This week:

• Thunder at Finals Day – literally!
• Farewell to Anya Shrubsole
• Weird goings on at Sunrisers
• Ashes squad announcement – who should be included based on Lottie Cup performances?

“The history books never mention the losers,” said Steve McManaman on comms during the Men’s Champions League final last night. He took a bit of stick for it on social media, but in context (i.e. sporting history) it’s true, isn’t it? Vipers retained the Charlotte Edwards cup in emphatic style at Worcester today; and no one will remember that it was Blaze who topped the table with a massive 31 points – 9 more than Vipers; and it was Blaze who won 7 games out of 7 in the group stages, while Vipers won just 5 and lost 2.

In a sense, it is a massively unfair result – Blaze were so dominant in the group stages and if anyone deserved something from the day, it was them; but trophies in this game aren’t awarded for group stages. Whilst this was Blaze’s first final since Lightning (as they then were) made the KSL final in 2018, that was the last year that Vipers didn’t make a finals day, and they have now won 4 of the 6 trophies available since the inception of regionals in 2020. That experience really told at Worcester over the past 2 days.

With Anya Shrubsole leading Vipers onto the field last night, speculation was rife that this signified her final game for the club, and she tearfully confirmed as much in the post-match interview as she received the Payer of the Match medal, having bowled Vipers into an essentially unassailable position prior to the rains last night, with Blaze 53-4 after 9.3 overs. On another occasion, Danni Wyatt (50 off 28 balls) might have argued with that Player of the Match award, but she had already bagged one bottle of champagne English sparkling wine this weekend for her performance in the semi-final, and besides… this was Anya’s day.

Blaze’s only hope was to come out all guns… er… blazing this morning. If they had been able to add another 100 runs, they might have made a game of it, but they struggled to find the boundary. Marie Kelly finished as their top scorer with an all-run 26 – no 4s or 6s at all. Given the deluge of rain yesterday, and the fact that the water table apparently remains very high at Worcester for the time of year, we wondered if perhaps the outfield had just slowed-up; but the first two overs of Vipers’ innings quickly put that idea to bed – Wyatt running riot of Grace Ballinger in the 2nd over, taking her for 17 runs. They didn’t quite maintain that pace, but by the end of the powerplay, they were already more than half-way home.

By the time they lost the wickets of Maia Bouchier in the 7th over, it was already essentially done and dusted as a contest. Ella McCaughan called Danni Wyatt through for a quick single, but Wyatt basically just shook her head and held her hand up, as if to say: “Chill, kiddo – we got this!”

Freya Kemp looked like Freya Kemp again for the first time since her partial comeback from injury, playing as a pure batter – effortlessly crashing Lucy Higham to the boundary for a consecutive 6 and 4 on her way to 13 off 8 balls; but it was left to Georgia Adams, later named Player of the Tournament, to hit the winning runs and start the celebrations.

When Australia won the T20 World Cup in South Africa a few months ago, some commented that their celebrations seemed muted – as if their senses had been dulled by so many trophy wins in the past few years. There was no such reticence from Vipers today – they enjoyed this one as much as any of the others. They might have lost 3 games already this season. They might have had a panic over the wicket-keeping role. But they are the Charlotte Edwards Cup champions again, and that’s all that history will remember.

When Bryony Smith made her ODI debut in June 2019, having played a few T20s the previous summer, I wrote a piece suggesting that then-coach Mark Robinson might have solved a big problem for England by finding a role for her which really fitted – as a bowling allrounder who could seriously hit a ball.

But Robinson himself clearly wasn’t convinced – it remains the only ODI she has played, and she didn’t win another T20 cap either until last summer. She won 5 more caps in 2022 under Lisa Keightley, but Keightley didn’t seem entirely sure what her role was either – initially selecting her to bat at 3, then bumping her down the order after Alice Capsey came onto the scene. She was then dropped completely for a winter which included the T20 World Cup, and didn’t even make the cut as Capsey’s understudy, with Dani Gibson named as the reserve for South Africa.

