FEATURE: South Asian Cricket Academy Addressing Tier Two’s “Postcode Lottery”

Posted by Raf Nicholson

Next week is a big week for the South Asian Cricket Academy. In January, SACA launched their first ever women’s programme after receiving funding from ECB; after a rigorous recruitment process, the first cohort of 15 will take to the field for their first match, against Warwickshire.

SACA is a non-profit organisation designed to tackle the lack of British South Asian representation in professional cricket across the UK. For the first four years, it was a male-only undertaking – but given that SACA founder Tom Brown has a strong connection to women’s cricket, it was clearly only a matter of time before that changed.

“All my coaching journey was in the women’s game,” Brown says. “I was one of the senior coaches at Warwickshire and I met my partner Marie Kelly there, who’s at The Blaze. And I’m the lead scout for England Women as well. I’ve always had quite a big interest in the women’s game.”

Research undertaken by PhD student Hina Shafi has revealed that the representation of South Asian women drops drastically between involvement in the recreational game and entry into / retention in professional cricket. SACA’s programme aims to provide bespoke support, helping address those barriers.

Isa Guha’s Take Her Lead charity are collaborating with SACA to deliver the programme. “They take care of the coaching, but we’re there to give them the additional support that they need to be able to take those next steps in cricket,” Guha said.

“We’ve got a mental health practitioner on our board, Kay Baig. We’ve got some players & former players – myself, Sonia Odedra and Abtaha Maqsood, so there’s intersectionality across the board. There’s nutritional support, with Krushmi Chheda, the Rajasthan Royals nutritionist, who ran a few workshops which have been incredible. They did a session with Alison Mitchell around media training, because they recognise their role as role models in the sport.”

Originally, the idea was to recruit 6 to 8 women for the programme – but the calibre of applicants was so high that Brown and his team changed their minds. “We realised there was a lot of talent out there. We’re still getting applicants through at the minute but we’re going to keep it smaller to start with, because we want to give a lot to these girls, rather than be spread too thin – that’s a lesson we learned from the lads.”

It means that as well as workshops and coaching, the players have a full programme of fixtures against Tier One second XIs to look forward to this summer. For Nayma Sheikh, a leg-spinner and left-hand batter who represents Scotland and Leicestershire, that’s crucial.

“In Scotland, you don’t get that many games,” she says. “For me the reason I applied to SACA was to showcase my skills to major counties, for them to see that I am there.”

She adds that the environment is second to none in terms of support: “You have that connection with the other girls straight away. I’ve had loads of opportunities for one-on-one coaching sessions, and the coaches know so much about leg-spin.”

For now, the programme is a pilot, funded by ECB – but the hope is to be able to expand beyond this initial intake. Brown says one thing which has already become clear is that the new tiered women’s domestic set-up is falling short in delivering consistent opportunities for female players across the country. SACA is filling that gap.

“Tier Two is a little bit of a postcode lottery. Some of these girls, if they were just living in a different county, would be playing in Tier Two,” he says. “For some of them, this is their first experience of being in an environment where it’s built for them and it’s not a turn-up and have a net, it’s a real high performance environment. They’re quite green but they’re taking to it well.”

The aim, he says, is to replicate the success they have achieved in the men’s game: there are now 18 graduates of the SACA programme with pro contracts at first-class counties. “A couple of these girls are good enough for Tier One now. And therefore it’s on us to make sure that our networks are good and that we’re getting them the right opportunities.”

Here are the 15 players in the programme:

Bhoomika Bhat
Anusha Chauhan
Kashish Choudhary
Imaan Effendi
Maryam Faisal
Iqraa Hussain
Amarah Imran
Anjali Ketan
Sanya Khurana
Riva Pindoria
Zaynah Rehman
Rhia Sedha
Nayma Sheikh
Asmi Shembekar
Regina Suddahazai Khan

INTERVIEW: Scotland Coach Craig Wallace Relishing Kirstie Gordon’s Return

Posted by Raf Nicholson

On the day Scotland announced their squad for the forthcoming T20 World Cup, Scotland head coach Craig Wallace spoke to CRICKETher about the long-awaited return of a certain Kirstie Gordon – who is available for selection for Scotland for the first time since 2017.

