Jake Perry looks ahead to Round Two of the Cricket Scotland Women’s Super Series.

The Women’s Super Series resumes at Titwood this weekend, where the Ross and Sutton XIs will battle it out in the third and fourth T20s of Cricket Scotland’s new representative competition. After a nail-biter of a day in Arbroath last Sunday, both teams will be keen to build on the positives of an entertaining first round which finished all square. 

Of the two it was probably the Sutton XI which left Lochlands the happier, having recovered from a trouncing in the first game to take a 10-run win in the second. That transformation was built on a far more dynamic showing with the bat – where the Ross bowlers had dominated the morning, with only three Sutton batters reaching double figures, game two saw each of the top three score at a strike-rate of above ninety as they posted a much more impressive total of 133 for 2. Ellen Watson and Lorna Jack led the way with an opening stand of 64, and although Watson was then bowled by a beauty from Hannah Rainey, Charis Scott, and in due course Katie McGill, made sure that that early momentum was carried through to the end. Most encouraging of all, though, was the form of Jack, who showed more than a glimpse of that attacking flair which first came to prominence in the World T20 European Qualifier back in 2017 – that her 46 runs came at well over a run a ball while containing only three boundaries said a lot about her busyness at the crease and aggressive running between the wickets.

The Suttons’ final total still needed some defending, of course, but fine catches from Emma Walsingham and Ikra Farooq and a slower-ball yorker from Niamh Robertson-Jack ensured they got off to a good start in doing so. It was Nayma Shaikh who was the star of the innings, however, with a hat-trick which kept the chasing team on the back foot. Shaikh had an excellent WPL as a batter – after finding plenty of movement in the air and off the pitch here, though, it is the development of her bowling in the shortest form which will be most fascinating to watch as the rest of the competition unfolds.

The Ross XI, meanwhile, can reflect on a performance in game one which shut the door on their opponents in emphatic style. Megan McColl’s burst of three wickets in eight balls left the Suttons reeling at 27 for 3, and with spinners Abtaha Maqsood and Katherine Fraser then turning the screws even tighter, any hope of a revival was quickly snuffed out. That the top three of Ailsa Lister, Abbi Aitken-Drummond and Becky Glen then set about the chase with such relish will have been particularly satisfying for Peter Ross – Glen’s unbeaten 21-ball 36, with its five fours and a six, must have pleased him most of all.

And there were plenty of plusses for the coach to take from the afternoon, as well, as the Rosses stayed in game two until the very last over. The middle-overs partnership between McColl and Emily Cavender ensured that the early damage was quickly repaired, and although Cavender then became the first of Shaikh’s memorable trio, McColl continued to play her shots as her side moved into three figures. The 20-year-old’s near run-a-ball 37 underlined her rapidly developing game – after her excellent showing with the national side in Ireland, the Arbroath all-rounder is already making her mark on this new competition.

Both Peter Ross and Daniel Sutton make two changes to their squads for Titwood. Lois Wilkinson makes a welcome return in place of the Hundred-bound Abtaha Maqsood, while Katherine Mills comes into the Ross XI in place of Emily Cavender. Samantha Haggo, a late withdrawal from round one, takes her place in the Sutton team instead of the unavailable Katie McGill, while Niamh Muir replaces the unfortunate Ikra Farooq, who is out for six weeks after breaking her thumb in the second match at Lochlands.

All in all, it promises to be another fascinating day. A stated aim of the Super Series is to give players at both ends of the experience scale the chance to showcase their skills – on the evidence so far, that is something that is already bearing fruit.

The Cricket Scotland Super Series will be live-scored and streamed via CS Live.

Ross XI: Abbi Aitken-Drummond, Ailsa Lister, Becky Glen, Megan McColl, Katherine Mills, Lois Wilkinson, Katherine Fraser, Hannah Rainey, Catherine Holland, Molly Paton, Anne Sturgess, Zoe Rennie. 

Sutton XI: Priyanaz Chatterji, Ellen Watson, Samantha Haggo, Lorna Jack, Abbie Hogg, Charis Scott, Emma Walsingham, Emily Tucker, Niamh Robertson-Jack, Orla Montgomery, Nayma Shaikh, Niamh Muir.

——

Jake Perry is the author of The Secret Game

Twitter: @jperry_cricket / Facebook: Jake Perry Cricket

The Cricket Scotland Podcast will include a round-up of the men’s and women’s league action from across the As part of our ongoing coverage of men’s and women’s domestic cricket, The Cricket Scotland Podcast will include a round-up of the Super Series every Tuesday, with analysis and player interviews along with those from other featured games. Follow @ScotlandPod on Twitter for all the latest information.

