Jake Perry speaks to Scotland’s Katie McGill

Ahead of the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier, experienced all-rounder Katie McGill talks to Jake Perry about her career so far and ambitions for the Netherlands.

Scotland’s Women fly to the Netherlands for the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier in confident mood. Despite the absence of several regulars the squad has been buoyed by some excellent recent performances, and with new talent coming through to add to the big-match experience of players such as Kathryn Bryce, Sarah Bryce, Lorna Jack and Abbi Aitken there is genuine belief that Scotland can go one better than their semi-final appearance at Thailand 2015.

Katie McGill is another who belongs in the same category, and as she prepares for her third Global Qualifier in Scotland colours the all-rounder is looking forward to seeing what the tournament will bring.

“The preparations have been going really well,” she said. “We’re particularly focused and clear on what we want to do and how we want to do it and we’ve had a good run of practice games which have given us a bit of momentum.”

“Different people at different times have been stepping up, too, and it’s really nice to know that we have that depth within the squad.”

Scotland go into the tournament on the back of their best-ever performance in the ECB’s domestic T20 competition after finishing third in Division Two of the Vitality Women’s Twenty20 Cup.

“It’s been a massive help mind and body-wise to have played the fifty-over competition in early season before moving to T20,” said Katie. “It’s nice to have been able to focus on that different pace of game, particularly for our batters.”

“To have had a good block of T20 coming into [the Qualifier], to be really confident that we have the skills for that and for us bowlers to have been able to get into the rhythm of going hard for four overs without having to worry about having to pace out eight over spells has been really good.”

Since her debut in 2015 the twenty-six-year-old has become a cornerstone of the Scotland team in both domestic and international cricket. Awarded her fiftieth cap in June, Katie scored her first half-century for the Wildcats in Division Three of the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup against Cumbria before ending the Twenty20 Cup campaign as leading wicket-taker.

“I’ve always been a bit of an all-rounder, very much in the mould of jack-of-all-trades rather than master of one,” she smiled. “I was always a middle overs bowler as I’ve not really got the pace or movement of some of the others, but I have a bit more control I guess.”

“Spending a winter in New Zealand [with Northern Districts Women in 2016-17] was so good for my development. It opened up opportunities for me to bowl with the new ball which I’ve never really had before as even in club cricket I’d look to come in later and use change-ups and so on. But when I went out to New Zealand there happened to be an opening, so they got me opening the bowling.”

“It was a brilliant place to learn a new skill and I took that momentum and got a little bit of a go with it [at the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier] in Sri Lanka. I’ve never sat there and said I want to open the bowling, but I love doing it now when I get the chance. I have always liked a new challenge.”

“When something’s going well and you have confidence in one discipline you can work on the other,” she continued. “As I said I like a challenge and I like tinkering but I’ve learnt through time that it’s best to keep things simple. With the bat I just focus on hitting the ball. It doesn’t necessarily make for the best photos but if I’m scoring runs and supporting an in-bat then that’s my job done.”

“To have had the opportunity to get a bit more crease-time in the Regional Series has been a very good test as well. I’m in a place now where I’m really confident in the shots I’ve got and when and how to use them.”

In Cricket Scotland’s rebranded Regional Series Katie’s all-round credentials have been to the fore. With 45 not out in the first T20 match of the series and 4 for 12 in second, the Eagles captain has led from the front in what has already become an enormously significant competition for the development of women’s game in Scotland.

“It’s massive,” said Katie. “It gives it weight. Previously there were different franchise-type names like East and Rest, which particularly for the Rest felt like you were part of a bit of a hotchpotch, so to have good branding in place now has been a really important step.”

“But [the Regional Series] also cements the pathway. It’s already shown its worth when you have people like Charlotte Dalton, for example, who performed well at club level, got a shout at Regionals, performed there and got a shot with the ‘A’s, all within six months. Hannah Rainey, too, only debuted this year but is now going to her first international tournament, again thanks to her performances through that regional structure.”