Back in February, Raf interviewed Kirstie for The Observer (paywalled link); the Blaze captain explained that a conversation with Craig had been instrumental in her decision to return to her home nation. So we got his side of the story!

He recalled: “The last time I was in Nottingham, seeing Kathryn and Sarah [Bryce], I messaged Kirstie saying, ‘shall we have a little catch-up?’

“I tried not to be too intense. We had a drink. I literally said, ‘what is your plan?’ And I managed to outline the next year and a half to her.

“And I could see in her eyes, she was like, ‘wow, I want to do that’. I left that meeting quite happy!”

We asked exactly what he said to persuade Kirstie that the time was right to return. “It’s the team,” he said. “It’s how well we’re playing, how well we’re acting as human beings and as people. For me that was the easiest sell – we are going to this World Cup, we are going hopefully to many more World Cups, and we will keep improving and playing a brand of cricket that I can be proud of, that she wants to be part of.

“It’s not the team it was when she made her debut – it’s so much bigger and better than that,” he added.

He apparently messaged Kirstie when the England squad was released to check in, concerned that there might be doubt or regret bubbling up. “But there was literally nothing. She just said, ‘I cannot wait to get started’.”

As for how Kirstie is feeling about facing her old team, England, at Headingley on 20 June?

“She’ll be excited to take them on. That day will be me trying to calm her down, more than anything! And try and make sure that we get the best out of her.”

A fired-up Kirstie Gordon? It should be a cracker of a match!

The full Scotland World Cup squad is below:

Kathryn Bryce (captain) – Blaze
Chloe Abel – Gunnersbury / New Town
Olivia Bell – Lancashire
Sarah Bryce – Blaze
Darcey Carter – Lancashire
Priyanaz Chatterji – Surrey
Gabriella Fontenla – Yorkshire Academy
Katherine Fraser – Durham
Kirstie Gordon – Blaze
Ailsa Lister – Lancashire
Maisie Maceira – Carlton
Abtaha Maqsood – Essex
Megan McColl – Glamorgan
Rachel Slater – Yorkshire
Pippa Sproul – Hampshire

NEWS: Last Ball Drama in Delayed 2025 Cheshire Knockout Final

Posted by Guest

By Martin Saxon

2025 Senior Knockout Final: Didsbury 87-8, Lindow 88-8

2025 Development Knockout Final: Alvanley 70-9, Lindow 71-1

Early May isn’t usually the time for cricket cup finals, but at Grappenhall today, four teams were engaged in a third attempt to play the 2025 hardball T20 knockout finals, after two unsuccessful attempts last year.

It turned out to be a double celebration for Lindow as their first team won the Senior Knockout final and their seconds triumphed in the Development Knockout final. This also completed a season double for both teams at the Wilmslow club, as their 1^st XI were champions of Cheshire Women’s League Division 1 in 2025, and their 2^nd XI won Division 3 East.

There may have been some close finishes to Cheshire cup finals over the years, but surely nothing to match the drama of today’s encounter. Lindow’s Katie Farmer hit a single from the final ball to take the Wilmslow club past the target. In truth, Didsbury needed a wicket from that last delivery to pull off victory, as a simple dot ball would have left the teams tied on both runs and wickets. With the 19 over scores also the same, the decisive factor would have been the 18 over countback, when Lindow were one run ahead.

Didsbury’s Emily Wilkins opened the match by hitting the first delivery for four, but the runs quickly dried up. Emily Page took two early wickets, Libby Ackerley bowled her four overs straight through for just 10 runs and at the halfway stage, Didsbury had still scored only 35 and had not hit any more boundaries.