8 years ago, here at the Essex County Ground in Chelmsford in the 1st T20 of the 2013 Women’s Ashes, Sarah Taylor made her highest ever international T20 score – hitting 77 off 58 balls as England set Australia 146, going on to win the match by 15 runs. Taylor’s supporting act that evening was Danni “Waggy” Wyatt, who made 28 off 36 balls.

Today it was Wyatt herself topping the bill, walking off with the Player of the Match champagne for 89* off 56 balls. It is an indication of how much the game has changed that Wyatt faced two fewer balls than Taylor had faced in 2013, but scored 12 more runs. Moreover, this was “only” Wyatt’s 3rd best international T20 score, having previously made 100s against both India and Australia.

Prior to this evening, some were starting to question Wyatt’s place in the England side. Having not played in the Test, she was not recalled for the ODIs either, only coming back into the team for the T20s, scoring 31 and 3 in the first two games.

Meanwhile Emma Lamb has been owning it in domestic cricket, opening the batting for the Thunder, with a string of strong scores including two 100s and a 50.

True, Wyatt also posted some decent numbers in domestic cricket this year, including 3 consecutive half-centuries in the RHF, but she hadn’t looked quite herself this season… until today.

This was Danni Wyatt back at her absolute best – the glorious slog-sweeps and effortless inside-outs over the covers. When she’s not playing at the top of her game, those shots tend to end up in the hands of a fielder on the ring; but today they soared to the boundary. And there would have been more to come – surely a third international T20 hundred – if she’d been able to bat for the full 20 overs.

Wyatt’s T20 place now is surely secure for the immediate future – probably up until at least the Commonwealth Games next summer. England Captain Heather Knight has made no secret of the fact that she is 100% focussed on the big tournaments coming up in 2022 – the teams she is selecting this year are the ones she thinks will play in the World Cup in New Zealand and in the CWG in Birmingham.

The selection of Wyatt for this series was a clear indication that she remained part of the plans for the Commonwealths; but there was perhaps a small question mark by her name.

There isn’t any more.

India kept the multi-format series alive (ish – they can’t win it, but they can still stop England from doing so) with a dramatic win under increasingly gloomy skies at Hove.

Those darkening skies doubtless reflected Heather Knight’s mood, after she was run out in what she evidently considered controversial circumstances by her once (at Western Storm) and future (at London Spirit) team-mate Deepti Sharma. Deepti clearly did impede Knight as she ran her out, but it wasn’t obviously deliberate, so it was down to Harmanpreet to withdraw the appeal, which she declined to do, leaving Knight to walk back to the dugout shaking her head in disbelief.

Harmanpreet was of course well within her rights under the laws; but for what it’s worth, as someone who has been watching Heather Knight captain cricket teams for 10 years, I think she probably would have withdrawn the appeal if she’d been in Harman’s boots. In a high profile game like this, with the series on the line, though… who knows for sure?

It certainly turned what had been looking like another England promenade into a proper game of cricket. At the start of that 14th over from Deepti, England needed just over 6-an-over, having been motoring along at 8. Tammy Beaumont had played really well again – making a run-a-ball half century – her 7th in an England shirt this year. She was a little unlucky to be given out LBW on “umpire’s call” – she was so far down the pitch that I don’t think the umpire would have “called” initially if DRS hadn’t been available; but, again, them’s the rules and England have to live with them.

With the Knight run out the next ball, England went from 2-down to 4-down in the blink of an eye, and although they kept up with the run-rate, wickets continued to fall, testing the policy of eschewing a 7th batter to give themselves more bowling options, ultimately to destruction. Ecclestone, Brunt, Villiers and Glenn can all bat – but when you need 7-8 an over, with a roaring crowd of Indian fans in the stands, and Poonam bowling her loopy turning deliveries a foot outside off stump, it’s suddenly not quite so easy, as one by one they discovered.

Overall, playing 5 bowlers probably is the right call, because of the flexibility it offers; and one extra batter probably wouldn’t have saved England’s bacon today anyway, but I do think England could have used their bowling options better. Katherine Brunt was given a second over in the powerplay, despite the first having gone for 11, and it went for 21, which in the context of a game which went pretty close to the wire, is not ideal!

