institute of Sport in Potchefstroom.

This is good news all-round and CRICKETher commends all parties involved for getting around the table and thrashing out a solution that works for the good of the game, the fans and the England team too.

Want to be England Women’s next head coach? You’d better get your skates on – the ECB’s application process closes in just over two weeks time, on October 23rd.

In the job spec seen by CRICKETher, ECB state that they are looking for a Level 3 coach, with First Class or international experience. (Level 3 is typically the minimum prerequisite for men’s First Class (i.e. county professional) coaching jobs; with Level 4 generally required for men’s international coaching roles.)

The appointment is for a 3-year contract, taking the team beyond the 2017 World Cup in England; and the job spec emphasises that long-term planning is a big part of the role.

Interestingly, the ECB have also said very explicitly that they want someone who is prepared to “develop effective working relationships with those coaching in the women’s County game” – something current incumbent Paul Shaw was reputedly notoriously reluctant to muddy himself with.

The Times has published a piece by TMS’s Alison Mitchell, linking ex-England (Men’s) Coach Peter Moores with the vacancy for England Women’s Head Coach.

CRICKETher thinks it is pretty unlikely that Mitchell wrote this piece without talking to Moores, so the conclusion would appear to be that he has said (at least codedly) that he wants the job*.

Furthermore, Clare Connor has told the BBC:

“The qualities and experiences we are looking for are going to be found more than likely with a coach who has worked at as high a level as possible in the men’s game.”

Connor continued (as if it wasn’t already clear enough) that the person who gets the job is “more than likely going to be a man”. She didn’t quite go on to add that he was “more than likely going to be called Peter too”… but she might as well have done!

Despite having been sacked not once but twice from the Men’s Head Coach role, Moores remains a very-much respected figure at ECB Towers; and his England stints aside, he has a very strong track record, being the only coach in history to have won the (Men’s) County Championship with two different sides: Sussex and Lancashire.

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* UPDATE: 14/10/15 – Mitchell said on TMS today that she had NOT spoken to Moores.

Reports from India suggest that the BCCI are still hoping that their tour to Australia next January / February might include a one-off Test match, which would be the first time the sides have met in the format since 2006.

India’s motives are clear enough – with Tests counting towards the new ICC Team Rankings, and with the longest form of the game being perhaps their strongest suit, it looks like India’s best opportunity to gain ranking points on what will undoubtedly be a very tough tour for them.

However, the timetable for a Test is looking rather tight. India are scheduled to play 3 T20s and 3 ODIs, the last of which takes place in Hobart on February 7th. There are then less than two weeks before Australia’s first ‘Rose Bowl’ match in New Zealand on February 20th.

Coupled with Australia’s long-term reluctance to play Tests, mainly for commercial reasons, it therefore looks like a long shot; but the fact that it is even being discussed and backed by the BCCI – the world’s most powerful governing body – has to be considered good news for the future of women’s Test cricket.

The Australian domestic calendar gets started next week, with a very different look to the new season. In fact, there are really two seasons: the 50-over, state-based Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) takes place in October/ November; and is then followed by the city-franchised T20 competition – the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) – in December/ January.

The WNCL begins on October 9th and it is a much shorter competition than in previous years, with each of the 7 sides playing each other just once, with the top two teams qualifying for the final on November 28th.

There is then a very short break before the WBBL gets underway on December 5th. The 8 franchises will play each other twice, with the top four qualifying for semi-finals (January 20th/ 21st) and then the grand final on January 24th.

Both seasons are pretty intense – particularly the WBBL, with 59 matches taking place over just 51 days – it demands a fully-professional commitment from the players; and in recognition of this, Cricket Australia continue to push towards a fully-professional compensation package in return.

A player who competes in both seasons will earn a minimum of $10,000 (about £4,600) and many will earn considerably more. With Cricket Australia having established a total player payment fund of over $2 million, that’s an average of around-about $24,000 (£11,000) per player for a 4-month season, albeit one with considerable “off season” demands.

Will this have the Porsche-dealers of Melbourne and Sydney cracking-open the champagne? Probably not! But on the road to a fully professional domestic game, it is a start, and a very good one too!