At Stars, however, her role has been very clear for a while: come in opening-up and use the powerplay to hit over the top – get the first punch in, leaving the opposition dazed and confused in the dust. It doesn’t always work – she is out caught a lot – but this season she seems to have added a bit more oomph to a game that was already power-heavy. The numbers speak for themselves – leading run-scorer, and the 2nd highest strike rate in the comp*.

(* Minimum 25 balls faced – the “real” highest strike rate is Freya Davies – 200, consisting of 8 off 4 deliveries faced.)

Might another England call-up – which would feel almost like a third debut – now be on the cards for Smith? It would have to be in that powerplay role – that’s her game – and Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt both look quite established in those opening slots, but if one of them should fall by the wayside (and Wyatt is obviously closer to the end of her career than the beginning of it) Smith is now the obvious choice.

Getting back to the rankings, Nat Sciver-Brunt comes in 2nd, despite having only played 4 games. It feels like a long time since we’ve been able to say an Englishwoman is the Best Player in the World™ and an English player has never won Wisden‘s Leading Woman Cricketer in the World, but no one has been better-placed to change that than Sciver-Brunt is right now – all she needs to do is win The Ashes single-handedly and it’s hers! (Easy-as… right?)

In terms of up-and-coming players, the aforementioned Dani Gibson, cracking the top 10 at No. 9, is obviously the next player on England’s radar. Some players are “batting allrounders” and some are “bowling allrounders”, but Gibson is more that old-school “genuine allrounder”, who you’d pick as either. Moreover, she has really pushed-on over the winter, adding more power to her batting game, and a lovely slower ball to her seam-bowling armoury, and there is a good chance she’ll win a T20 cap this summer – if not against Australia then versus Sri Lanka in September.

Ranking = Runs * Strike Rate

During the first 3 seasons of regionals, overseas signings in the RHF Trophy and CE Cup felt somewhat ad-hoc; but increased budgets this year have meant players being signed for longer blocks on a more strategic basis. While some teams have gone down the route of hiring internationally retired superstars, such as Deandra Dottin at Thunder and Dane van Niekerk at Sunrisers (neither of whom have set the summer on fire), others have opted for utility all-rounders, like Erin Burns at Sparks and Nadine de Klerk at Blaze.

Neither Burns nor de Klerk are anywhere near superstar territory – Burns has won just 6 caps in a lengthy career, and while de Klerk has played 60-odd, she had a poor World Cup, taking just 2 wickets and finishing the competition as her side’s most expensive bowler. And yet… here we are – de Klerk finishes the group stages of the CE Cup as its leading bowler, having taken 14 wickets at an Economy Rate under 6, with Burns also making the top 10.

The one semi-retired superstar who has had a successful CE Cup is Anya Shrubsole – with Vipers missing key players throughout the competition due to England red-ball warm-ups ahead of the Ashes, their player-coach has stepped-up with 9 wickets, to keep their campaign alive into Finals Day.

The other key player keeping Vipers hanging in there (and compared with previous seasons, it has been a case of “hanging in”) has been Linsey Smith, who ranks 2nd with a tournament-leading economy rate of 4.89, despite having bowled a lot of overs in the powerplay. (And amazingly, that tournament-leading economy rate for once doesn’t need to be caveated with “minimum x overs bowled” – it is actually the real leading rate!)

In terms of future prospects 20-year old Grace Hall, in her first season with Diamonds, might be one to keep an eye on, having out-bowled a lot of bigger names to make it into the top 10. She isn’t super-quick, but with a slingy, almost round-arm action and (appropriately enough for a true-born Yorkshire lass) a great yorker, she offers something a bit different which England might want to be taking an interest in, in the near future.

Ranking = Wickets / Economy

This week:

• Who’s on track for CE Cup Finals Day?
• Our take on THAT Thea Brookes interview
• Where the PCA gets it wrong
• Syd has a bonkers idea about Bryony Smith… & an excellent one about women’s county cricket

On a breezy day at Bristol, Storm cruised to a win which was ultimately far easier than the 4-ball margin on the scorecard would suggest.