(I guess the theory is that if you offer Shafali enough short balls, she’ll eventually sky one to a fielder… as she did! But in a T20 game it’s a dangerous tactic, because if that “eventually” takes 38 balls, she’s going to score a lot of runs in that time… as she did!)

All this should take nothing away from the Indians though – they closed out the game, against the odds, with Sneh Rana holding her nerve in the final over, in a situation where England, needing 14, could still have won. And it sets things up nicely for a finale at Chelmsford on Wednesday, in which the pressure will actually be more on England for once.

It will be interesting to see how they respond.

This week we’re at sunny Hove! We discuss:

• Ellyse Perry’s absence from The Hundred – does it matter?
• Should Emma Lamb be playing for England?
• The 2nd T20 v India at Hove – what could & should England do differently?

A DLS result always feels like a bit of an anti-climax – the margin of victory for ever qualified as:

England win by 18 runs… (brackets) DLS.

But England should be pretty happy with their night’s work in Northampton.

The night took us back to England’s previous visit to this ground, for two matches versus the West Indies in June 2019 – in one of those games, England struck 180-6; the other was rained off without a ball being bowled.

Tonight was England’s highest T20 score batting first at home since that match against the Windies in 2019. Then, it was Danni Wyatt in the runs; tonight it was Nat Sciver’s turn to dominate, hitting 55 off 27 balls – the fourth time she has completed an international T20 innings of 20 or more with a Strike Rate over 200. Everyone will have their own highlights, but a back-foot pull off Poonam in the 9th over was the shot of the day for me – she’d only just come in, but it was a shot of effortless confidence, as if she’d been at the crease all day.

Later on she went full metal jacket on Arundhati Reddy, nearly taking her head off with the first of three consecutive 4s back past the luckless bowler, whose main crime seemed to be turning up to a gun-fight armed with only a cricket ball.

Her rampage was only ended by a brilliant catch from Harmanpreet, who may be averaging just 8 runs in the cross-format series so far, but still has a flare for the champagne moment… or would have done if Harleen Deol hadn’t then taken one of the greatest catches off all time to do for Amy Jones.

There were some doubts on social media as to the legality of Harleen’s catch, but this ruling is essentially as official as it gets:

(For those who don’t know Jonny, his official title is “Laws of Cricket Advisor” at the MCC, but we prefer to think of him as basically Judge Dredd – when it comes to cricket… HE IS THE LAW!)

Returning briefly to Amy Jones, this was the best we’ve seen her play for England for a while – she is such a confidence player, and there were a few nervous moments early on today, but once she got in she made it count with some glorious stroke-play, including two sixes over long on that were little more than lofted drives off the bat, but timed so self-assuredly that they sailed over the rope… albeit one with a little help from Sneh Rana, who couldn’t hang on as it slipped through her upstretched hand.

England now have an unassailable lead in the multi-format series – India can’t win it now, though they could still earn a draw if they win the two remaining T20s in Hove and Chelmsford. They still have the players to do that – Smriti Mandhana always looks like a player and a half, and although Shafali had a bit of a “moment” today, she’s ever a danger too. Ironically, although they have won just one game in the series so far – the final ODI – in Shafali and Smriti, India have probably both the first two players you’d pick in a “Combined” XI; but they can’t carry 9 others alone. What we are seeing again and again at the moment is that England are a real “team” – whether it is Beaumont or Dunkley or Ecclestone or Jones… or Sciver today – someone will stand up more often than not, and ultimately that’s what gets you results in this game.

Coaches Peter Ross and Daniel Sutton look ahead to Cricket Scotland’s new Super Series, which gets underway on Sunday.

After Carlton were confirmed as winners of the Women’s Premier League last weekend, the next phase of Scotland’s domestic programme begins on Sunday as the Cricket Scotland Super Series gets underway at Lochlands. The T20 competition, which replaces the Regional Series, sees teams coached by Peter Ross and Daniel Sutton go head-to-head over five of the next six weekends.

Removing the geographical basis by which the Eagles and Stormers were selected, the new tournament is designed to provide a more balanced spread of players. With international cricket looking unlikely for Scotland in the short term, that improved competitiveness will be all the more important as the European Qualifier for the Women’s T20 World Cup gets closer.

“The main thinking behind the change is that we want to provide the highest quality of cricket we can for our current and aspiring national team players, and in the discussions between the high-performance group and senior management it was felt that taking the best players in the country and splitting them into two teams would provide the best contest,” said Peter. “It also removes the situation that we saw last year when we had one team with three wicket-keepers and one team with none, for example.” 

