Before England’s match at Chelmsford last Wednesday evening a special ceremony took place, as three girls from the East London Girls club were presented with bats on behalf of the Cricket Society.

The bats – which are from Cricket Deal Direct’s Heather Knight Collection – are part of a wider three-year bursary scheme funded by the Cricket Society through Chance to Shine Street. The Society are using a legacy which was left to them by a former officer, Vivienne Hogarth, with the request that it be used to help talented but needy cricketers.

Chairman of the Cricket Society Nigel Hancock was at Chelmsford to witness the presentation, and explained that the Society had been keen to use the money to aid grassroots women’s cricket, and had chosen to act as a funder for Chance to Shine as a result.

The girls themselves were clearly thrilled with their new bats, which they personally chose, and with the opportunity to meet England players Charlotte Edwards and Heather Knight before seeing them in action. 15-year-old Kiran, who has been playing cricket for two years, said:

“The bat feels amazing. It’s so good. My bat’s nothing like this!”

Kiran is just one of 400 girls annually who since 2011 have benefitted from the expansion of Chance to Shine’s Street scheme, which is now a national programme designed to provide opportunities to participate in cricket where the sport would not otherwise be accessible.

While cricket was not offered at her school, when Chance to Shine Street held an event at Wanstead School two years ago Kiran decided to go along, and fell in love with the game.

“Cricket’s not like any other sport,” she told CRICKETher. “Every ball you’re watching, and every ball is different. I would love to play for England one day!”

The East London Girls club is one of several girls-only schemes which Chance to Shine Street have introduced, and forms part of the general expansion of girls’ cricket in Essex in recent years, spearheaded by Essex Cricket Board’s Dave Letch. Several of the girls from East London now also play for Wanstead CC.

After the award, the girls stayed on to watch England Women beat Australia in spectacular fashion. It was certainly great to see them being inspired by the very player, Heather Knight, whose name and signature adorns their new bats.

Steve Dent Reports

Gloucestershire 249 – 8 (50 overs) beat Dorset 62 all out (28.4 overs) by 187 runs

Sidra Khan’s hat trick was the highlight as Gloucestershire Women secured the Division 4 championship and promotion back to Division 3 with a comprehensive win against Dorset at Dean Park in Bournemouth. Khan’s hat trick came in fantastic figures of 5.4 – 3 – 3 – 5 with all three batters being bowled.

Sidra Khan

With most of the team departing from Gloucestershire well before 7am in the morning, it was a slightly weary group that arrived in Bournemouth at 9.15am to be greeted with a very wet square and the prospect of a delayed start. Thankfully the ground staff worked superbly to get things ready and play started 75 mins late at 12.15pm after Dorset had won the toss and decided to field. Conditions were not going to be easy with a slow wicket, very slow outfield and 90m boundaries!

Alice Hill and Charlie Walker opened the batting and continued their successful partnership with both batting intelligently and with a good understanding. With boundaries in short supply they ran plenty of singles, twos and threes as they put on 61 in 13.3 overs before Alice got a leading edge and was caught at short mid wicket for 32 from 44 balls. Bethan Moorcraft fell in exactly the same way for 6 and was then followed by Walker who again was defeated by the slow wicket, caught at short extra for 32 from 53 balls.

Naomi Forecast and Danielle Gibson then entertained the watching support with an exciting partnership. Naomi picked the gaps skilfully and Danielle attacked the bowling positively as the pair put on 65 in 10.3 overs. Gibson was then caught at short extra cover for 27 from 28 balls with 2 boundaries.

Forecast, who has been in prolific form for the U17’s this season, continued in a partnership with Eve Alder and after despatching a full toss to the mid wicket boundary, reached her first senior half century from 55 balls. She was then caught shortly after for an excellent 51. Alder and April Wells continued to push up the total as they put on 44 before Wells was bowled for 15.

Eve’s intelligent knock kept pushing the score towards the 250 mark and she and Hannah Thompson continued to hit the gaps as they put on 27 in only 3 overs without a boundary! Eve was run out from the penultimate ball of the innings for 36, with Hannah finishing on 14 not out as Gloucestershire posted 249 – 8 from their 50 overs.

After a reduced break, Gloucestershire set out to defend 249 and got off to a great start with 2 wickets in the first 5 overs for Charlie Walker as she trapped Lowman lbw for 1 and bowled Oliver without scoring to reduce Dorset to 9 – 2. Pearce and Pack then frustrated the bowlers as they put on 25 in 10 overs before Chloe Davis got an lbw decision to dismiss Pack for 11.