“It keeps the established players on their toes as well,” she continued. “You know what is coming through and it keeps you pushing to elevate yourself. It’s just so good for our game that the competition is branded seriously, taken seriously by the players, taken seriously by the set-up and provides a genuine pathway for people who shine within it.”

And as her attention turns towards Scotland’s opening match against Uganda on Saturday, confidence is strong.

“We want to get to the World Cup and there’s no denying that there’s a genuine belief within the team that we can,” said Katie. “We sat down at the beginning of the winter and asked what our goal should be and if it was realistic and yes, we feel it is.”

“In the Regional Qualifiers there have been a few upsets and teams you would expect to be in this Qualifier haven’t made it, so it proves that up-and-coming teams like ourselves can leap-frog over others. We’re confident in our game and we’re definitely more skilful and more fit than we’ve been, so I think we’re in a really good place to go and cause an upset and get ourselves to the World Cup.”

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Jake Perry is a cricket writer based in Scotland.

Twitter: @jperry_cricket / Facebook: Jake Perry Cricket

Surprisingly, our Batting Rankings are led not by Tammy Beaumont – the leading run-scorer in the T20 Tri-Series – but by Suzie Bates, whose superior Strike Rate gives her the edge. Bates plundered the South African bowling for 124* in their opening match, and a further 62 against them in their second game at Bristol; though she was notably less successful against England, scoring 23, 0 and 31.

Bates and Sophie Devine, at No. 3, between them scored a whopping two-thirds (66.8%) of New Zealand’s runs off the bat in the series, which really ought to be worrying them quite a lot – the next-ranked New Zealand batsman was Amy Satterthwaite, who came in 14th with just 58 runs.

For England obviously Tammy Beaumont was the stand-out star, but Nat Sciver also had a good series, despite playing a slightly more reserved game than we’ve maybe come to expect of her – she hit just two 6s in the series, and had the lowest boundary percentage of the Top 10 by quite a long way – 52%, compared with (for example) 77% for Lizelle Lee, the most in the Top 10.

Batting Ranking = Runs * Strike Rate

Jake Perry speaks to Hannah Rainey

It has been quite a summer for Hannah Rainey. After impressing in the Cricket Scotland Regional Series and the Vitality Women’s Twenty20 Cup, the Eagles bowler has the chance of an international debut at the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier after being called into the full Scotland squad for the first time. With twenty-first birthday celebrations and a third year at the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies safely negotiated, too, 2018 is already turning into a red-letter year.

“It was so exciting to get the email to say I had been selected,” said Hannah. “I’d been training with the squad over the winter but I didn’t really expect to play, so when I got the call-up it was a huge thrill because it was so unexpected. 

“It’s such a good atmosphere to be in because the whole team is really supportive of each other and I’m very much enjoying being a part of it all.”

Hannah’s place on the plane to Holland represents the biggest accolade so far in a career which began in after-school Kwik Cricket a decade ago.

“I got into cricket quite late on I suppose,” she said. “I had moved to Scotland [from Kent] when I was ten and although my Dad was really keen on the game I’d never played before.

“But my best friend’s Dad was involved at Carlton Cricket Club and when they started up Kwik Cricket for girls on a Wednesday night I went along with her to that. At that time Leigh Kasperek was a teenager helping out with Eric Edwards who was one of the Dads. It was great and we went for weeks and weeks over the summer and came back year on year. 

“Then Eastern Under-16 Regionals were set up, and at the time Katie McGill and Ollie Rae were coaching it – I feel like they were my first proper coaches – and then from there I was asked to join the [Scotland] Under-17s, although I only had a season with them before I was too old. So I was quite late to serious cricket, certainly compared to someone like Kathryn Bryce who has been playing since she was very young, but once I got into it I kept playing.”

Hannah made her debut for Scotland ‘A’ against Durham in April 2017 but has advanced her case for a first full cap with some strong performances this season. The newly remodelled Regional Series is providing particularly valuable opportunities, she says.

