It will be 2016 by the time that we find out who has been selected to host the six inaugural Women’s Cricket Super League sides. Yet even as we speak the bids are being mulled over and potential hosts interviewed by a panel consisting of ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison, Director of England Women’s Cricket Clare Connor, and a mysterious third “independent” panel member.

Currently, CRICKETher are aware of the following bids:

• Middlesex and MCC
• Lancashire
• Hampshire (supported by Sussex, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight)
• South West (Somerset CCC, Gloucestershire CCC and the University of Exeter)
• Surrey

Yet there is one significant omission from the list: Sussex.

For the past 15 years, since the inauguration of the women’s county championship in its current form, Sussex have been one of the leading counties in women’s cricket, with six Championship titles to their name, and most recently finishing the 2015 season as county T20 Champions.

Sussex’s success has been founded at least in part on the support that Sussex Women’s Cricket Association has received from the Board – including access to the top facilities available at Hove.

This summer, Hove staged the second Women’s Ashes Twenty20 match under lights, with a record crowd of 5,750 turning up (let’s not remind ourselves of what the crowd actually witnessed, please!)

Yet while Sussex had earlier submitted an Expression of Interest, they did not subsequently follow this through with a bid to host their own Super League side.

(While Sussex officially “support” Hampshire’s bid, as far as CRICKETher can tell their involvement should Hampshire’s bid be successful will be minimal.)

Sussex refused to comment on their reasons for deciding not to place an independent bid when approached by CRICKETher. Reading between the lines, though, it does seem to indicate a certain level of scepticism about the potential success of the Super League, not to mention the financial implications of agreeing to host a team.

Surely a county which has experienced so much success with regards to the women’s game would otherwise have been biting the ECB’s hand off?

Whether or not this scepticism is shared by other counties is difficult to say, but the fact that the ECB have refused to say exactly how many bids were eventually submitted – despite previously having been open about the number of Expressions of Interest (28) – is presumably some indication that fewer bids were received than might have been hoped for.

Clare Connor has recently said that the Super League is causing her “sleepless nights” – and this might be one of the reasons why!

Two weeks on from the announcement that Sussex’s Mark Robinson has been appointed Head Coach of England Women, the dust is beginning to settle.

Robinson will now have met with captain Charlotte Edwards, and will be gearing up for his first encounter with the England squad at Loughborough before Christmas, as he meets the women whose development he will be responsible for over the coming months (well, most of them – some are already in Australia or will soon be heading that way, bound for the inaugural WBBL).

How will he fare? The worry with airlifting in a coach who has worked almost exclusively in the men’s game is always going to be that they fail to understand the unique needs and challenges of women’s cricket. But CRICKETher – as we tweeted at the time – were uniformly impressed with Robinson and are optimistic about the future with him at the helm.

Why? Because, for someone who openly admits that he knows very little about women’s cricket, Robinson’s intuitive sense about the game is spot on.

This was clear in the press conference a fortnight ago, at which some journalists – perhaps inevitably, given that Robinson has recently interviewed for the position – seemed to see his appointment as a mere stepping-stone to the “real job”, coach of the England men’s team. Robinson, though, was unequivocal in his response:

“The women’s game stands by itself now, it shouldn’t be compared. It has its own identity, its own stage of development, and I want to play my part in continuing the fantastic work that’s gone on before, the momentum.”

CRICKETher’s mission statement, from the lips of the man of the moment himself!

And Robinson’s commitment to all levels of the game is also very evident. On the day of his appointment he told CRICKETher: “Instinctively I want to help as much as I can where I can…We’ve got to make sure that [the hundreds of coaches round the country] feel joined up to the top as well. I’ve got to do my bit to make sure that the women’s game keeps moving in the right direction.”

He had already spent time working with Sussex girls alongside coach Charlotte Burton – whose commitment to the game he praised effusively in his first press conference – and will no doubt be looking to her for some advice about his new role.

While much of the critique of the ECB from those involved in the women’s game has come from those at grassroots level, it seems they can be reassured by Robinson’s attitude. CRICKETher certainly is.

If Robinson has not yet had to walk the walk –  that will have to wait until England’s arrival in South Africa in February, and beyond that the World Twenty20 in India – he certainly talks the right talk…and that is a pretty good start!

As Cricinfo’s George Dobell reported only the other week, the ECB are considering making the wearing of helmets compulsory for batsmen and close fielders playing in (men’s) county cricket.

