Throughout the Kia Super League, we’ll be featuring short interviews with players, coaches & other interesting people we find around and about at the grounds. In yesterday’s Surrey Stars win over Lancashire Thunder, left-arm spinner Alex Hartley featured heavily, taking 3-11 in her 4 overs. She answers our quick-fire questions below…

If not Surrey Stars, who would you like to win?

I’m going to have to say Loughborough Lightning, because Evelyn [Jones] and Macca [Alex MacDonald] play there.

Who would you like to see playing in KSL that isn’t?

I’d love to see Meg Lanning come over and play. Unfortunately she couldn’t this year because she’s injured, but it would be great in future.

Favourite KSL player?

Er…that’s hard! Tammy Beaumont (so I don’t get kicked out of the house!)

Justin Bieber or One Direction?

Justin Bieber! Without a doubt!

Favourite cricket ground?

I love the Ageas Bowl.

Favourite thing on the menu in Nandos?

Lemon and herb butterfly chicken and chips. I’m not a spice person!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully being England’s number 1 spinner and winning the World Cup!

Where do you see women’s cricket in 10 years?

Hopefully it’s massive. With the KSL we want thousands of people coming to watch, so hopefully it’ll get like that.

Guest reporter James Piechowski was at Guildford yesterday to see Surrey Stars defeat Lancashire Thunder.

Result: Surrey Stars won by 7 wickets (with 28 balls remaining)

Going into this match, both sides had played 3 games, lost 2 and won only 1. The result from Monday’s game, with the Southern Vipers earning a bonus point win over Yorkshire Diamonds, meant that both sides playing yesterday had clear daylight between them and the bottom of the table. With Vipers essentially through, and Diamonds needing a miracle, four sides were effectively competing for 2 qualification spots. This match was basically an eliminator of sorts, as the losing side would be left relying on other results and a bonus point win in their final match to have any sort of chance.

Either Stars or Thunder getting through to finals day seemed unlikely, but they had hope to hold onto. In order to get into the top three, a minimum of 5 points would be required, even if Lightning or Storm lost both their remaining games. Realistically, six or or seven points may even be needed to qualify. That left both sides desperately needing a win to ensure their campaigns could continue on positively. In fact, the extra bonus point win would be preferable. It was, as the old adage goes, a “six-pointer” if ever there was one. With just one more game remaining for both sides after this, Thunder would be facing a wounded Diamonds side in a sure-to-be feisty Roses clash. Stars had a slight run rate advantage, and the added bonus of playing Lightning, a team they would need to overtake, last. Nothing could be guaranteed though. The points were there for the taking, but who could hold their nerve best?

The sun may have struggled to poke through the clouds over the Guildford ground at times, but this did not dampen the friendly carnival atmosphere, many spectators choosing to sit at the boundary’s edge to get close to the action. And the crowd of several hundred were certainly treated to an entertaining match.

Thunder got off to a bad start as West Indian opener Hayley Matthews was adjudged to be lbw to Marizanne Kapp, second ball of the innings. She offered some dissent to the umpire, indicating that she had hit the ball. In came Thunder captain Amy Satterthwaite and she would stay out in the middle until the end of the innings. It was the promising Emma Lamb who took the attack to Tahuhu in the next over though, using her feet well and punishing anything wide or over-pitched. Lamb has an attractive, dynamic batting style, and faces relatively few dot balls. She strikes regular boundaries, and also works the ball well into gaps for singles and twos. She is fast in running between the wickets. In the field too, Lamb impresses, being quick to the ball and secure in her handling. She was out yesterday though to a rather unnecessary slog at Kapp, having scored 27 off 17 balls. It was a rash shot, something that she can hopefully eliminate with more experience.

After 11 overs, Thunder were 66-2 with Satterthwaite and Laura Macleod going well. They would have been aiming for a total of at least 130. But Alex Hartley, in her second over, triggered a middle order collapse that saw 6 wickets fall for 17 runs in 5.4 overs. At the end of this flop, Thunder were 83-8 with just over 3 overs left, and looking at a total of just over 100. Hartley was the main difference yesterday. She has a boundless energy about her that she channels into her bowling to allow her to be accurate and difficult to hit cleanly. Her fielding is not always to the standard you’d expect, but her bowling is invariably excellent, and yesterday was no exception.