“As a national team we have been told that we need to be prioritising the Regional Series because we need to be playing at the highest standard we can and obviously it provides really good preparation,” said Hannah.

“The rebranding of the competition has been excellent. A lot of my friends didn’t know anything about the regional competition last year but now they know all about the Eagles and the Stormers. It’s exciting for the younger girls who get called up, too, because it’s hyped-up a lot more and is a big thing to be involved in. 

“Speaking personally I’ve had mixed fortunes over the two days we’ve played so far,” she continued. “I took three wickets [for 34] in the fifty-over game which was nice but in the second I had to come off with a back injury. I’m still working through the physio of that now so, yes, that second day wasn’t the best for me unfortunately.”

Since that interruption, however, her path has continued upward. After taking 1 for 14 on her Wildcats debut against Charlotte Edwards’ Hampshire in the ECB’s domestic T20 competition, Hannah took 2 for 32 in the nine-wicket win over England Academy Women at Loughborough. Exposure to a higher level of cricket over the course of the year has, she says, brought immediate benefits.

“I’ve definitely become more tactically aware,” said Hannah. “I didn’t really know what field worked best for my bowling, for example, didn’t really understand why I should have particular fielders where, but I’m much more conscious of that now. I’m trying to get ahead of the batsman rather than reacting to them, and the senior girls and coaches have been a massive help in that.” 

And there will be no greater test of those skills than what lies ahead in the Netherlands as Scotland’s Women look to qualify for the final stages of an ICC global tournament for the first time in their history.

“I’m really excited and a bit nervous too I guess,” said Hannah. “But there’s a real buzz about the team at the moment. Our performances have been getting better over the past few weeks and hopefully we’ll peak at the right time. 

“We’re playing well and doing what we want to do but we still have more to give. That’s a positive thing. There’s a bit more in us and hopefully we can show that when the tournament begins.”

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Jake Perry is a cricket writer based in Scotland.

Twitter: @jperry_cricket / Facebook: Jake Perry Cricket

England have recalled left-arm orthodox spinner Alex Hartley for the ODI series against New Zealand which begins on Saturday at Headingley.

Fast bowler Katie George – yet to make her ODI debut – is also included in the squad announced today, but Danni Hazell has been dropped despite performing well in the T20 Tri-Series, when she took 6 wickets at an Economy Rate under 7.

Hazell, who is highly rated as a T20 specialist and played in the Women’s IPL Exhibition Match earlier this year, was included in the squad for the ODI series against South Africa which preceded the Tri-Series, but didn’t actually play.

Full Squad

Heather Knight (Berkshire)
Tammy Beaumont (Kent)
Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire)
Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire)
Georgia Elwiss (Sussex)
Katie George (Hampshire)
Jenny Gunn (Warwickshire)
Alex Hartley (Lancashire)
Amy Jones (Warwickshire)
Laura Marsh (Kent)
Anya Shrubsole (Somerset)
Nat Sciver (Surrey)
Sarah Taylor (Sussex)
Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire)
Danni Wyatt (Sussex)

After their knife-edge relegation from Div 1 of the Women’s County Championship, Middlesex stormed back in style as they won the T20 Cup at Beckenham.

With Kent beating Warwickshire first-up at Beckenham, Middlesex’s match with Warwickshire turned into a dead rubber – it didn’t matter if they won or lost – the final match between them and Kent would be a de-facto final which decided the title.

Batting first, Middlesex’s co-captains Naomi Dattani and Tash Miles put on 73 for the first wicket, setting up an eventual total of 128-5. In reply, Kent could only reach 112 in their 20 overs, with Alice Davidson-Richards top-scoring with 38, but chewing-up 49 balls in a chase where the ask was over a run-a-ball, to leave Middlesex celebrating their first title.

Sussex sealed second place with wins against Worcestershire – Georgia Adams top-scoring with 64* – and Notts – Adams this time leading with the ball, with 3-15.