“Ultimately, it’s about recognising the need for higher-quality cricket, creating more competition for places, and just trying to make sure that the players are challenged as much as possible to prepare them for international cricket.” 

“I think it’s a great move by Cricket Scotland,” agreed Daniel. “It gives the players that are currently Wildcats the opportunity to prove that they’re at that level and it gives a great opportunity to those who aren’t there yet to knock on the door and give Mark Coles a bit of a headache when it comes to selection.”

Flexibility in the make-up of the squads will also ensure that the Series’ competitive edge is kept keen.

“We want the best cricketers playing against each other,” said Daniel, “and if that means swapping every now and then to make sure the games are even and competitive, we’re happy to do that.”

Each squad features a mixture of established and up-and-coming players, with rising stars such as Catherine Holland, Emma Walsingham, Niamh Robertson-Jack and Nayma Shaikh rubbing shoulders with experienced Scotland internationals.

“The way the teams are matched means it’s going to be a good contest,” said Peter. “On my side we have Abbi Aitken-Drummond, who is coming off the back of a really productive WPL campaign where she batted up top for Carlton and was quite destructive in a couple of games. Becky Glen, too, is someone who’s always done the job with the national team, and it’ll be good for her to lead the squad.“

“Abtaha Maqsood is available this weekend before she goes off to The Hundred to play for Birmingham Phoenix, and as ever she’ll be a real handful on the pitch. Hannah Rainey is in a really good spell at the minute, she bowled with good pace for Carlton and played well for the Performance Academy on Monday [taking 3 for 29 against the Northern Diamonds Academy at Alnwick]. Katherine Fraser is always excellent, and Megan McColl had a really productive series with the national squad in Ireland as well.“

“So in terms of our senior players there’s a lot to be excited about, and then you’ve also got people like Catherine Holland, who had a good WPL campaign for Stewart’s Melville, Molly Paton too, and then a couple of others who are also trying to push their way into the team.” 

“Katie McGill is going to captain the first weekend for us,” said Daniel. “She obviously brings a lot of experience with her and did really well in Ireland, and we’re hoping to benefit from that. Priyanaz Chatterji is going to be vice-captain, and again she brings loads of experience with her – because we’ve got quite a few younger girls in our squad it’s going to be important to have those leadership figures there to help and support them.“

“I’m really looking forward to watching Orla Montgomery bowl,” he went on. “She’s probably the quickest bowler in Scotland, and is definitely one for the future. We’ll be encouraging her to bowl as quickly as she can – if she goes for a few runs, so be it, there’s not many girls who can bowl with pace in the female game at the moment, so she’s a great asset for our team.“

“Overall a win would be great, but a few girls putting their hands up to say that they’re ready to play at this level would be even better.”

“We’re also looking forward to the professional side of it,” Daniel concluded, “with the live-streaming, match officials, physios and so on. It feels like we’re arriving at the next stage of the women’s game in Scotland, towards it becoming more professional in this country.”

The Cricket Scotland Super Series will be live-scored and streamed via CS Live. 

Ross XI: Becky Glen, Abtaha Maqsood, Abbi Aitken-Drummond, Ailsa Lister, Megan McColl, Emily Cavender, Katherine Fraser, Hannah Rainey, Catherine Holland, Molly Paton, Anne Sturgess, Zoe Rennie. 

Sutton XI: Katie McGill, Priyanaz Chatterji, Ellen Watson, Samantha Haggo, Ikra Farooq, Lorna Jack, Charis Scott, Emma Walsingham, Emily Tucker, Niamh Robertson-Jack, Orla Montgomery, Nayma Shaikh.

——

Jake Perry is the author of The Secret Game

Twitter: @jperry_cricket / Facebook: Jake Perry Cricket

The Cricket Scotland Podcast will include a round-up of the men’s and women’s league action from across the As part of our ongoing coverage of men’s and women’s domestic cricket, The Cricket Scotland Podcast will include a round-up of the Super Series every Tuesday, with analysis and player interviews along with those from other featured games. Follow @ScotlandPod on Twitter for all the latest information.

Danni Wyatt and Mady Villiers have been recalled to the England squad for the three T20s versus India, which begins on Friday evening at the The County Ground in Northampton.

Meanwhile Kate Cross and Lauren Winfield-Hill have been stood-down, and will be available to play for Thunder and Diamonds respectively in the Charlotte Edwards Cup this weekend.