Credit should also be given to Kapp, whose accuracy meant that she was one of the only pace bowlers to not go the distance yesterday, finishing with 2-18. And Laura Marsh bowled so well in partnership with Hartley to restrict Thunder in that middle period, that Rene Farrell, a bowler usually called upon much earlier in the innings, was not given a bowl until the 17th over and thus could only complete 2 of her available 4. Stars certainly have a wealth of bowling options available. Yesterday they offered an improvement to an admittedly sloppy display in the field against Western Storm. The three run outs were well executed and hurt Thunder badly. The fielding was not perfect though. Hartley dropped a catch she should have taken 99 times out of a hundred, a dolly popped up off her own bowling, made all the more galling as it was Satterthwaite when she had just 10; and also Lea Tahuhu grounded a more difficult chance running in from the boundary.

Thunder did not help themselves with a few questionable decisions out in the middle. The batting order, with Macleod promoted above Deandra Dottin and Danni Wyatt, looked short of the power needed to set a challenging total. When Dottin and Wyatt did finally arrive at the crease, there was extra pressure after Macleod had used up 23 balls and only scored at a strike rate of 74. But they gave their wickets away somewhat timidly. Thunder had lost their nerve. The problem was that Satterthwaite, although a fine batsman, is more of an accumulator in style, and in the New Zealand team she has made her name playing in often relies on the likes of Bates, Devine et al to provide the punch. With Emma Lamb making the only fast cameo for Thunder yesterday, and the middle order collapse, Satterthwaite – not exactly at her fluent best – was left to rebuild the innings with little support. The total of 102-9 appeared to be about 30 runs short on a good track and fast outfield.

Thunder only hit 9 fours; in reply, Stars managed 16. In the end Satterthwaite tried her best in difficult circumstances, and did well to carry her bat, but only making 34* after arriving at the crease in the first over tells its own story. In the field for Thunder, I could not understand why the excellent Matthews was held back after bowling a cheap opening over until the 11th over; a combination of Kate Cross, Dottin and Satterthwaite being preferred instead. Of those bowlers, only Dottin looked like doing what Thunder would have needed to make things close.

The Stars reply was swift and telling. Tammy Beaumont offered another fine display, working the ball all around the wicket and striking boundaries with aplomb.

Bryony Smith is some prospect – more than just a pinch-hitter promoted from the middle-order. When she hits the ball, it stays hit; she is brutal when cutting outside off stump, and on the drive. She is not all about power though: a deft ramp shot over her shoulder which scooted to the rope for 4 showed she has finesse, too. By the time she was out in the 7th over, trying to hit Dottin for another leg side four but caught by Satterthwaite, Stars had already broken the back of the chase and Nat Sciver, Cordelia Griffith and Kapp continued the necessary impetus to see them over the line with the bonus point, with 4 balls to spare.

The result leaves Thunder only able to achieve a maximum of 5 points which is very unlikely to be enough to qualify, seeing as 3 teams already have that tally. For Stars, they face a key match away at Loughborough against Lightning, on Friday, which may well turn out to be another eliminator. This convincing win yesterday will give them confidence that they can put in the strong performance that will surely be required.

There have been a few one-sided games in this competition, but today takes some beating. On a glorious batting pitch, Lancashire Thunder somehow conspired to fall over themselves to get out; and the Surrey Stars then absolutely hammered them with the bat from ball 1 of over 1. With both teams having struggled so far at points in KSL, this level of dominance really wasn’t the match I was expecting to see when I woke up this morning.

So what happened? Well, for one, the Stars have clearly been doing exactly what Nat Sciver told us they’d be doing after that dramatic loss to Western Storm on Sunday – working on their fielding. Diving stops; skilful catches; and three run-outs. Perhaps the best was Cordelia Griffith’s effort to dismiss Tash Miles from short fine leg: she spotted that Miles was starting a run, used her head, quickly grabbed the ball and threw it straight to Beaumont behind the stumps, who had ample time to remove the bails. Really neat work.

It could have been so much worse for Thunder – the one catch that did go begging today was by Alex Hartley, who missed a caught and bowled chance off Amy Satterthwaite when the captain was on just 10* (she went on to make 34*). It’s a little ironic that the overseas player who Thunder only called in as a last-minute replacement when Sarah Coyte bowed out is now their leading run-scorer in the competition (with 130 runs to date).