The introduction of Sidra Khan saw a remarkable collapse as Dorset slipped from 41 – 3 to 48 – 9 in only 3.2 overs. Khan’s hat trick came in the 21st over as she clean bowled Callaghan, Brown and Rickman to wild celebrations from everyone of her team mates – a fantastic achievement from a very popular member of the team.

Chloe Davis then chipped in with 2 further wickets, one lbw and the other a catch off her own bowling, before Charlie Walker took a smart flat catch at cover to give Khan her 4th wicket. It was Sidra who finished the match with her 5th wicket having Thomas caught behind by Laura Marshall as Dorset were bowled out for 62 in 28.4 overs.

Davis finished with a fine 3 – 26 from 10 overs of leg spin, Walker 2 – 7 from 4 overs and there were tight spells without luck from Eve Alder 0 – 7 from 4 and Alice Hill 0 – 9 from 5 overs. The star of the bowling show however was Sidra Khan with 5 – 3 from 5.4 overs.

The final wicket was met by delighted celebrations from the whole team as the win secured promotion back to Division 3. The team only dropped 1 point in their 4 games and finished with a game average of 17.75.

Coach Steve Dent commented “Today was the epitome of a team performance with every single player making a contribution to a comprehensive win. We were all so pleased for Sid who was amazing with the ball today and the celebrations for the hat trick showed what a superb team spirit exists amongst all the girls. It was also very pleasing to see Naomi Forecast get her first senior 50, hopefully the first of many for her. At the beginning of the season we set out to achieve promotion back to Division 3 and I have nothing but admiration for how the team have gone about this throughout the season. We have plenty of challenges ahead in 2016, but have a young improving squad and the future for women’s cricket in the county is very exciting”

Martin Saxon Reports

Cup Final 

Wistaston Swans 100-4 (20; Hannah Thornhill 26ret, Katie Haszeldine 20*)

Chester Boughton Hall Deemons 80-5 (20; Beth Nicholson 22*, Thornhill 3-14)

Wistaston Swans are the T20 champions of Cheshire women’s cricket for the second year in succession after an all round display saw off Chester Boughton Hall Deemons. The experience of captain Alison Smith and Laura Newton had played a major part in getting them to the final, but here some of their many talented young players made significant contributions.

Despite scoring very few boundaries, some excellent rotation of the strike saw them reach three figures. Then Hannah Thornhill, who had top scored with the bat, took the key wickets at the start of the Chester reply.

From 25-4, Beth Nicholson and Maeve Sparks managed to put a partnership together, but the asking rate proved just too high. Katie Haszeldine, Hannah Bratt and Abbie Adams supplied some tight overs, all backed up by some excellent fielding.

Wistaston can now make it a T20 double by winning next Sunday’s Knockout Cup Final, where Chester once again provide their opposition.

Scorecard

Plate Final 

Oakmere Kats 103-5 (20; Shami Ahmed 27ret, Kate Skelhorn 25ret, Vicky Heaton 21*, Olivia Teasdale 2-11)

Trafford MV 34 (11.3; Vicky Dean 18, Sarah Worsdale 7-2, Rachel Tidd 2-17)

Earlier in the day, Oakmere comprehensively won the Plate Final. There can be few better occasions than a final to produce a record breaking bowling performance, but Sarah Worsdale’s return here was not only the best recorded in the history of this competition, it is also a record for any competition run by the League.

Chasing a stiff total, Trafford had reached 27 for no loss, but were already falling behind the asking rate after a miserly spell from Kate Skelhorn. Then the procession of batsmen back to the pavilion started when Worsdale claimed a hat-trick that included the prize scalps of Penny Critchlow and Carol Ingham. She continued to hit the stumps with remarkable regularity thereafter to claim her record haul.

Very few women cricketers anywhere in England get to experience the nerves and excitement that come from a cup final, so this day in the Cheshire League calendar is genuinely a unique occasion.

Scorecard

Ellyse Perry was rightly named Player of the 2015 Women’s Ashes Series, topping the charts for both runs (264) and wickets (16); but who was your England Player of the Series?

A five-fer from Kelly Castle saw Essex continue their late-season bid to remain in Division 2 of the county championship, as they bowled Scotland out for 116 to win by 34 runs.