The recalls of Wyatt and Villiers were both expected, after Heather Knight name-checked them in her press conference at the end of the ODI series when discussing possible changes for the T20s.

Wyatt will almost certainly open the batting in the 3-match series; while Villiers selection may depend on whether conditions look to favour a third spinner in the line-up, although her status as one of the world’s best outfielders may also help her case.

Full Squad

• Heather Knight (Western Storm, captain)
• Tammy Beaumont (Lightning)
• Katherine Brunt (Northern Diamonds)
• Freya Davies (South East Stars)
• Sophia Dunkley (South East Stars)
• Sophie Ecclestone (Thunder)
• Tash Farrant (South East Stars)
• Sarah Glenn (Central Sparks)
• Amy Jones (Central Sparks)
• Nat Sciver (Northern Diamonds)
• Anya Shrubsole (Western Storm)
• Mady Villiers (Sunrisers)
• Fran Wilson (Sunrisers)
• Danni Wyatt (Southern Vipers)

On a beautifully sunny day at The Oval, Surrey easily beat London rivals Middlesex by 90 runs despite a run-a-ball 86 – her best score of the season – from Cordelia Griffith.

Surrey secured maximum batting bonus points by scoring 253 for 4 in their 50 overs, in a performance which was testament to the depth of their women’s squad – a rich return on the investment which the club have made in their players over the years.

By contrast Middlesex, who had two of their three Sunrisers professionals available, struggled to maintain momentum in their chase beyond the powerplay, and were eventually bowled out for 163 in the course of 41 overs.

The win puts Surrey in pole position to retain the London Championship title which they won in 2020. They need only to beat Essex in their final match (on 12 July), with 3 bonus points, to usurp Kent’s current position at the top of the table.

Surrey had been put in to bat by Middlesex and made hay after opener Chloe Brewer edged through the hands of Iqraa Hussain on 1*. Brewer added 17 more runs to her total before being trapped LBW by Naomi Dattani.

Opening partner Madeleine Blinkhorn-Jones, playing in only her seventh match for Surrey, took on the Middlesex seamers with aplomb as she repeatedly drove down the ground, taking Middlesex to 64 for 1 in the opening 10 overs and bringing up a maiden half-century for her county.

The introduction of spin helped dry up the runs once the powerplay concluded, but when stand-in Surrey captain Kirstie White (35) feather edged behind to Sonali Patel in the 24th over, Alice Capsey (26 from 24) added extra impetus to the Surrey innings, pulling Kate Coppack for a big six over the square leg boundary.

A mini-collapse of 3 wickets for 9 runs between overs 30 and 33 saw off both Blinkhorn-Jones and Capsey. But Surrey showed their depth as both Amy Gordon (39) and Rhianna Southby (30) repeatedly chipped the ball over the heads of the Middlesex infield, adding 73 runs for the sixth wicket and allowing Surrey to push on past 250, the highest total in the (admittedly short) history of the London Championship.

It was always going to be a big ask for Middlesex to chase down the required runs, but they started positively enough, with Cordelia Griffith pulling Beth Kerins twice over midwicket in the opening over. Some wayward bowling from Gordon handed easy runs to Middlesex, who finished the powerplay at 69 for 1.

Once again, it was pace off the ball which did the damage – leg-spinner Danielle Gregory bamboozling Tash Miles into playing onto her own stumps in the 15th, while Dattani swung and missed at a full toss from Claudie Cooper and was bowled in the 18th.

Griffith stroked a single to bring up a 47-ball half-century in the next over, but the run-out of Gayatri Gole shortly afterwards – firmly sent back by Griffith attempting a single that was never there – was the beginning of the end for Middlesex. Gregory and Capsey, bowling leg and off-spin in tandem, helped turn the screw, as did some astute field placement from the experienced White.

Griffith was ultimately left with too much to do, valiantly trying to farm the strike but running out of partners at the other end. Aware that the run rate was pushing up above 7, she was eventually caught by Capsey at extra cover in the 36th over trying to push the score along.

Eva Gray then finished the job, taking the final 3 wickets with full, straight balls which took out the stumps of Sonali Patel, Katie Wolfe and Emily Thorpe.

Though Middlesex’s London Championship hopes are now over, they will take some heart from the fact that Griffith batted with such fluency. The hope is that she will be able to go on and transform her form into the forthcoming matches for Sunrisers in the Lottie Cup and the RHF Trophy.