Fortunately Hartley – who admitted after play that she was “really angry with myself” after the drop – kept her cool, her captain kept the faith and Hartley went on to take 2 wickets in her very next over. Whether or not the Stars qualify for Finals Day – that will depend on whether they can beat Loughborough Lightning on Friday – this competition has vindicated our long-held belief that Alex Hartley is one of the best spinners in England. With 7 wickets across 4 games, she also happens to be the KSL’s (joint) leading wicket-taker to date, and her scalps include Lauren Winfield, Sara McGlashan and Deandra Dottin – not bad going!

Surprising stat of the day: top run-scorers so far in KSL are Nat Sciver (169), Amy Satterthwaite (130), Tammy Beaumont (112) and…Emma Lamb (also with 112). With scores of 25, 26, 34 and 27, Lamb hasn’t rivalled the sheer dominance of the innings we’ve seen from the likes of Sciver, but her strike rate has been well over 100 and, as Satterthwaite put it after close of play, “She’s played exactly like we would want her to”. At just 18, she’s got a bright future ahead of her.

Talking of bright futures, Bryony Smith is clearly loving life right now – as the cheeky ramp shot she played over her shoulder for four today showed. Amy Satterthwaite, speaking after close of play, said that the opening 6 overs of the Stars’ innings had been vital: “I thought from the way the wicket was feeling at the time that [our score] would be just enough to try and scrape the win. The way they started left us in a pretty sore position to try and come back after the first six… In Twenty20 that first six can win or lose you the game.” Smith may have gotten herself out in the 7th over, but her 30 off 26 balls was an essential part of those crucial first 6. After Linsey Smith’s effort yesterday with the ball, perhaps we should be renaming this competition the Smith Super League?

A magnificent first international century from opener Laura Wolvaardt, and a remarkable 4th international 5-for from leg spinner Sune Luus, sealed an unassailable 3-0 lead for South Africa in their ODI series versus Ireland.

Opening the batting with Trisha Chetty, who herself went on to make 95, Wolvaardt played positive but virtually chanceless cricket from the start, the seventeen year old taking the lead in a record first wicket partnership of 192, before finally swinging and missing at a straight one from Louise McCarthy, as she tried to push on after passing 100 – her knock ending on 105 off 125 balls.

A rapid 22 off 13 balls from Mignon du Preez looked dangerous, before she dozily allowed herself to be run out, hesitating outside her crease after surviving an LBW appeal; and Ireland thereafter pulled things back somewhat – veteran Ciara Metcalfe the pick of the Irish bowlers with 2-37 – as the visitors closed on 260-6.

Irish openers Clare Shillington and debutante Una Raymond-Hoey came out with real intent – hitting 26 from the first two overs, and reaching 38 before Shillington was bowled off the final ball of the 5th over. The run rate then slowed significantly as Ireland lost Cath Dalton and Gaby Lewis cheaply – the latter the first of Sune Luus’ victims, as she tried to loft her back over her head, and was caught off a shot that was all loft, and not enough back over head!

That brought Kim Garth to the crease, who put on 99 with Isobel Joyce, and had the Irish thinking “maybe, just maybe”; but after Joyce was caught, mis-cutting a full ball straight to du Preez at point, Ireland’s hopes rested on Mary Waldron staying with Garth. Waldron hung on for 5 overs, but with the run rate climbing, she came down the pitch to Luus and was stumped with the score on 191. Ireland were to add just 2 more runs to their total as they were bowled out for 193, Garth stranded on 51* and Luus finishing with 5-32.

Afterwards Laura Wolvaardt spoke to CRICKETher about her hundred:

“It is quite amazing – it hasn’t really sunk in yet but it is a great feeling and hopefully the start of many more. [On 99] I was more nervous than I think I’ve ever been in my life – it was really stressful. I’m just happy I got bat on ball and didn’t stay on 99 for too long, because I think I might have died!”

Guest reporter Ben Gardner was at Blackpool last Friday to see Southern Vipers defeat Lancashire Thunder.

It was a shame really. This pitch, a used wicket, was slow and low, the kind that encourages neither extravagant strokeplay nor fast bowling. It took spin, allowing Hayley Matthews in particular to showcase her skills. But for crowds wanting to see a run-filled Twenty20, and for organisers wanting to showcase the women’s game, it was a disappointment. It was impressive that even 250 runs were scored in the match.