At the other end of the table, Worcestershire and Yorkshire were relegated after Surrey beat Yorkshire in what was effectively a play-off – Beth Langston hit 50 as Yorkshire posted 125-6, which Surrey chased-down with just 2 balls to space thanks to 43* from Aylish Cranstone.

Meanwhile in Div 2, Hampshire, Wales and Scotland all finished on 28 points, with 7 wins each and their only losses being to each other, meaning promotion came down to Net Run Rate, with Scotland the ones to miss out – Hampshire promoted as division winners, and Wales in second.

After a thoroughly convincing win in the T20 Tri-Series Final at Chelmsford, are England now favourites going into the World T20 in the Caribbean this autumn?

Heather Knight was typically reluctant to get over-excited:

“I don’t think we’ll be favourites – it is hard to look past Australia – but I think we’ll be up there.”

Nevertheless, having won the T20 rubber of the Women’s Ashes, and now this Tri-Series against New Zealand and South Africa, there will be no better-placed team going into the tournament.

England’s batting has obviously enjoyed a remarkable renaissance – it says much about the way the team are playing that it feels like Dani Wyatt had a quiet series… yet she still scored two 50s at a Strike Rate of 138.

But in a way, in a Batsman’s Series like this, where the world record total has been broken not once but twice, what you actually need is your bowlers to turn up, and England’s definitely did, especially today.

“The bowling has been the highlight for me,” Knight told us. “The bowlers have been very consistent. It was a very good wicket today, but the way we’ve executed our plans on different types of pitches has been really good.”

This is why Sophie Ecclestone, not leading run-scorer Tammy Beaumont, was our Player of the Series – to take 10 wickets at an Economy Rate of a shade over 7 is a splendid return; but more impressive was the way she took her wickets. Like everyone, she was knocked around at times, but she responded by keeping her head and just sticking to her game-plan.

“You obviously get hit in T20,” she said today, “but it is all part of the game – you get your rewards if you just bowl straight, keeping the stumps in play.”

Heather Knight was also full of praise for the left-armer:

“She’s matured a lot in the last year – she’s become a lot more savvy with how she goes about her bowling – she’s very tall so she gets some extra bounce and attacks both edges of the bat.”

With Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole also back on the absolute pinnacle of their games this is what England will need in the West Indies, where there will perhaps be less batting-friendly pitches. England really did hardly bowl a bad ball today, and they backed it up with some tight work in the field – if they can do that in November, we could well be looking at double-World Champions.

At the start of this match, as Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine walked out to open the batting, I thought it rather odd that they hadn’t chosen to mix up the batting order. With 2 openers on fire and the rest of the line-up distinctly under-cooked, why not give the middle order an outing ahead of Sunday’s final?

As it turned out, the batting order didn’t matter a jot.

There are two wrong ways to approach T20 cricket. The first is to do as Laura Wolvaardt and Dane van Niekerk did earlier today and form a partnership where, while you might manage to hang around, neither of you is able to bat at a strike rate of anything like 100. The second is to bosh it all over, but get yourselves out. New Zealand became masters of the second approach today.

On 64-2, halfway through their innings and with the lean, mean fighting machine that is Sophie Devine unbeaten at one end, what New Zealand really needed was for a measured, mature approach to batting at the other. What they got was a middle order that, after Amy Satterthwaite fell victim to Katie George’s full, straight slower ball, collapsed in a heap – their last 7 wickets falling for 38 runs.

England fielded like tigresses – the highlights another stumping to add to Sarah “Legside” Taylor’s showreel; and two absolutely outstanding catches in the deep by Amy Jones off the bowling of Anya Shrubsole, Jones diving forwards both times to snatch the ball out of the air.

But New Zealand displayed a recklessness that England were able to take advantage of: slogging when they needed to defend; sweeping when they needed to play straight. Instead of letting Devine field the strike, they tried and failed to do her job for her.

Meanwhile Devine, who had said at the halfway point that a par score on this pitch was 150, looked on from the other end in disbelief.

