Guest reporter Ben Gardner was at the Oval on Thursday to watch a composed innings by Tammy Beaumont.

Tammy Beaumont walks out with Bryony Smith, bats in hand. Surrey Stars are chasing 134, and defeat will make it almost impossible to qualify for Finals Day. They are the most bowler-heavy team in the tournament, with most of the run scoring responsibility falling on the shoulders of Beaumont, and her England teammate Nat Sciver. In a format famous for its smash and grabs and 10 ball cameos, playing with responsibility its own special challenge, but it is one that Beaumont will thrive on.

It is Beaumont who takes strike for the first over. The bowler is Katharine Brunt, who is breathing fire, having smashed one of the longest sixes in the competition minutes previously. Beaumont leaves the second ball of the innings, and then nudges a single. Her opening partner, 18 year old Bryony Smith, follows her lead, and leaves the first two balls she faces. It is the first over of a T20 innings, but apart from the colour of the clothing, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t a Test match.

After 4 overs of their innings, Surrey are handily placed on 26/0. But 16 of those came off one Spragg over, containing 5 wides, and you get the sense she won’t bowl again. Surrey have seen Yorkshire Diamonds slip away after a strong start, and know that this could be the best time to bat; with pace on the ball, in the Powerplay. Brunt, who has conceded just 3 off 2 overs, returns to bowl her third. Smith so far has 1 off 7 Brunt balls.

Backward point. Midwicket. Cover. Cover. On both sides of the wicket, off front and back foot, Smith hammers Brunt. In front of over 2000 people, this 18 year old has announced herself in spectacular fashion. She has taken her time and exploded. Smith will later say Beaumont talked to her between every ball, giving advice. If just one of those pieces of advice was to give herself a chance, to make sure she’s seeing it properly before going for it, Beaumont deserves credit. It is certainly the example she set with her own innings.

At the end of the Powerplay, Surrey have 50, and the required rate is barely over a run a ball. They are well ahead of the game, but there is much left to be done. Too cautious an approach could see the rate spiral, but taking undue risks could lead to a collapse, and Beaumont plays it to perfection.

Her running is superb, turning twos into threes, and even stealing singles for her partner; when Nat Sciver nudges one behind her on the leg side, Beaumont calls confidently and scampers straight away, knowing she is running to the danger end, and backing herself to make it.

It is Sciver who will finish the game, ending on 29 off 24. But it is a cameo enabled by Beaumont’s strike rotation; from the start of Sciver’s innings until the start of the 16th over, she faces 18 balls while Beaumont faces just 7. From the end of the Powerplay up to this point, Beaumont faces 19 balls, scores just one boundary, but still scores 18 runs. It is a masterclass in keeping the scoreboard ticking over, and Beaumont never seems to be struggling to see where the next run will come from.

Beaumont’s acceleration, as with much else in her innings, is timed perfectly. She picks the bowler and the over, targeting Stephanie Butler’s spin in the 16th. She dabs and reverse sweeps her to the boundary on 3 occasions. At the start of the over, Stars needed a run a ball, ahead for sure, but with the game still a contest. By the end, they need just 15 off 24, and they’ll win with 11 balls to spare.

It is not just the pacing of this innings that Beaumont has timed well recently. At the beginning of the summer, with the England team in a state of flux, it was Beaumont who stepped up with 342 runs in 3 innings against Pakistan. Although she made her debut in 2009, she had not managed to fully establish herself, but the retirements of Charlotte Edwards and Lydia Greenway, and Sarah Taylor’s break from cricket meant that almost overnight she became one of the side’s most capped players. She is thriving on the extra responsibility.

In some ways it is not a surprise. Her skills suit responsibility well. She is able to bide her time while still scoring runs and then explode, which makes her ideally suited to play a senior batter’s long innings. It is heartening for both Surrey Stars and England to have a player who only seems to improve as more and more is expected of her.

This was one of those games that neither team, nor any one player, really dominated; but overall the Stars came out on top because they were able to somehow eke out those few extra runs here and there which got them over the line first – Tammy Beaumont (47) made a few more runs that Hollie Armitage (43); Bryony Smith (31) made a couple more than Lauren Winfield (29); Alex Hartley (2-18) was that bit less expensive than Jenny Gunn (2-19).

The “Over by Over” graph (above) is interesting because it shows the Diamonds cruising along at a pretty steady pace throughout their innings, at a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 per over.

In contrast, the Stars innings was all highs and lows – three Diamonds overs (1, 10 and 18) conceded just one run apiece, whilst 3 others (2, 5 and 16) went for 15 or more.