Still, for the convert, there is something in every pitch to be enjoyed, and it is part of the joy of the game that the surface can have such an impact. To see how players handle such a situation might be a lesser thrill, but a thrill nonetheless. And, for a tournament which aims to develop the younger generation of England stars, the manner in which three of the more experienced Southern Vipers players dealt with the challenge should provide a valuable template.

It was not that Sara McGlashan, Lydia Greenway, and Arran Brindle had greater ability to deal with what Lancashire Thunder were throwing at them; the former in particular struggled at first, and was tied down by the spin of Sophie Ecclestone and the impressive Hayley Matthews. At one point she was just 7 off 17. But she stuck at the task, refusing to give her wicket away, and eventually found a method to make runs. She would finish with 54 off 50 balls: the highest score of the tournament up to that point, as well as the longest innings.

This was a lesson in nous rather than technique, and how these three players adjusted and then met expectations was impressive. With a combined age of 98 years, they will surely have faced such challenges before, and it needed all their know-how to find a solution. McGlashan afterwards said that they “got to about 6-8 overs left and realised around 120/130 would probably be alright. So then it was a matter of just trying to be disciplined, not hit out too much, just work on 5s and 6s through singles.” Coming up with the plan is noteworthy enough, but sticking to it, trusting your assessment of the pitch and not going after balls that are not there to be hit, is worthy of special praise.

Another point of McGlashan’s innings that is worth highlighting was her ability to find a release shot when required. The most eye-catching was the elegant six over long on, off Kate Cross, but equally impressive was the manner in which she and Arran Brindle took Ecclestone’s last two overs for 22; her first two had gone for just 10. This was calculated, intelligent batting of the highest order. A lesser team would have surely folded for nearer to 100.

In the Super League so far, many of the most eye-catching performances have come from some of the youngest players. The likes of Georgia Adams, Katie George, and Bryony Smith have proved that this tournament can reveal players of quality, perhaps even future internationals. But on this occasion it was experience that dragged Vipers to what ended up being a winning total, and gave a prime example to all those watching of how to bat in difficult conditions.

When the initial Super League squads were announced, Berkshire left-arm spinner Linsey Smith was not even included in the list: her chance to play in the competition came only when Charlotte Edwards and Fi Morris collided horribly in the field in the Vipers’ first game last week and she was called in as cover.

Speaking exclusively to CRICKETher after the game, she admitted that even the chance to take to the field with the Vipers has been an unexpected bonus: “I’d been doing some training with the team but to get out there on a big stage like this is great. Just to be part of the team and to have an opportunity to play in the games has been amazing for me.”

But while Smith’s KSL career might have begun as a lucky break, it has not continued that way: it was only down to her own performance with the ball in the Vipers’ previous game, against Lancashire Thunder – she took 1-15 in her 4 overs – that she was retained in the starting XI for today’s match. She was clearly excited about having now claimed her spot in her own right: “I feel amazing. It’s a massive honour to be part of the Vipers with such a huge variety of players at such different levels, and some world-class players…we’ve got a lot of positive vibes in the team.”

On her bowling today – she finished with 4-10, currently the best figures in the competition – she acknowledged that things had gone to plan: “It was a pitch that suited my bowling quite a bit – quite a slow pitch. I was just trying to stick it in the wicket a little bit, making it hard for the batters by taking the pace off the ball, which went well.”

Linsey Smith celebrates taking the wicket of Alex Blackwell. Photo credit: Ruth Conchie.

Lastly, reflecting on the impact that KSL has had on her as a player, Smith was fulsome with her praise: “It just helps me get better and better really. I’m quite new to spin, still learning every game I play. So to have all these different experiences around me, both in games and out of games as well, is a huge opportunity for me to get better.”

Contrary to what seems to be becoming popular opinion, we’re not convinced there’s anything wrong with a low-scoring pitch in women’s T20 cricket – they can generate just as exciting a game as the high-scoring thriller we saw yesterday at Bristol. If this wasn’t that – and no one could really call today a “thriller” – it wasn’t the pitch’s fault; but the fact that Diamonds proved what we all suspected pre-tournament – they’ve got a very long tail.

It doesn’t help that Diamonds’ two overseas batsmen – Alex Blackwell and Beth Mooney – have almost totally failed with the bat, with scores of 3, 23 and 6, and 0, 9 and 17 respectively. Given that Ellyse Perry has also been having problems over at Lightning – she looked completely un-Perry-like when we saw her last Wednesday – is there something wider going on, in terms of Australian players who have flown over to England in the middle of their off-season being unable to recalibrate themselves quickly enough?