It is unstated whether this would also apply to women’s county cricket and the new Super League, though one would hope and assume so; but we need to ask if it might not be better for the ICC to step in and legislate globally?

The recent injury to Southern Stars and New South Wales Breakers glove-butler Alyssa Healy shows why.

The above tweet from Cricket Australia makes light of her injury, as did the player herself in subsequent posts on social media; but the fact is that she was hit hard enough for the ball to bounce several yards in the opposite direction – the kind of blow that could so easily have resulted in a career-ending, or even life-threatening, injury.

Of course, helmets are hot, uncomfortable and restrictive. Unsurprisingly, no one likes wearing one. But this is exactly why the ICC needs to legislate, to create a level and safe playing-field for everyone.

Because the truth is that Healy was extremely lucky to get away with “just” a very nasty bruise. So let’s take some responsibility now as a game, before the next player to be hit isn’t quite so fortunate.

Earlier this month the ICC announced their new rankings system for women’s cricket, which combines results from all three formats of the game into one table, to produce the Definitive List of where each team sits in relation to the others.

As we pointed out on CRICKETher at the time, the fact that Australia lead the way is no surprise, but below that there are some quite interesting placings!

The new ranking system has been devised by David Kendix, the same statistician who calculates the men’s rankings. While his exact methodology has not been revealed, we are told that equal weighting has been given to the Test, ODI and T20 formats.

There has been a lot of scepticism about the merits of a system which combines all three formats, especially given the dearth of Test match cricket currently played in the women’s game.

In some ways, therefore, the new ranking system is not hugely meaningful. In fact, CRICKETher would strongly advise that you follow Martin Davies’ new ODI and T20 rankings available over on Women’s Cricket Blog – England are currently at the top of the T20 rankings, and Australia are heading up the ODI rankings. These will be updated after every game and are an excellent reflection of the true state of affairs in depth.

Having said that… the ICC should be given some credit here for what they are trying to do: promote the women’s game. Having a single rankings system simplifies this process. It gives meaning to matches like the recent Pakistan-West Indies ODI, whereby seventh-ranked Pakistan pulled off an unexpected and exciting win against fifth-ranked West Indies. And it gives some context to bilateral series’ which, unlike the women’s Ashes, often still go under the radar.

Giving the media something to latch onto, and helping them create coherent stories and narratives about the women’s game, can surely only help women’s cricket in the long-run. So, even if it is via an oversimplified methodology, CRICKETher think that there’s room for both the ICC rankings and the more sophisticated WCB ones.

According to a piece in yesterday’s Times, former Surrey coach and ex-England international Chris Adams has put his name forward for the role of England Women’s Head Coach.

Adams certainly has the pedigree for the job. Though he only played a handful of Tests, he scored nearly 20,000 runs in his county career at Derbyshire and Sussex, including 48 centuries.

As a coach he won silverware with Surrey but later took the fall in the aftermath of the Tom Maynard tragedy and was sacked in 2013.

Unlike some of the names who have been mentioned in connection with the coach’s role, Adams has actually seen a bit of women’s cricket – CRICKETher sat next to him at the Sussex / Notts match earlier this year.

But herein lies the problem: Adams was there primarily because his daughter Georgia was playing for Sussex. A stylish opening batsman, Georgia Adams has captained Sussex when Sarah Taylor has been on international duty this season, and was the leading run-scorer in their victorious T20 campaign.

Having made a number of Academy appearances, the 22-year-old is definitely on the fringes of full international selection; which could leave both father and daughter in a potentially awkward position.

We’ve seen only these past few weeks the kind of problems that can occur, with the controversy over the selection of Owen Farrell for England’s crucial Rugby World Cup match with Wales. Farrell was a borderline choice, with many commentators preferring other options, so the fact that one of the coaches is his father led to many people putting two and two together… and rightly or wrongly, making the number they wanted to make.

Georgia Adams certainly warrants a potential opportunity with England; but the last thing she’d need under those circumstances is the suggestion that she’d only got her chance because her father was the coach; and equally the last thing the coach needs is whisperings that he’s given his daughter preferential treatment – if Chris Adams is in any doubt about that, he should just ask Andy Farrell!

So Clare Connor has a tough cookie to chew here – Adams could be a good option… and so could Adams; but is the line they’d all have to tread perhaps a little too fine?

We’ve seen several versions of this pic doing the rounds over the past couple of days:

Unfortunately, there is a problem!

The cricket bit (top left) is a photo of England women with the (50 over) World Cup… but it is from 2009 which (if my maths is correct…) is 6 years ago.