From the Diamonds’ perspective, perhaps eliminating 2 of those 3 expensive “peaks” could well have won them the game; but to be fair only in hindsight could you have predicted that Katherine Brunt, whose first two overs had conceded just 1 and 3, would suddenly go for 17 off Bryony Smith in her third; or that Steph Butler, who had bowled 2 overs for 10 up to that point, would disappear for 15 off Tammy Beaumont in her third.

Afterwards, 18-year-old Bryony Smith, who has stepped up to the opening role for the Stars after injury ruled out the more experienced Kirstie White, spoke to CRICKETher, having scored 31 priceless runs at the top of the Stars order:

“I’ve been opening for Surrey in county Twenty20. I like to open with the powerplay – one of my strengths is to hit through the gaps; and to bat with someone like Tammy, who has obviously got a wealth of experience, is really good – every ball we’d be talking – it’s good to have someone like her down the other end.”

“We were very disappointed after Sunday [losing to the Vipers] but we’re pleased for the team to get back on the board.”

First up: what an impressive effort by Loughborough to get a crowd of over 500 to their first KSL game. No, it wasn’t anywhere near the biggest crowd we’ve seen so far, but the Haslegrave ground isn’t one anyone could ever stumble over by chance and it’s pretty clear that the Lightning PR efforts have paid off big-time. Good on them.

Added to that, it was by far the best atmosphere at any of the KSL games which we’ve been at so far. There was music, bunting, people sitting on the boundary, and a real holiday atmosphere – only added to by the pink deckchairs around the boundary! Plus, there was an announcer-come-compere, whose between-overs commentary was evidently designed to make the game accessible to those who might not have seen much cricket before. We admit, we were sceptical about Loughborough being awarded a franchise – not any longer!

Secondly, this was clearly the game of the Super League (so far!) This is everything the competition should be – hard-fought, edge-of-the-seat stuff. A bit of a shock result in the end but that’s no bad thing at this stage of the competition – it just serves to blow it wide open.

In terms of the cricket itself, this was clearly a batsman’s game – as Amy Satterthwaite said speaking to us after close of play, “it was a great wicket”, and the outfield was pristine. However, Lancashire Thunder did nothing today to dispel the idea that they’ve got a very long tail – no one below number 4 got into double figures. Sure, you’ll win some T20s when your top 4 do their stuff, but you’ll lose a whole heap more. It’s got to be a worry for them going forward.

From a Lightning perspective, it was baffling that Georgia Elwiss chose to bring Ellyse Perry back on to bowl the 19th over after she’d just been tonked for 15 runs in the 17th. Actually Lightning had clawed it back somewhat in overs 13-16 with Sonia Odedra particularly doing a good job to only concede 5 runs off her 1 over of the day. So why persist with Perry? She couldn’t find her length at all today. It seemed a bit captaincy-by-reputation rather than captaining based on what is in front of you.

On Lightning’s performance with the bat, the key point to stress is that Paige Scholfield and Thea Brookes made the game into a game. Lightning were 88-7 when they came together and they could easily have holed out for 10 or 15 – in which case we’d be talking about a total wipeout by Thunder. It’s pretty much what Yorkshire Diamonds did on Saturday – by the time they were 6 wickets down they looked like they’d given up; and it turned into a walkover. Players might often talk in platitudes in post-match press conferences, but when Scholfield said today: ““We always go into batting with a positive mindset; the game’s never over until the last ball” – for once, it sounded like the player really meant it!

It’s a point made all the more impressive by the fact that Scholfield admitted after close of play that her first thought on walking out to bat in front of the 500-strong crowd was: “I’m so nervous!” Brookes said that while she was feeling “pretty devastated”, “getting within 7 runs of winning in the final over was massive…I’m over the moon for what [Paige and I] have come in and done for the team.”

One final point – it’s the small things that tell you something about a person, and it didn’t go unnoticed by us that Mark Robinson made a particular point of leaving the ECB shindig taking place in the Performance Centre after the match ended to come over and shake hands and commiserate with Scholfield and Brookes. A really lovely gesture.

Guest reporter Ben Gardner was there at the Ageas Bowl for yesterday’s KSL match to witness an important moment for Suzie Bates.

After 14 balls, Katie George’s Kia Super League campaign is going about as well as she could have dreamed. She has conceded just 3 runs, and all that is missing is a wicket or two. She looks every inch as if she belongs at this highest level.

Her 15^th ball is driven square by Nat Sciver for 4. It is the shot of the day so far, and there is no shame in conceding a boundary against a player of Sciver’s quality and explosiveness. But it is possible that just for a second the doubts creep in, or that she channels the frustration into trying just that bit too hard.