Meanwhile Suzie Bates – who’s been in good form with bat and ball – has been over here adjusting to English conditions with Kent for the last couple of months. This competition is very short, and having overseas players who’ve already been playing county cricket seems to have been a bigger advantage than we’d perhaps anticipated.

Alongside Bates, it was Arran Brindle who dug the Vipers out of the not-insubstantial hole they had thrown themselves into at 19-4 in the 7th over, steadying the ship from the instant she arrived at the crease – exactly the role she played so successfully for England in the last few years of her career. It’s patently obvious that she’s still a class above – and exactly what England have been missing since her retirement in February 2014. Sadly, we probably won’t be seeing her in an international shirt again – she gave a pretty unequivocal “no” when I asked her about the possibility of a comeback after close of play – but that’s one reason why it’s so exciting to see her back out there in this competition, playing against the world’s best.

But there were two real stars of today – and Linsey Smith deserves all the plaudits that we hope are coming her way. A week ago when we saw her at Loughborough she was running a how-fast-can-you-bowl sideshow – now she’s running the entire show, with the best bowling figures (4-10) in the competition to date. When she came into the attack at 32-2, the game was still just about in Yorkshire’s grasp; it was Smith who took it away from them with some highly intelligent bowling: a wicket-maiden first-up, followed by removing the dangerous Blackwell in her third over with a brilliant head-high reflex catch that otherwise would have gone crashing to the boundary. Perhaps she might even get her own Vipers shirt now!

Lastly, a mention to Carla Rudd – 2 stumpings today, and impeccable work with the gloves. It obviously helps that she’s used to keeping to bowlers like Smith and Fi Morris at Berkshire, but she’s barely put a foot wrong in this competition, and if you’re looking at the reasons why the Vipers have become the first team to qualify for Finals Day, she’s got to be a factor.

The ECB has today announced that six regional development centres – each aligned to one of the current KSL franchises – are set to launch this autumn, to provide high-quality coaching for up to 120 talented girls under the age of 16.

The new regional development centres replace the existing England Women’s Development Programme (EWDP) for Under-15s, which was a national programme that catered for only 20 girls. Each new regional centre will act as a feeder of the most talented players into the senior KSL side, with the aim that girls selected for the centres will aspire to play not just for their county but for their local KSL team.

The launch has been made possible by the awarding of Sport England funding under their “Reward and Incentive Programme”, which rewards national governing bodies who have performed exceptionally well in the 2013-17 cycle with increased investment.

The Under-19 EWDP, meanwhile, will continue to exist in its current form.

Reflecting on today’s tight game against Western Storm, which ended with a 5-wicket victory by the Storm with just 2 balls remaining, Surrey Stars captain Nat Sciver admitted that her team’s fielding had let them down.

“It’s a tough one,” she said, “because we did things so well for a long time in the game and then just at the end, when we needed a bit of composure, we put down a couple of catches and unfortunately we couldn’t help our bowlers over the line.”

One mistake in particular was clearly playing on her mind: “Dropping Taylor when she was on not very many runs has proved very costly.”

She stressed that her message to her team in the post-game debrief was to “keep your heads up”, but also that they would be working on improving their performance in the field before their next match at Guildford on Tuesday: “I’ll have a chat with the team and let them know that a bit of composure and calm can help…We need calmer heads and hopefully that’s something I can help them with.”

For Sciver, the challenge with Super League has partly been captaining a young and inexperienced side: “This has been a really good standard of tournament and it really shows what the step up is, and for some of the county girls it is a little bit different. It is definitely a learning curve.”

The Stars have now lost both their away games, while winning their home game at the Oval, but Sciver feels this is a coincidence: “I don’t think it matters that much. For most of the game today we were on top.”

On her own innings, meanwhile – she became the tournament’s top-scorer today, ending on 90* – she said: “That is as fluent as I have felt. They bowled quite a few balls short at me, which I don’t think was the plan, because I know Heather [Knight] knows I like it short. I just found they kept bowling in the area that I wanted!”

While Stars now face an uphill struggle to qualify for Finals Day, probably needing to win both their next games in order to do so, Sciver said that they would “throw everything into it…it’s all or nothing now.”