By Jake Perry

Carlton have been crowned Cricket Scotland Women’s Premier League champions after the final game of the season was concluded at Myreside on Sunday. West of Scotland’s 116-run defeat to Watsonians/Grange ensured that the Grange Loan team could not be overtaken at the top of the table they have led for all but a single week of the competition.

“We’re really delighted,” Carlton captain Annette Aitken-Drummond told The Cricket Scotland Podcast. “That was our main aim, to win the league this season. To win all but one of our games has been really impressive, and everyone’s worked really hard to achieve it.”

The evidence of that effort is clear to see. Carlton’s dominance with the bat saw them rack up over a thousand runs over the course of the campaign, with Charis Scott, who scored 209 runs at 52.25, and Annette herself, with 198 at 66.00, occupying the first two places in the batting averages. With 13 wickets at 12.31, Charis finished at the head of the bowling table, too, narrowly ahead of young prospect Maisie Maceira, who took 12 at an average of exactly 10.00.

“In our first game Charis was definitely the stand-out,” said Annette, “and she [continued to contribute] with the bat and the ball all season. In the last game she stood up when we were struggling, and that’s when you need players who are going to go in and do the job for you.”

“I’ve been really impressed with Maisie as well,” she continued. “She’s bowled really well and has taken a lot of wickets for us. And then Abbi [Aitken-Drummond] has hit quite a lot of runs, Sammy [Haggo] hit some runs [and] Hannah [Rainey] bowled really well without reaping the rewards, but having her open as a serious quick for us [has been] a great advantage. Young Ashley Robertson [with 5 wickets at 4.20] has impressed over the last couple of games with the ball, too.”

“But what’s impressed me most is how deep our squad can bat,” said Annette, “and I think where some of the WPL teams are perhaps reliant on one or two batters, the last game showed that we can bat pretty well into our squad and that we’ve got a lot of players willing to step up when we need them to.”

There have been several moments over the course of the season when just that has happened.

“Charis’s knock of 97 in the first game set us up for a really good start, and although I didn’t play in the second game against Stew-Mel, I know Sammy batted really well and we were quite unfortunate to lose,” Annette continued. “We had some good catches in the field against George Watson’s – Sarah Beith took a great double-mid-air catch which was quite incredible to watch – and Amelia [Beattie] has taken a few good ones as well. Maisie took a five-fer against Dumfries & Galloway, which was definitely an outstanding moment, and against West of Scotland Abbi’s batting was pretty awesome, too.”

“And then in the last game against Royal High Corstorphine we were definitely under the pump for a little bit at [34 for 4], so for Charis and Zaara [Dancu] to come in and steady the ship and then start scoring runs to give us something to defend, that was really good to watch.”

But perhaps most the pleasing aspect of Carlton’s victory is the ongoing story behind it. That the team has found a winning mix of internationals, up-and-coming young talent and truly dedicated club players is no accident: the structure of the club, and the focus it places upon the women’s game, has sown the seeds of its success.

“I remember when I first joined Carlton when I first moved to Edinburgh,” said Annette. “There were maybe five or six of us at the nets, I’d say. But the thing I remember is that after training somebody cooked, and we all sat and ate together, and that team and social atmosphere still continues to this day.”

“We’ve got a women’s committee at Carlton, and we’ve tried quite hard to make it fun, but [alongside that] we’ve got a really talented coach in Peter Ross who the girls and women are all learning from.”

“And the club have put the women’s section at the forefront of a lot of things. We’re the second team mentioned on social media, for example, and it’s tiny little things like that that make you feel important and a real part of the club.”

“We’re in the best place now that we’ve ever been – we’ve got about 25 women training regularly on a Friday night, and it’s going onwards and upwards.”

“It’s a brilliant club, but as a woman it’s a brilliant club to be a part of.”

—–

This week’s edition of The Cricket Scotland Podcast will include the full interview with Annette, as well as a report of the Watsonians/Grange v West of Scotland game. The podcast will also be providing full coverage of the upcoming Super Series, as well as the Beyond Boundaries Scottish Cup, which begins next month. Follow @ScotlandPod on Twitter for all the latest information.

And if you or your club has a story for us, please email jakeperrycricket@gmail.com and gary@gh-media.co.uk – we look forward to hearing from you!

This week:

• We look back at the England v India ODI series & ahead to the T20s
• Were we all wrong about Mithali Raj?
• High-profile Australian withdrawals from The Hundred in spite of ECB’s offer of £10,000 bonuses
• Equal pay in The Hundred