This year (2015) England men won their Ashes; whilst we lost ours. Admittedly, the men were humiliated in their World Cup; but we didn’t exactly set things on fire in our last one of those either – it was back in 2013 and we came 3rd.

So please, step away from the green button – there are lots of ways for support our team… but retweeting this factually misleading pic isn’t one of them!

The BBC report that crowds at this year’s Women’s (Football) Super League are way up. The average attendance at a Division 1 WSL game is now over 1,000, spiking considerably following England’s successful World Cup run.

What does this mean for women’s cricket? That’s not an easy question to answer. On the one hand it validates women’s sport in general; but on the other, women’s football (taking place over the summer) much more directly competes with women’s cricket, for bums on seats, for sponsorship and for players, with the most talented sportswomen often finding themselves with options in both games, not to mention hockey as well.

The post World Cup attendance spike is interesting too. It is probably to be expected – nothing breeds success like success; but would it have happened if the games had not been on live, free-to-air TV?

The likes of Eniola Aluko, Casey Stoney, Steph Houghton and Fran Kirby are household and (don’t underestimate the importance of this…) schoolyard “names” now, starring in inspiring Virgin Media ads which make the cardboard cutouts of Sarah Taylor and Lottie in Waitrose look a bit… how can we put this… lame?

One thing is clear – we have to pay attention to what football is doing with their women’s game. Like it or not, the scheduling of our Super League needs to not clash too much with theirs, because if the two go up against each other, there will only be one winner, and sadly it won’t be cricket!

At the Cricket Super League launch, Clare Connor talked (tongue in cheek, I think) about Arsenal hosting a franchise. I dismissed it at the time, but some kind of partnership might not be a terrible idea, if only at local level.

It might not be common here, but in Spain all the top football clubs are actually “sports” clubs, with even the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona also hosting basketball and other sports teams, so it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.

Finally, Super League manager Jo Kirk definitely needs to have lunch with her counterpart at Lancaster Gate. Domestic women’s football also underwent a controversial restructuring recently, which was violently opposed by many within the game… but it doesn’t seem to be working out too badly for them now!

England Coach is one of the biggest jobs in women’s cricket; but it is also one of the toughest. Indeed, it is probably the only coaching job in the global women’s game which comes with a genuine weight of public expectation – England are certainly the only women’s team on the planet who can attract crowds numbering in the several-thousands to their matches.

So with the pressure of a home World Cup in 2017 likely to raise the temperature in the spotlight to unprecedented levels, mental strength is a must-have on Clare Connor’s shopping-list.

The new coach also needs to be someone who is happy to deal with the media and answer questions from the press… though we would beg the ECB not to choose someone just because they deliver a good press conference!

One interesting question is how much of a “coach” the new coach needs to be, at least in the short term? With the contracts for 2016 being signed-off almost literally “as we write”, the broad backbone of the World Cup squad will already be set in stone by the time the new coach arrives at their desk in Loughborough; and these players know how to play cricket.

Lauren Winfield is a classic example: she has taken a lot of flack because she hasn’t performed at the international level, as she would be the first to admit; but we’ve seen her at county, we’ve seen her coaching and we’ve heard her talk about the game, and she knows her cricket. She doesn’t need someone telling her how to play this or that stroke; but she does need “something”… and it is that “something”… that je ne sais quoi… which the new coach has to bring.

What is it? We don’t know, obviously; but there is one thing we do know – England don’t currently have it! So it is something that needs to be brought in from the outside; and this means the new coach has to come from the outside. The current setup has taken England as far as it can – the time has come to lance the “Loughborough Bubble” and bring in an outside shot to take us on to Lords in 2017.

It was announced last week that Paul Shaw will be stepping down at the end of the year as England Head of Performance, to be replaced by a new Head Coach in due course.

The question on everyone’s lips is: who should replace him?

CRICKETher thinks there are several possible contenders…

1. Mark Lane

Lane was previously England coach between 2008 and 2013, during which time England had their most successful year ever, winning the World Cup, T20 World Cup and the Ashes all in the space of one calendar year (2009). A recent interview with Lane by Martin Davies of Women’s Cricket Blog suggests that he might well be willing to resume his old post, if asked. Given the lack of coaches around with direct experience and knowledge of the women’s game, he surely has to be a contender – but would the ECB see re-appointing him as a backward step?