Chasing Sparks’ 135, Storm got off to a decent start, with Dani Gibson playing some authoritative strokes early on, finding the boundary in each of the first 3 overs. Gibson has been a key player for Storm this season, but she couldn’t push on today, caught low at extra cover by Erin Burns for 18 off 14.

With Ami Campbell holding on to a difficult low chance to dismiss Nat Wraith, Sparks could have had an opening, but Storm continued to tick along at just over 8 an over, reaching 51-2 at the end of the powerplay with Fran Wilson having taken over from Gibson as the playmaker.

With Irish allrounder Orla Prendergast in tow, Wilson guided Storm to 77-2 at 10 overs, gradually whittling down the rate as she dinked it all around the ground in the manner of… well… Fran Wilson.

Prendergast should have been caught on 20, skying an easy chance to deep mid on, only for Georgia Davis to misjudge it horrendously coming out of the midday sun, shrivelling in embarrassment as it plopped onto the turf a yard behind her.

The partnership between Wilson and Prendergast yielded 57 runs before Wilson’s innings came to an end for 34, stumped coming down the track to Hannah Baker, easily Sparks’ standout bowler on the day.

The runs dried up a bit without Wilson’s impetus, but this was partly achieved by Sparks bowling-out trump-card Hannah Baker, turning the required 21 off the final 4 overs into something of a formality.

Sparks had a couple of opportunities to keep it interesting – a chance to stump Luff off Georgia Davis went begging, and Luff was also dropped off the first ball of the final over; but Prendergast then guided the next delivery over the ring into the vacant outfield to bring up the winning runs, the Irish international finishing 46* off 43 balls.

Sparks (who, at time of writing, are not mathematically out of the tournament, but are very close to being so) will take the positives from a productive (if chancy!) knock of 22 off 23 from Davina Perrin and a highly professional 66 off 45 balls from Aussie veteran Erin Burns.

Perrin had her first little bit of luck on 6 when a lofted drive passed inches from Sophia Smale’s outstretched right hand as it went for 4; and was then horribly dropped by Smale the following delivery. She continued to live a charmed life playing largely over the infield, until finally caught on the ring by Chloe Skelton for 22 off 23.

At the half-way mark, Sparks were 57-3 and staring down the barrel at a somewhat sub-par total. But with Burns on 17 having faced just 14 deliveries, there was an opportunity to build something defendable, and it was an opportunity Burns took, putting on 66 with Abi Freeborn.

Neither found the boundary as much as they might have liked, but both ran hard between the wickets to make up for it – going into the death overs at 99-3 with the chance to capitalise on their wickets in hand. Burns’ innings ended on the second ball of the final over but a strong death phase took them to 135 and gave them something to bowl at, albeit ultimately not quite enough.

The win keeps Storm’s slim hopes of reaching Finals Day alive, though this may change with 3 other matches completing later today.

Sunrisers continued their winless start to the 2023 Charlotte Edwards Cup with a four-wicket defeat to local rivals South East Stars – a disappointing end to their first ever fixture at Lord’s.

Set a target of 133, Stars looked to be cruising along, adding 61 runs in the powerplay. Bryony Smith continued her form from Tuesday’s match against Vipers (when she struck 83), while Alice Capsey made an exhilarating return to the side, smashing 24 from 10 balls including some glorious aerial drives.

The pair added 30 runs in just 2 overs, but Capsey was out in the seventh, falling to a very good catch from Mady Villiers, diving forwards at long on.

Smith survived a couple of difficult caught-and-bowled chances from Villiers and Abtaha Maqsood to reach 38 from 27, finally holing out to deep midwicket in the 12th.

Stars continued to lose wickets at the back end, including two in the 16th over to Grace Scrivens, who appeared very much to be directing on-field proceedings, having regular conversations with Dane van Niekerk between balls.

But a calm innings from Phoebe Franklin (30 off 36), and a final boundary punched hard through point by Kira Chathli, finished the job with an over to spare.

Sunrisers had rejigged their batting line-up after defeat to Central Sparks at Chelmsford a week ago, with van Niekerk making her long-waited debut for the side, while Villiers was promoted to open alongside the South African.

