When 14-year-old Lauren Bell made her Division 1 County Championship debut for Berkshire in May, the county’s coaches were keen to stress that this was a one-off due to unavailabilities, and maybe the only game she’d play this season.

It was smart management, reducing the pressure on the player; but in retrospect they needn’t have worried: Bell took to county cricket like a kite to the breeze, going on to make 8 1st XI appearances in 2015, taking 7 wickets at 29 and leaving little doubt that she has a bright future ahead of her.

Blessed with preternatural height, Bell has been christened The Shard by her teammates, so it is no surprise to learn that she is a fast bowler by trade – an obvious comparison among current stars would be Australia’s Holly Ferling.

But whilst Ferling often has to be hidden away in the deep, Bell – a talented footballer – shows impressive grace and athleticism in the field, with long arms that enable her to swoop upon a travelling ball and deliver a deadly throw in a single movement, reminiscent of no less than Lydia Greenway.

Bell’s county skipper Heather Knight believes that she can go a long way in the game:

“I’ve been massively impressed with Lauren this season. She’s got natural pace and bounce and if she can harness that and become more consistent she has a lot of potential.”

And her attitude on the field also comes in for praise from the England vice-captain:

“She always plays with a massive smile on her face which is great to see!”

Meanwhile, Berkshire manager John Dickinson has vowed to treasure Bell’s prodigious talent, promising CRICKETher: “We’ll nurse her and bring her on.”

The great American baseball player Yogi Berra, who died just last week, once said that you should never make predictions, especially about the future!

But just for once, to hell with it: CRICKETher have seen cricket future… and its name is Lauren Bell.

Players from at least three “associate” nations will have the prospect of spending time in Australia this December/ January, attached to a WBBL team under the just-launched “Associate Rookie” program.

The rookies will be selected from the teams that attend the World T20 Qualifiers in Thailand this November – so Ireland and Scotland players will be hoping to impress Aussie legend Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who will be making the selections following the tournament.

Players from Netherlands, Bangladesh, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, China and Zimbabwe will also have the chance to seize this amazing opportunity.

Team coaches, including Women’s Cricket Scotland boss Kari Carswell, will have the tough job of nominating up to three players to go forward for one of the 8 places up for grabs – one at each WBBL franchise.

Once selected, the players will spend two weeks at WBBL, training alongside the “pros”, with the possibility that they could even get a game if an injury crisis hits their team.

With so many talented players to choose from, it will be interesting to see if Fitzpatrick goes by potential – which could favour youngsters like Ireland’s Elena Tice and Scotland’s Kirstie Gordon – or by current ability, which might make Ireland’s Izzy and Cecelia Joyce likely picks.

Although the ECB received a massive 27 “Expressions of Interest” in acquiring one of the 6 teams which will participate in next summer’s inaugural Women’s Cricket Super League, it has been suggested that they may struggle to translate these into actual bids when the deadline comes around at the end of this year.

Almost all of the submitted Expressions of Interest were led by existing First Class counties, who are the only ones with access to the one thing you need above all else to host a team: a ground!

(Notwithstanding the fact that educational institutions have been repeatedly posited as potential hosts, Clare Connor made it clear at the launch event that even Loughborough’s ground would not meet the required standards!)

Clearly then, the counties hold the keys to the kingdom – they have the grounds; not to mention the coaches, the indoor schools… and the actual experience of running a professional cricket team, which should not be underestimated!

However, the word around the game reveals a worrying picture of cold feet at county board level, echoing what Lizzy Ammon has written here:

“Privately some county chief executives have said to me that they are concerned about the realities of being a host team.”

Unsurprisingly, when you start to dig a little bit deeper, a lot of this seems to come down to money. With a couple of notable exceptions, the First Class counties aren’t exactly swimming in it, and Super League looks at best like a break-even exercise.

Yes, the ECB have talked big money… and to be fair, it is a lot more than the women’s county sides currently get… but it still isn’t lottery winnings, by the time you’ve annualised it and divided it around 6 teams. Back of an envelope calculations carried out by CRICKETher suggest that the Aussies are investing almost twice as much in WBBL.

Super League is also a risk, the kind of which the counties feel very nervous about pursuing in the current climate; with the suggestion being that if they could be sure they’d break even, they might go ahead; but given the impact even a fairly small loss could make upon their overall bottom lines, there are serious concerns.

None of this is insurmountable of course; and the likelihood has to be that with 27 frogs to kiss, the ECB will still find their 6 princes… but they just might have to sign a couple of pre-nups first!

In a somewhat incredible centralising move, CRICKETher have discovered that prior to the recent Women’s Ashes, the entire England Women’s Selection Panel was completely abolished. Instead as of this summer, responsibility for squad selection has rested entirely with the Head of England Women’s Performance, Paul Shaw.

All of the existing selectors – including the Chair, Sarah Pickford – received an email back in June informing them that they were dismissed with immediate effect.