2. Salliann Briggs

The Head Coach at Loughborough MCCU, Briggs will be familiar with the majority of the current contracted players, many of whom are either current students at Loughborough or have previously studied there. She has also coached on the England Under 19s Women’s Development Programme and would be well-placed to assess the talent currently coming through the ranks. But does she have the top-level experience to take over the reins from Shaw?

3. Jen Laycock

Earlier this year Laycock made it onto the All Out Cricket Women’s Cricket Power List, and for good reason. She is currently Head Coach on the MCC Young Cricketers program, which provides a vital link between age-group and senior cricket – giving the up and coming generation of 19/20 year-olds the opportunity to spend a summer playing as full-time pros. The likes of Heather Knight and Danni Wyatt have come through the program. She also coaches the newly-branded Lancashire Thunder – a team she previously captained – and works as Lancashire’s Women’s and Girls Development Officer, helping grow the sport across the county. Aged just 26, Jen has risen rapidly through her coaching badges. Could she make the step-up to the top job?

4. Beth Morgan

Having captained Middlesex for 8 years, Morgan stepped down as skipper at the end of last season and this year served as player-coach for her county, who finished in a respectable mid-table position in the championship. Tactically astute, a brilliant (wo)man-manager and with a wealth of knowledge about the women’s game – she herself represented England between 2003 and 2011 – she is CRICKETher’s current favourite for the job. But would she have the authority to coach a team led by Charlotte Edwards, the captain Morgan served under during most of her international career?

5. Cathryn Fitzpatrick

Following her 16 years playing international cricket for Australia, terrorising batsmen with her fast bowling, Fitzpatrick took over as head coach of Australia in 2012. In her 3-year stint in the role, she took Australia to 3 World Cup victories, and their recent anointment as number 1 team in the world, according to the new ICC rankings, is surely at least partly attributable to her. She stepped down from the top job in May so would certainly be free to take over the England role – but would the ECB prefer to look closer to home?

CRICKETher thinks the field is still wide open for other possible candidates to emerge, but we’re interested to know who YOU think should get the top job? Vote now!

In a piece which was originally published on www.womenscricket.net, women’s cricket legend and Sussex WCA Chairman Don Miles responds to CRICKETher Editor Raf Nicholson’s recent piece on the Super League, ‘Will The Super League Succeed Where The County Championship Has Failed?’, with his own thoughts on that question.

Will The Super League Succeed Where the County Championship has failed?

There are several parts to that question, one, the obvious one, of whether England players will emerge more readily when the Super League is up and running, but there are also built in assumptions.

The first is that County Cricket has been the forgotten area in the women’s game in the UK, unlike the situation in Australia (so we are told anyway) where financial support for the players at State level exists, to cover long flights and hotels. County Cricket has, the title claims, failed to deliver players to the higher level… True the article also states some of the reasons why it believes that to be true.

I would argue strongly that that is not the case. In relatively recent times England have won World Cups in both formats of the game and I relish the memories of the 2009 50-over Cup down under and the T20 match at the Oval where Claire Taylor and Beth Morgan set the crowd alight with one of the finest partnerships ever witnessed in a women’s T20. If not winning England have been there or thereabouts in both 50-over and T20 international competitions. Supporters of all teams in any sport have to get used to the fact there will be good times and lean times, times when the squad plays well and times when… well, it doesn’t.

All this does not mean, of course, that England couldn’t do better. As other blogs have remarked the choice of players – who is in the squad – who could be called in – is one that can occupy hours of discussion and no two people are likely to agree very readily. In fact it has amused me to have a ‘Law’ (‘Don’s Law’) named after me by others typing in this field. I have in recent times claimed that ‘my’ England side has never lost – the simple reason being it has never played. I can’t be the first to have said that however. I claim no  knowledge superior to anyone else (except perhaps some who write in the papers and watch perhaps one women’s game a year) but there is one point I wish to make forcefully.

2017 is getting very close. A decision must be made before Christmas and the choice quite simply is do we go into the 2017 World Cup with the current squad or do we need to blood new players – yes – play them in England shirts in South Africa in the winter and against Pakistan this coming summer.  Don’t ask them in simply to carry drinks! The end of the tour to South Africa will be too late to give any new faces a chance to settle. Players deserve a ‘run’ – a series of matches – in which to show what they can do. In one game, out for two, maybe back in for one game again, does no one’s confidence any good and frankly it is grossly unfair to judge any player on their performances if that’s the opportunity (or I’d say lack of opportunity) they are given.