Things improved a little with 52 in the second half, but Roshini Prince-Navaratnam’s 35 from 45 balls was the only double figure score in the South Manchester club’s innings. Libby Taylor took 3-5 in two overs at the death just as Didsbury would have been hoping to accelerate.

Lindow began their reply by losing regular wickets, but at 37-3 after six overs and 51-4 after nine, they were staying well ahead of the required rate. The next seven overs would produce just 15 further runs and see three wickets fall, including that of Lindow top scorer Heidi Cheadle for 29. It really did seem like the bowling efforts of Prince-Navaratnam and Isabelle Hevican had turned the game in Didsbury’s favour.

The next twist came in the 17^th over as 10 were added to the score. This kicked off a stand between Farmer and Page which took Lindow within 12 of victory. Three more overs of four runs each – including a couple of wides as the pressure mounted, and some scampered byes and leg byes – then took Lindow to the magic score of 88.

Earlier in the day, Lindow’s second team enjoyed a more comfortable victory. Last August, in the first attempt to play the match, Alvanley’s bowlers reduced their opposition to 39-9, but the tables were turned here by Lindow’s new ball pair of Claire Ashworth and Bethany Seddon.

Put into bat, Alvanley slumped to 19-6. After surviving the first eight deliveries without mishap, two wickets fell before the end of the second over, and further wickets fell in the third, fourth, fifth and six overs as Seddon claimed a 4-14 return and Ashworth bowled her three overs for just four runs, taking two wickets.

Agatha Simmons and Lucy Powell led a recovery of sorts, adding 33 for the seventh wicket, with Simmons the eighth to fall, for the innings top score of 70.

Despite the partial recovery, a target of 71 never looked a daunting one. Lindow’s reply began at a rate of five per over and the scoring rate never dropped too far below this, as a nine-wicket win was wrapped up in 15.2 overs – Nikki Hill’s 25 not out being the top score.

The League thanks Grappenhall CC for hosting the event, and umpires Derek Barnett and Tony Sayle.

ONE DAY CUP: Surrey v Durham – Filer’s Flurry in Surrey

Posted by Raf Nicholson

Rumour has it* that Charlotte Edwards was at The Oval today (Ed: is she following us around?) although she didn’t actually prove visible to the naked eye – much like some of the balls in Lauren Filer’s opening spell.

After winning the toss under blue skies at The Oval, Durham had posted 256 for 8. A skipper’s knock of 106 from Hollie Armitage, a nifty half-century from Mady Villiers and a handy back-end cameo of 18 not out off 10 balls from Sophia Turner all played a role.

But it looked to be well light of a competitive total on a belter of a wicket at The Oval. That is, until Filer began her work.

It’s a bit of an open secret that Edwards has not yet settled on her World Cup Fifteen – hence pulling all the England contracted players out of the One-Day Cup earlier this week for an intra-squad camp. Some big decisions lie ahead, including what is likely to be a three-way fight for one spot in the World Cup squad between Filer, Issy Wong and Em Arlott.

Over in Chelmsford, Wong (0-21 off 4 overs) was being pummelled by Grace Scrivens, while Arlott (2-14 off 5) was economical but unspectacular.

Meanwhile here in Surrey, Durham’s powerplay bowling exactly epitomised Edwards’s dilemma: go with the safe option of Arlott, or throw caution to the winds and opt for the ferocity of Filer?

Filer started with an erratic no-ball beamer which hurtled over the fine leg boundary, costing a sum total of five runs. She also fell over in her follow-through three times in as many overs – a worrying habit which England confidently claimed last year that they had cured her of.

“The first couple of overs was a bit of a pick and mix,” Filer said afterwards. “I said to Hollie [Armitage], ‘I’m sorry mate, I’ve probably not bowled as straight as I can’ – but the balls that did go straight were wickets. So it was just taking the confidence from those balls into future overs.”

She blamed her falls on “a big divot in the foot holes” and joked: “It’s not Lauren Filer if I don’t fall over.”