It was a day for the bowlers, as Hannah Jeffery also had cause to celebrate, becoming the first ever woman to take 100 1st XI wickets for Essex.

Scotland struggled in conditions which became ever more overcast as the afternoon progressed, losing 3 quick wickets early on, all to the accuracy of Castle (5-18), who bowled Rachel Scholes and then trapped both Kathryn Bryce and Kari Anderson lbw.

Jeffery, who had been keeping her team on tenterhooks, then at last had the chance to celebrate her 100th wicket as she bowled Kirstie Gordon for a duck, leaving Scotland 36-5 after 18 overs.

Scotland rallied with a 42-run partnership between skipper Abbi Aitken (22) and Sarah Bryce (11), but when the two were dismissed in successive overs just after drinks – Aitken caught at silly point attempting to punish the bowling of Essex captain Hannah Courtnell – Scotland slid further towards the point of no return.

Sam “Haggis” Haggo lived up to her nickname, playing with heart for a late-order 25*. But she was left stranded as Castle wrapped up a successful day for herself and her side with two more quick wickets to finish Scotland off in the 37th over.

Earlier, having won the toss, Scotland had elected to field first on a green wicket, but Essex got off to a flier, reaching 31-0 after 5 overs.

The introduction of left-arm spinner Gordon (3-16) to the attack helped peg Essex back, but a quick-fire 23 from Mady Villiers, batting in conjunction with her captain, clawed it back for the home side and allowed them to reach a fair total of 150.

While Scotland were sharp in the field – with three good run-outs, including a throw-in from Scholes to end Villiers’ innings – their bowlers did struggle at times to find the right line, with “Wides” (29) finishing the day as top-scorer for Essex.

Essex have labelled their late-season fixtures “Operation No Relegation”, after a poor start to the season left them languishing second from bottom of Division 2. Captain Hannah Courtnell, speaking to CRICKETher after the game, praised her team for their recent two wins, but emphasised how important it is that they finish the season well:

“We’ve gone down last year from Division 1 and that hit us hard, and we’re in a phase now where we’re trying to rebuild. We’re finding our game now, we’re finding what’s right for us.”

“We know we’re bottom of the table, and we know how tight it is, and we don’t want to go down.”

This year there are no county championship play-offs, meaning that the two teams who finish bottom of Division 2 – currently Essex and Scotland – will face automatic relegation. Essex’s final two fixtures of the season – against Staffordshire today, and Durham on 13 September – will thus be crucial in determining whether Courtnell’s team can do as they are hoping to and succeed in Operation No Relegation.

Women’s Test cricket is under attack – and this time not just from the usual trolls on Twitter; but from influential voices within the men’s game.

The Guardian’s Cricket Correspondent, former Test bowler Mike Selvey, who has almost 25,000 followers on Twitter, described the recent Women’s Ashes Test as “the worst possible advertisement” for the women’s game and called upon those who support the concept of women’s Tests to “think again… [and] let go.”

Meanwhile in The Times, Sky presenter and ex-England captain Mike Atherton (over 100,000 Twitter followers) called the Test “tedious viewing” which had “set back the cause of women’s cricket”.

It is obviously very disappointing to see the likes of Selvey and Atherton use their pulpits in the national press to publish such destructive attacks on the women’s game, especially given the likelihood that not only is this the only column each will write on the  subject this year, but probably also the only such piece many of their congregation will read.

Fortunately, any decisions on the future of women’s Tests will be made not by members of the Third Estate, but by those responsible for the custodianship of the women’s game at the ECB, Cricket Australia and the BCCI in India – among which none are more influential than the Head of Women’s Cricket at  the ECB, and chair of the ICC’s Women’s Cricket Committee, Clare Connor.

And Connor is making a stand.

Asked by CRICKETher about her commitment to the longest form of the Women’s game, she drew a clear line in the sand:

“I would never want to be part of an administration that strikes a line through Test cricket. I would hate that.”

And regarding the Test’s place in the Women’s Ashes points format:

“We’ve kept [women’s Test cricket] alive by this bigger scenario; and I will fight to continue to do that.”

But it was when asked “Why?” that Connor’s true passion rang through:

“[It’s for] the players – it’s sacred for them – it’s one of their proudest moments.”

An administrator she may be these days, but like the child, the player inside never dies… and the player inside Clare Connor is alive and kicking and ready to fight for women’s Test cricket.