And for the County set-up currently…

The cash available to a county to support (in the case of Sussex, for instance, last season) seven teams means that players have to put their hand in their pockets not just for kit as you might expect but also for petrol, training sessions, meals out when away from home, and I’m sure there’s more. County Cricket is available to those who not only have the dedication to turn up but also afford the expense (or whose parents can afford the expense). Is this different from any other sport? For instance if your daughter became wild about tennis or golf would the situation be any different? Possibly not, but I do not feel that is any kind of excuse for County Cricket becoming the poor cousin of any Super League (hereafter S/L).

Which, of course, brings me to another assumption within the title of the article. Can we find six sponsors with the necessary cash (approx £400,000 over three/four years if rumours are true)? With a number of the conditions of running this tournament not easy to reconcile with what coaches and players would normally expect; it’s an open question. I can only speculate, having no inside knowledge of anyone’s thoughts who might have that kind of cash lying around. Will it fly(?) it’s a question I hear increasingly around the boundary rope. We must wait and see I guess.

Anyone remember the Super 4s? I have written on this tournament before but it bears repeating. No one was ever really sure the purpose of it. I enjoyed watching the games – don’t get me wrong – but was it an England trial or maybe a chance for established players to make plenty of runs ahead of an international series? When some players were brought in to simply act as fielders, canon fodder for England players whose talents the ECB were well aware of, it seemed the latter. With four teams approximately 48 players were involved. Talk of the S/L suggests 55 players from this country will be required and it would not necessarily be unfair to suggest the S/L will be a diluted form of the S4s. Yes – I know it has been suggested there could be two overseas internationals in every squad but again it’s a question of will there? The WBBL in Australia seems to be getting there slowly but it has not been straightforward. So much of this is “wait and see” which is why I typed on a previous page that things were both ‘exciting and worrying’ in equal measure.

And where will the S/L sit in the player pathway? One would assume beneath the Academy, or is it the England U-19s, or is it…? A purpose other than simply a higher level of competition needs to be sorted out. As already noted, there is an argument the S4s was a higher level, but it suffered from  “what is it all about?” The S/L could go the same way if its purpose and position on the pathway is not clear.

Much is made of these “Player Pathways” in the modern jargon of most sports and cricket is no exception. Essentially you have a pyramid shape with an indication to players at the bottom how they might climb the ladder to the next stage, and ultimately to the top. In our case ‘England’ is at the tip of the pyramid. As the ancient Egyptians knew full well pyramids don’t work too well unless they have a very strong foundation. In women’s cricket, where do most people start playing the game? Well maybe at school but there are few who encourage girls to form their own teams although a particularly talented pupil might find themselves playing for one of the boy’s XIs. It’s more likely to be at club level. This is where the major problems lie it seems to me. There are a few strong clubs and a number of much weaker ones.

This is not a problem in itself as surely the object should simply be to get as many of the female persuasion as possible playing the sport, whether they have any desire or not to climb the pyramid. My feeling is the ECB has a responsibility (and ultimately it will be in ‘England’s’ interest) to encourage participation at the base of this pyramid. This seems somewhat lacking. Let’s take a specific example. You may be aware if you visited the home page recently that I drove to Kibworth to watch four teams fight it out for the National Club Championship. Chatting to the coach of one team I discovered that seven of his players didn’t feel strongly enough about club cricket, even though it was the final and a chance of some silverware, to turn up. While there may have been legitimate reasons for one or two it seems unlikely there would be for seven. One, indeed, chose instead to play for a men’s team that day. I should add a footnote here that the four U-13s and the two U-15s who replaced the regulars fielded valiantly during their match against Bath, despite an onslaught from an in-form Sophie Luff, and no criticism should be levelled at them for the inevitable defeat!

If this is indicative, and it seems likely, of the value players themselves place on the bottom of the pyramid there could be problems aplenty for England in a few years time when current top players decide their day is done.  And there’s plenty of volunteers working at club and county level, as well as Cricket Board support that is highly variable around the country.

To sum up, and I guess I should before you all drop off, I don’t feel, and never have, that County Cricket has failed anyone. It has done its best despite grave financial stringencies and has provided winning England teams in the past. I feel sure it could do so again. If I may dare to offer advice to those in higher places, make sure the pyramid is supported at the bottom, at club and then county, or there is always the risk of the entire edifice falling down.  And let’s not take the ‘trickle down’ excuse. It has never worked in economics so I can’t see why it should here. All that trickles down is the feeling a few are being supported at the expense of the many.

Despite the obvious pit-falls, let’s hope 2016 is exciting and not worrying. Whichever, I can’t wait to get back to that boundary rope again.