The pair added 32 for the first wicket – though van Niekerk was put down twice in Phoebe Franklin’s opening over – but could not build enough of a platform to take Sunrisers to a winning total.

Paige Scholfield made the initial breakthrough in the fifth over, as van Niekerk’s wild swing found air and she was bowled, before Villiers bottom-edged onto her own stumps two overs later.

Sunrisers then sunk from 40 for 2 to 64 for 6, thanks partly to some atrocious running between the wickets. Scrivens was undone by a poor call from Cordelia Griffith and a piece of good fortune – Chathli fumbled the throw-in from Bryony Smith at midwicket, but the ball ricocheted off her foot and dislodged the bails anyway.

Griffith was then involved in an extraordinary mix-up with Amara Carr, which saw the two batters almost collide halfway down the wicket. Carr had to make an emergency diversion around Griffith, and was run out at the non-strikers end.

An unsettled-looking Griffith holed out to Tash Farrant at deep square leg two overs later.

It looked like humiliation for Sunrisers, until Jo Gardner and Eva Gray ensured their team at least made a decent fist of it, with a partnership of 48 for the seventh wicket, which lifted the home side above 100.

But Gardner ultimately became the third run-out victim of the innings, coming down the track from the non-strikers end while Gray remained firmly in her crease.

Sunrisers have work to do before their bottom-of-the-table clash against Thunder on Saturday.

Southern Vipers triumphed over South East Stars by 6 wickets to get their Charlotte Edwards Cup title defence off to a flier, in spite of a record-breaking first-wicket partnership of 134 between Bryony Smith (83) and Sophia Dunkley (53).

Vipers made easy work of the 170-run target set for them by Stars, with Charlie Dean (20*) hitting back-to-back boundaries against Phoebe Franklin to take them over the line with 7 balls to spare.

The game was hosted by Falkland Cricket Club in Newbury, making it the first ever professional cricket match to be hosted in the county of Berkshire.

Vipers have always played their home games in either Hampshire (Ageas Bowl) or Sussex (Hove), so it was nice to have a reminder that the regional side also incorporates Berkshire. A crowd of roughly 400, including 150 local schoolchildren, enjoyed the match from the boundary edge; and after Vipers sealed the win, home-grown bowler Lauren Bell was mobbed for autographs.

Vipers won the toss and opted to bowl first, but looked to be ruing their decision after a mammoth, dual onslaught from Smith and Dunkley. Smith looked the most comfortable of the two, enjoying delicious helpings on the leg-side, pulling Georgia Adams for back-to-back sixes over midwicket, and forcing Anya Shrubsole out of the attack in her first competitive game of the season, after her two overs went at 13.5.

Smith was put down on 51* by Linsey Smith, who dropped a skier running in from cover. In the end, only a messy run out in the 15th over, courtesy of a throw-in from Alice Monaghan on the deep midwicket boundary, prevented her from progressing on to a century.

Dunkley fell in the next over, stepping across her stumps to cut but succeeding only in sending a thick edge through to the keeper, allowing Vipers to stifle their opponents in the final few overs. The crowd particularly enjoyed the spectacle of local hero Bell finishing the innings with two wickets in the final over – bowling both Alice Davidson-Richards and Tash Farrant – although they were denied the hat-trick by a whisker, as the ball whistled over the stumps of Kira Chathli.

In reply, Maia Bouchier (30 from 18) got things underway with a glorious drive down the ground for four, as part of a wayward, 18-run opening over from Ryana Macdonald-Gay. Bouchier shared a 50-run opening stand with Danni Wyatt, but was run out in the 5th over after Wyatt called for a second run, chancing the arm of Paige Scholfield in the deep.

Vipers overseas wicketkeeper Nicole Faltum was caught by a diving Dunkley at cover off Freya Davies, while Wyatt herself chipped one up to backward point 10 runs short of a half-century.

But the platform had been laid, and with the target in relatively easy reach, Georgia Adams (29), Georgia Elwiss (28*) and Dean simply had to place the ball well, run hard, and watch the scoreboard tick along.