Her next ball is the worst ball she will bowl, by a long way. It is also the closest she will come to getting a wicket. A high full toss is lobbed to vacant square leg, but the fielders converging fail to call, or to listen. Both women, and the ball, end up on the ground.

We have seen such accidents end in serious injuries. There is a long delay. The Vipers fielders stand around doing not much, sipping drinks. The two players walk away from the incident, eventually, but one of them walks off the pitch. She is Charlotte Edwards, captain, star player, and probably the player Vipers least wanted to lose.

When such potentially horrific accidents occur, the match at hand gets pushed away from the front of a player’s mind. And when your team is on top, it can stay that way even when play resumes. It is in some ways understandable, but in a T20, when the course of a match can change in the space of one over, this can be fatal.

Whatever is going through George’s head, and it could be nothing, as she has done so little wrong, she manages to finish the over adequately, conceding just a couple from the last two balls. Still the over has cost 10.

The next over is bowled by Fi Morris. There is a deserved wicket, but also a half chance attacked not as vigorously as it would have been 15 minutes ago. An attempted boundary save goes awry, and Sciver is still there.

19 runs have come from the last two overs, over a third of Surrey Stars’ runs up to that point. Southern Vipers are still on top, but slightly less than they were. They were coasting, but now they are just starting to drift.

In Edwards’ absence, even in this team of stars, Suzie Bates is the obvious choice to take the reins. She is Wisden’s Leading Female Cricketer in the World, and the captain of New Zealand.

Bates senses that something needs to be done. The previous two overs feel perhaps like the kind that, with hindsight, we could end up crediting as a turning point. But Bates knows that there is no crisis, yet, and to act as if there is would be the surest way of creating one. No harsh words or rousing speeches are needed.

Instead she brings herself into the attack, and gets Sciver off strike with her first ball. Bates waves her arms about, manoeuvring the field, reengaging players’ minds and bodies. Her bowling is only tight, no more, but the focus and energy she displays transfers itself to the rest of the team, and the intensity is on show for the rest of the innings.

Bates reintroduces George for the 18^th over. George has bowled well enough to fully justify the decision, but it is still a brave call. Her last over went for 10 and injured the captain, and George is only 17. But Bates’ decision is completely vindicated. George is superb. The over also costs 3.

Bates bowls the 19^th herself, and gives up only 6. Surrey Stars make just 83.

It would be a mistake to say Bates seized the game by the scruff of the neck; she didn’t, and any attempt to do so would have been foolhardy. She merely rested a hand on the tiller and gently ushered her team back to the course it had been on. All she did was shuffle her bowlers and fielders, and maintain her standards with the ball in hand, but it was enough.

Bates will continue to lead with the bat, but again, not in the way we would usually think. Instead of trying to smash the way to the target herself, which she might well have been able to, she plays the role of old pro to Georgia Adams’ dashing youngster. Adams top scores with 41 off 43, while Bates makes 25, content with rotating the strike and offering words.

After the game, Adams says: “Suzie guided me through that innings… kept me calm, kept me level out there.”

This was the biggest day so far of so many of these players’ careers, and we could have looked back on Edwards walking off and called this added pressure a contributory factor in a reversal of fortunes. But Bates kept them calm, kept them level. She will surely have more explosive and eye catching performances this season. But in its own way, this might end up being the equal of any of them.

If the purpose of the Super League is to give some of the younger county prospects a chance to show what they can do, then today was a day when two of them did just that for the Vipers.

Seventeen year old Katie George had played just 27 times for Hampshire prior to today. Several of those games were in Div 3 of the County Championship, and none were higher than Div 2, so really this was her first ever match at this level, and she excelled – bowling 17 dots in her 4 overs. She might be disappointed she didn’t take a wicket, but if you can bowl 70% dots, you don’t need to take wickets in T20!

Then we had a fantastic contribution from Georgia Adams, eclipsing even Wisden’s Leading Women Cricketer in the World, Suzie Bates out in the middle. Adams has a lot more experience than George admittedly, playing for Sussex in Div 1, but for a long time she seemed to be a specialist in playing a couple of pretty shots and then getting out cheaply. Not today – in the biggest game of her life, she hung in there, and had a bit of luck being dropped by Marizanne Kapp, but you have to make the luck count, and “Gads” did today – top-scoring with 41 off 43 balls.

Afterwards, Georgia Adams spoke to our editor, Raf Nicholson:

“It’s another level. Looking out and playing at such a huge ground and a Test ground is brilliant, and looking round and seeing so many people, it’s completely new to me. I’ve never played anything quite like this.”

“Suzie guided me through that innings… the whole way through – her knowledge of the game and of the bowlers that we were facing – as batter it helps so much to have an extra bit of info – it kept me calm and kept me level out there.”