“We just didn’t have enough batters that played smart enough cricket there with Sophie at the end,” Suzie Bates told us after the match. “She knew she could put her foot down and accelerate the innings but partners didn’t stick with her. It made it difficult for Sophie to kick on – she was caught in 2 minds which is never easy.”

Were they tired after that first game v South Africa? “It wasn’t about being tired – it just wasn’t clinical cricket. We play 50 over cricket and we’ve trained hard for this. I just don’t think we were smart enough.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s final, Bates was upbeat:

“We can only get better after that second effort today! We’ve got to take what we did against South Africa and do it for longer.”

But the ease with which England chased down the required runs – a beautiful half-century from Sarah Taylor, plus unbeaten contributions from Nat Sciver and Heather Knight, as England’s middle-order did what New Zealand’s had failed to do and steadied the ship – surely suggests that a win for the home side at Chelmsford is the most likely result, come the weekend.

It was a match that promised much… and delivered somewhat less. With qualification for the Tri-Series final still very much alive, I was looking forward to “a cracker” whilst Martin Davies from Women’s Cricket Blog predicted “Runs, runs, runs…”

But in the end the first over – a wide from Lea Tahuhu first-up, followed by two more – rather set the pattern for what was to come – an error-strewn contest which players and spectators alike will want to soon forget.

“We were really disappointed with the way we started that game,” admitted New Zealand’s Sophie Devine afterwards. “We were flat, we bowled plenty of extras and we just weren’t there in the field.”

“We can’t afford to play like that against any side – Suzie had to give us a bit of a rarrrrk up!”

(No – we aren’t entirely sure what a “rarrrrk up” is either… but we are fairly sure we wouldn’t want to be on the end of one!!)

“We were probably lucky to be able to pull it back the way we did,” says Devine.

That they had an opportunity to do so was mainly because if anything South Africa looked even more off-colour.

Coach Hilton Moreeng told us:

“We were below par by our standards – it is very frustrating – the inconsistency. If you look at the wicket there was not a lot of daemons in it, so another 20 or 30 runs on the board could have made a game of it.”

Laura Wolvaardt in particular couldn’t get it off the square today and chewed-up a lot of dots on her way to 25 from 37 balls; but Moreeng maintains his faith in her:

“She is a youngster – she is learning, and at the end of the day we are building towards the [T20] World Cup. She is only 19 years old – you can’t box her and say ‘she can’ or ‘she can’t’ – there is a lot that she has got – she is a clean striker of a cricket ball – she has proven it – now she has to go back and see how she can get options here.”

It chimes in with what Wolvaardt herself told us last week – she is still learning as a Twenty20 player and she knows she isn’t the finished article yet; but there is confidence that if South Africa keep faith with her, then she can be.

Asked to chase 148, New Zealand knocked them off with almost 5 overs to spare, but it wasn’t the perfect batting display from them either:

“At times we played a few rash shots!” Devine acknowledged. “It’s important for us to make sure we put away the bad ball and don’t get too carried away with ourselves.”

What made it easier though is that, once again, South Africa did half the job for them, as Moreeng admited:

“When you look at fielding, we didn’t back up the bowling. On a wicket which took a bit of pace off, which actually assisted the bowlers, the fielding wasn’t up to par.”

“The fielding the whole series wasn’t ok – it is one area where we need to go home and have a look at it and see where we can improve.”

“Given the short format in the T20 you can’t afford to give the chances what we are giving, and the way we are fielding at the moment is not gonna help.”

But there are positives to take forward:

“This wasn’t a great series, but there is a lot we’ve learned – there have been some good lessons, so we’ll see what we can adapt in our plans to make sure we go forwards.”

“We’ve got 3 months before the World Cup. We’ve got West Indies in September, away – the ICC Series and a lot of T20s. Luckily for us, we will be in the Caribbean so we will be able to get used to the conditions.”

It wasn’t to be for South Africa in England this summer, despite winning the opening ODI of the tour, but they are still a good side and anyone who underestimates them in the West Indies does so at their peril.