Additionally, the England Women’s Academy Head Coach (until last week, Lisa Keightley) was given sole responsibility for the selection of EWA squads.

While the ECB are currently seeking to appoint a team of senior and development scouts, led by a new Head of Scouting, the post of “England Selector” has been permanently abolished. Shaw will now, according to the ECB, “work closely with a group of key stakeholders” (selected by himself) to make all selectorial decisions. Meanwhile Sarah Pickford – who had been an England selector for 8 years – is likely to have no further involvement in the selection process whatsoever.

Previously, the England Women’s selection processes have always aligned with that of their male counterparts, whereby an independent chair, alongside several senior selectors and the coach, meet prior to every series to decide on the final squad selection. However, power now seems to be largely concentrated in the hands of the Head of Performance – who, it is alleged, failed to attend several selection meetings prior to the changes being implemented.

The ECB have stated that the new system makes the selection process “more robust and resourced than ever before”. However, a source who was previously involved in the selection process has told CRICKETher that they believe the changes to be “a re-invention of the wheel and thoroughly misguided”.

In what must have been pretty-much her last act as England Academy coach, Lisa Keightley has culled almost a quarter of last year’s class in announcing this year’s expanded intake.

Sonia Odedra, Carla Rudd and Paige Scholfield have all been dropped; and whilst the door has been left open for Georgia Hennessy, she has also not been included at this time.

For 27-year-old Odedra, who was technically in the full ‘Performance’ squad and who has been part of the Academy setup since 2009, this looks likely to close the door on her England career. She may have only a single Test cap to her name; but it is one more Test cap than most of the rest of us will ever have, and it is something that she should remember with pride as she moves on.

Rudd and Scholfield have both been victims of other’s successes rather than their own failures – namely budding Lancashire glove butler Ellie Threlkeld and Middlesex tonker Sophia Dunkley. However, both Rudd and Scholfield should keep heart and look to the opportunities that next year’s new Super League will provide to get their cricketing careers back on track.

Warwickshire’s Hennessy is also not named in the current squad, after dropping out of the Academy program this summer with personal issues. However, an ECB source has told CRICKETher that the way is open for a possible return in future.

Finally, one other person not returning this winter is Academy Head Coach Lisa Keightley herself, who is going back to her native Australia to take up a job with the Western Australia Cricket Association in Perth.

England Academy – Winter 2015/16:

• Georgia Adams (Sussex)
• Hollie Armitage (Yorkshire)
• Ellen Burt (Sussex)
• Stephanie Butler (Staffordshire)
• Freya Davies (Sussex)
• Sophia Dunkley (Middlesex)
• Sophie Ecclestone (Cheshire / Lancashire)
• Katie George (Hampshire)
• Alex Hartley (Middlesex)
• Evelyn Jones (Staffordshire)
• Emma Lamb (Lancashire)
• Sophie Luff (Somerset)
• Alex MacDonald (Yorkshire)
• Bryony Smith (Surrey)
• Eleanor Threlkeld (Lancashire)

A huge hundred from Sophie Luff provided the platform for Bath to put an under-strength Meakins team to the sword in the national club final on Sunday.

Both Bath and Meakins had won their semi-finals convincingly the previous day – against New Farnley and Newport respectively – but Bath ultimately proved far too strong for their opponents in the final, as they finished the weekend with a 235-run victory.

On a beautiful late summer’s day at Kibworth in rural Leicestershire, Luff entered the fray early after Izzy Westbury was caught at slip in the first over. It was as close as Meakins got to being on top all game, though, as Luff – who finished on 152* – quite literally ran them ragged, calling the singles like a drill sergeant on the parade ground.

Anya Shrubsole also contributed a strongly-struck 46 before being hit on the sharp of the elbow by a throw in from the outfield – a quick trip to the local A&E thankfully revealed nothing broken; but she played no further part in the match.

In the end though, Bath – having amassed a mammoth 307-4 across their 50 overs – barely missed her, as Izzy Westbury took 6-7, with only Eve Jones (30) offering much in the way of resistance as Bath powered to the title, bowling Meakins out for 72.

However, there was no shame in defeat for a Meakins side with an average age of just 16, as injuries and unavailabilities took their toll – forcing them to field a number of fledglings.

Sunday’s effort was Luff’s third century in four innings, and Bath captain Jackie Hawker, speaking to CRICKETher after the game, was full of praise for her performances this season:

“She’s been absolutely fantastic. We couldn’t get a better number 3 for Bath. She’s just such a great player – an inspiration.”

The 2015 Division 1 County Championship batting and bowling stats have quite different looks to them, with the 3 top batsmen all members of the England squad, whilst the 3 leading bowlers are all outside the England setup.

Bowling

Veteran Surrey leg-spinner Sarah Clarke had the season of her (long) career to lead the field in the Women’s County Championship with 23 wickets. Along the way, she also notched up two remarkable centuries – passing 100 appearances for the London side and 100 county wickets. Oh… and she also became one of the first women ever to be awarded a county cap by Surrey!