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the new official ICC Women’s Team Rankings announced today are headed by Australia – current leaders of the Women’s International Championship and holders of the World Cup, the T20 World Cup and the Women’s Ashes.

Interestingly however, beyond the top spot the rankings differ significantly from the Women’s International Championship table. For example, South Africa are 2nd in the Championship, but 6th in the rankings; whilst England are ranked 2nd, but sit 4th in the Championship.

Of course, the rankings are cross-format; but the time-period is similar – taking into account the past 2 years of matches – so it is a little incongruous perhaps?

ICC Rankings (+ Championship Position)

1. Australia (1)
2. England (4)
3. New Zealand (6)
4. India (8)
5. West Indies (3)
6. South Africa (2)
7. Pakistan (5)
8. Sri Lanka (7)
9. Bangladesh (N/A)
10. Ireland (N/A)

England and Somerset fast bowler Anya Shrubsole has been named the Professional Cricketer’s Association Player of the Summer 2015.

Shrubsole was England’s leading wicket-taker in this year’s Women’s Ashes with 13 wickets; and was the only bowler on either side to record a series economy rate of under 3*.

Anya was also a key player for Somerset in winning Division 2 of the Women’s County Championship, taking 14 wickets and additionally chipping-in with the bat, averaging 29 including one fifty.

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* Minimum 10 overs bowled in the series.

With yesterday’s departure of England Women’s Performance Director Paul Shaw, following so soon after the resignation of Academy coach Lisa Keightley, both of the two most important coaching roles in English women’s cricket are now in-play, raising the question of just exactly who is in charge now? And with England central contracts due to be renewed over the next 3 months, this is a bit more than an academic issue!

Sources at the ECB have told CRICKETher that Paul Shaw will continue to play an in-post active role through December, and is very-much involved in the ongoing process of contract renewals.

Meanwhile, the ECB’s priority is to name his successor by January, prior to the South Africa tour in February; and with the calibre of candidate they are seeking this is likely to take some time, so for the moment we are told that the Academy role is basically on hold and the ECB will not be seeking candidates until after the new Head Coach is appointed – i.e. early next year.

Reading between the tea-leaves, another reason may be that this will also potentially allow the incoming Head Coach to have some input into who is appointed to the Academy, because although the jobs are not formally linked, in practice they will need to work very closely together at Loughborough, where the Academy share the facilities with the top-tier “Performance” squad.

The ECB have announced that England Women’s Head of Performance and Chief Selector Paul Shaw is stepping down from his post and that his role will be replaced by a more traditional “Head Coach”.

Shaw will remain in-place for the remainder of this year, but England are hoping to have made a new appointment by the time they head to South Africa in February.

In her official statement Clare Connor paid tribute Shaw’s contribution; but reading between the lines, she basically acknowledges that with his age-group/ academy background he didn’t have the necessary experience to continue to take the team forward, suggesting that a key criteria for his replacement is someone who has already actually played and/ or coached the game at the very highest levels:

“The decision to move back to a more traditional coaching structure, led by one overarching head coach, ideally with first class or international playing or coaching experience, is what we believe is now needed to take the players to the next level in their development as professional cricketers.”

As CRICKETher reported back in July, England stars travelling to Australia for the winter have been warned by the ECB that they are expected to be back in Blighty by mid-January to prepare for their international tour to South Africa, meaning that they will miss the semi-finals and final of the WBBL, which is set to be the biggest domestic event ever in the history of women’s cricket.

Word is that Cricket Australia were bitterly disappointed by this – the finals are set to be broadcast on national TV, so they are a massive showcase at a critical juncture in the development of the women’s game and they desperately need all the star-power they can get. Hence the past couple of months have seen intense lobbying from Cricket Australia for a change of heart at the ECB, pointing out that there are two whole weeks between the WBBL final and England’s first match in South Africa.

But with several of the England players due to fly out this week, whispers now reach us from Australia that despite everything the ECB have refused to back down: the players are primarily contracted to them and that’s that – the closest Charlotte Edwards and Co. will come to the WBBL final is watching it on TV back in Loughborough.

Of course, the ECB are quite within their rights; but one day they’ll want a favour from Cricket Australia… perhaps as soon as next summer’s Super League… and one wonders quite how cooperative the Aussies will then feel like being?