Raf and Syd discuss travel exemptions ahead of the World Cup in New Zealand; Rachel Priest’s retirement; the Cricket Australia cuts; England players returning to training; Katherine Brunt’s future; and, in an alternative universe, which England team would have been taking to the field against India next week?
Plus… via the magic of green screen we’re at a Kia Super League ground – but which one?
The ECB have announced that 24 players will return to training on Monday 22 June in preparation for the proposed tri-series between England, India and South Africa in September, with uncapped fast bowlers Lauren Bell and Issy Wong amongst their number.
The announcement suggests that both Bell and Wong, who impressed for Southern Vipers in the KSL last season, could be in line to make their international debuts in September, should the proposed tri-series take place as intended.
With all 22 contracted England players also returning to training, it looks likely that the ECB are expecting the tri-series to consist of a high number of compressed fixtures, meaning that there will be more players in line for international duty than usual this summer.
The training sessions will take place under the same medical guidelines and bio-secure conditions as have been in place for England Men. The 24 players will initially train on their own before progressing to small group training, and they will be based across six different venues: the National Performance Centre, Loughborough; Emerald Headingley, Yorkshire; The Kia Oval, London; Bristol County Ground, Bristol; Chester Boughton Hall CC, Lancashire Cheshire; and the 1st Central County Ground, Hove.
Full squads for the series and a list of fixtures will be announced in due course.
The full list of 24 players returning to training is as follows:
Raf and Syd discuss the appointment of Heather Knight as PCA Vice Chair; the return of Lauren Winfield, Amy Jones and Lisa Keightley from Australia; what the elimination of coronavirus from New Zealand might mean for the 2021 Women’s World Cup; and does women’s cricket need shorter pitches?
Plus… via the magic of green screen we’re at a match between Warwickshire and Middlesex… but where is it being played?
Raf and Syd discuss Black Lives Matter, asking: does women’s cricket have a problem? While in other news they discuss the latest on WBBL, as Meg Lanning floats the idea of a return to double-headers; and Raf gives us an update on the English domestic contracts.
Plus… via the magic of green screen, we’ve hijacked the Sky Pod… but which English county ground have we driven it to?
Raf and Syd discuss the success of the CRICKETish Cup; Cricket Australia’s summer schedule; the challenges of reopening big sporting venues to the public; the UK government’s plans for the resumption of elite sport; and the latest on the domestic retainers.
Plus… via the magic of green screen… where and when are we?
With “real” county cricket in abeyance, we got together with @WomensCricDay, @WomensCricBlog and WomensCricket.net to run the CRICKETish Cup – a virtual women’s cricket competition played in cyberspace!
On a thrilling night at Lord’s, North East Warriors carried off the inaugural Cricketish Cup, defying the odds to defeat favourites Surrey by just two runs!
Division 1 newcomers Warriors had already taken the scalp of Sussex in the semi-final and repeated that underdog victory as Laura Ellison defended 7 off the last over in a nail-biting climax.
Surrey had looked in control as Sophia Dunkley (19) and Aylish Cranstone (18) took them within 25 runs of victory with more than four overs left, building on the foundation laid by Bryony Smith (29) and Nat Sciver (25), but both were dismissed in the space of five balls and the Surrey lower order couldn’t find a way over the line from there.
Skipper Hannah Jones took two off each of Ellison’s first two balls to leave her side needing four from four, but when she fell lbw two balls later it left Rhianna Southby to find a boundary off the final ball. She could only find Lizzie Scott at midwicket and the trophy was off to the North East amid huge celebrations.
Earlier, openers Laura Hockaday (21) and Layla Tipton (22) produced another solid opening partnership of 44, only to be dismissed off consecutive deliveries, and when Warriors subsided to 74 for 5 after the unfortunate run out of Ami Campbell for 13 they looked in danger of falling short of a challenging score.
However, youngster Ciara Boaden (30) more than made up for her part in Campbell’s departure as she marshalled the lower order expertly and helped set a target of 131 for Surrey to win.
Jones took three wickets for the Oval side, but the pick of the bowlers was undoubtedly Beth Kerins with 2 for 13 off four miserly overs.
Warriors backed up an excellent fielding display in the semi-final with similar vigour here as they threw themselves at everything to keep Smith and Sciver from cutting loose. There were two wickets each for skipper Helen Fenby, Bailey Wanless and Lizzie Scott who finished as leading wicket-taker for the competition with eight, whilst Tipton topped the run-scoring charts with 108 across the three games.
The Player of the Match Award, meanwhile, went to Boaden for her excellent innings and two fine catches to oust Sciver and Cranstone at critical moments.
So the Trophy travels up to the North East, and it may stay there permanently if rumoured plans to play real cricket again one day come to fruition…
Raf & Syd are (virtually!!) at Lords for this evening’s final of the CRICKETish Cup – follow @WomensCricDay for all the cyberaction from 6pm! They discuss the value of the new domestic retainers and contracts in England, England’s evolving plans for trying to get some cricket this summer, a possible reduced WBBL, and the ICC’s Back to Cricket guidelines.
The ECB’s new retainers, which will be awarded to 24 domestic players and will begin on 1 June, will be worth £1,000 a month; while the 40 new full-time domestic professionals – whose contracts will commence later in the summer – will earn £18,000 a year, CRICKETher has learned.
All of those awarded retainers will subsequently be upgraded to a full-time domestic contract once these kick in later in the summer.
The remaining contracts will be confirmed after the Centre of Excellence fixtures have been played in September, presumably based on player performances during the competition.
All CoE players, meanwhile – assuming at least some fixtures go ahead this season – will be paid a match fee of approximately £200 per game.
From 2021, the £18,000 will be supplemented by payments for The Hundred (Women’s Competition), which for domestic female players will likely range between £3,600 and £9,000.
This would still, however, mean that all domestic players would earn less than the PCA’s mandated minimum wage for full-time professional cricketers in England, which last June was set at £27,500.
As predicted in our weekly vodcast, the ECB have confirmed that domestic retainers will be introduced from June 1st, in order to partially compensate players who were hoping to receive one of 40 new domestic contracts, which were supposed to have started at the beginning of this summer.
The ECB have said that up to 24 women will receive a retainer, which will come with reciprocal obligations on the players to start work on taking their anti-corruption and anti-doping education modules online, as well as following strength and conditioning programmes at home throughout the lockdown.
The ECB have not said how much the retainers are worth or who will receive them, though the implication appears to be that the players will be selected by the Regional Directors of Women’s Cricket at the 8 new Centres of Excellence, which were also confirmed last week.
Raf & Syd discuss when and how England might return to training; hosts for the Regional Centres of Excellence; retainers & match fees for domestic players; the postponement of the World Cup qualifier; and when might big cricket stadiums be able to reopen?
Plus, this week we’re at yet another iconic cricketing venue – can you work out a) where we are, and b) which England player says this is her favourite ground?
CRICKETher 