The other leading wicket-takers were also both spinners: Katie Levick (another leggie) with 20 wickets, including 2 “5-fers”, was a big part of why Yorkshire won the championship; whilst Holly Colvin, who is just trying to enjoy her cricket away from the international spotlight these days, took 18 wickets in the 50 over format.

Meanwhile, the most economical bowlers this season (minimum 30 overs) were Katherine Brunt (2.2 runs / over) and Danni Wyatt (2.5 r/o) – the latter with a Championship-leading “maiden rate” of 34%.

Batting

For the second time in 3 years, Berkshire skipper Heather Knight was the County Championship’s highest run-scorer with 305, over half of which came in her final innings of the season – her mammoth 162* v Sussex.

Second in the list of run-scorers… but only just… was Middlesex’s Fran Wilson with 301. Wilson made the move from 2nd Division Somerset only this season and has flourished in the top tier with a highest score of 110, as she pushes to regain her England place.

Third in the batting lists was Yorkshire’s Lauren Winfield. Despite only playing in half their games, she smashed 270 runs at an average of… 270, thanks to 3 Not-Outs.

Two other players also deserving of mention are Middlesex’s Beth Morgan and Berkshire’s Lissy Macleod. Morgan is supposed (!) to be moving towards retirement, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped her hitting 243 runs in the 50-over format this season, putting her 4th on the list of run-scorers; whilst Macleod was the only other player to hit a Championship century this season, with 107 v Middlesex.

The ECB has confirmed to CRICKETher that despite England’s recent drubbing by Australia in the Ashes series, all of the current 18 professional contracts – which were due to expire in October – have been extended by 3 months.

When the contracts were originally announced in May last year, they were scheduled to run until October 2015. However, in order to bring them into line with the ECB’s financial year, the end-date has now been pushed back until the end of January 2016.

Players will be informed of any change to their status by the beginning of November, allowing them 3 months to prepare for the consequences, which in some cases could be calamitous. Unlike the men, there is really no option for the women to “parachute” back into county cricket; and although next year’s Women’s Cricket Super League will pay match fees, they won’t by any stretch of the imagination be a “living wage”.

The formal player performance review process is therefore set to be completed over the next few weeks, with the players being informed of their fate towards the end of October and official announcements forthcoming thereafter.

Will there be any changes?

Two contracted players – Tammy Beaumont and Tash Farrant – played no part whatsoever in this summer’s Women’s Ashes. 19-year-old Farrant, though, is clearly seen as “one for the future”, whilst Tammy Beaumont has had an increasing role in mentoring younger players, both as Academy captain and in a coaching role with the age-group “development” squads; so the likelihood has to be that both will be retained.

However, the ECB has always made it clear that 18 isn’t a magic number, so there could well be additions to the squad. The most obvious candidate is Fran Wilson, who has had a very good domestic season for Middlesex and was selected for (but didn’t actually play in) the Ashes Test.

When the ECB announced the names of the England players who were heading off to the Women’s Big Bash in Australia this winter, one name was conspicuous by its absence.

Nat Sciver was one of England’s few stars of the recent Women’s Ashes series, taking 9 wickets and scoring 175 runs; with Man of the Match-winning performances in the first ODI at Taunton, where she scored 66, and the final T20 in Cardiff, where she scored 47 and took 4 wickets.

So it was a big surprise to see Sciver’s name missing from the list of 7 England players who had landed WBBL contracts – Charlotte Edwards, Heather Knight, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Lauren Winfield, Sarah Taylor and Danni Wyatt.

However, sources close to Sciver have confirmed to CRICKETher that she is still hoping to play in the inaugural WBBL, which begins in December. Discussions are said to be “ongoing” but everyone is optimistic that the i’s will be (Deandra) Dottined and t’s (Kate) Crossed very soon – in short… watch this space!

Clubs from the four corners of England and Wales will contest the National Finals at Kibworth Cricket Club in Leicestershire this weekend. (Directions here – at the bottom!)

The four regional division winners – Bath, Meakin’s, Newport and New Farnley – will play semi-finals and a final to determine who will succeed last year’s winners – Wokingham – as National Champions 2015.

Bath (Winners – Southern League)

Twitter: @BathCricket

Star Player: Hard-running batsman Sophie Luff has already hit two centuries this year… another at Kibworth would be no surprise for the former England girls captain.

Meakin’s (Winners – Midlands League)

Twitter: @JGMeakinsWomen

Star Player: After a successful winter for England Academy, Eve Jones has had another strong domestic season in 2015, averaging 46, including 2 50s.

Newport (Winners – South Western League)

Twitter: @NewportCricketC

Star Player: Captain and opening batsman Lauren Parfitt has led from the front this season – the Welsh star averages 67 with a highest score of 112.

New Farnley (Winners – Northern League)

Twitter: @FarnleyLadiesCC

Star Player: England Academy all-rounder Alex Macdonald has taken 13 wickets (including a 6-fer) and hit 366 runs in 2015.