In fact, the Surrey top-order looked genuinely frightened of her pace: a fear which translated into figures of 3 for 13 in her first three overs. Paige Scholfield and Alice Davidson-Richards both had their middle stumps pegged back; in between, Alice Capsey was hurried into a drive and got an edge behind – albeit reliant on a fantastic diving catch from Tahlia Wilson to pouch it.

Just how quick was Filer bowling in the powerplay? There was no speed gun in operation, but Filer reckoned: “There were a few balls that were pretty up there.” (A reminder that for Filer, that means high 70s – she’s apparently been clocked at 80mph in training.)

Kira Chathli fought fire with fire, pulling and crunching Filer’s next over for 14 runs. But when the England quick returned for a second spell, Armitage tapped Filer on the shoulder and indicated that she should put in a deep square leg. Sure enough, Chathli sent one down her throat, handing Filer a fourth wicket and Armitage some field-placement bragging rights.

Filer often only looks dangerous when fresh, so perhaps the most interesting part of today was that her third spell (which consisted of two overs, the 29th and 30th) proved almost as threatening as her first. She basically bounced out the 19-year-old Jemima Spence, who tried to keep her body out of the way while waving her bat around, and was bowled.

The upshot of it all was that Filer finished with 5-59 – a List A best.

Of course, a typically aggressive innings from Danni Wyatt-Hodge eventually saw Surrey win by 3 wickets, picking up a bonus point in the process. But if Filer earns selection in a home World Cup on the back of today, maybe she’s the real winner?

The question, as ever, is whether the guaranteed risk is worth the possible reward. Only one woman knows the answer – and for now, she is keeping her counsel.

*Later confirmed by Filer after the match.

WNCL: Queensland Prevail In Charged WNCL Final

Posted by Guest

By Helen Maynard-Casely

Grace Harris celebrates her century with batting partner Georgia Redmayne who also reached the milestone later in the innings.

Queensland Fire were propelled by centuries from Grace Harris and Georgia Redmayne to victory in the 2025/26 Women’s National Cricket League today at Cricket Central in Sydney. Having featured in the last three finals, this was third time lucky for the Queensland team, also enacting revenge on NSW Breakers who had swiped the Ruth Preddey Cup from their grasp last season. In a close match, made more dramatic by weather interruptions and a revised DLS-affected target, the day’s theatre was directed by the batters out in the field.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat, Queensland knew they would need a good total to defend. But the Breakers were first to strike, with captain Lauren Cheatle continuing her habit of taking early wickets by beating the inside edge of Jess Jonassen to dislodge the bails. A few overs later Matilan Brown struck when Charli Knott edged her delivery to the keeper’s gloves, sending Knott back to the sheds for a duck. However, the Breakers’ commanding early position was effectively dismantled by a huge third wicket partnership of 192 runs built by Redmayne and Harris. Harris was in particularly devastating form, probably smarting from little time at crease during recent international stints, she expanded into her innings from early hard drives down the ground, to later pull shots for 6. In true Harris tradition her batting caused one ball to be abandoned on a roof, and nearly had another lost in the scrub around the oval. Her disciplined batting gave little chances for the NSW fielders, with one notable exception when Cheatle dropped a sitter off Sarah Coyte’s bowling. After completing her century Grace Harris looked set to continue, but fell soon to some wily bowling from veteran Georgia Adams – Harris departing for 111 off of 94 balls. The relief of breaking the Harris-Redmayne partnership was short-lived as Lauren Winfield-Hill set about her batting at pace, reaching 50 runs from only 30 deliveries. By the time Redmayne and Winfield-Hill were both caught off Coyte’s bowling in the 46th over, 296 runs were on the board. An end of innings push by the lower order Queensland batters took the innings total to 332: the biggest WNCL innings total at Cricket Central so far, beating the 309 the Breakers scored against Queensland a month ago.

NSW openers Tahlia Wilson and Alyssa Healy got to the business of the chase in fine style, unruffled by the magnitude of the task. With ominous clouds building, there were probably back-room instructions to keep ahead of the DLS par should the game be ended prematurely. Healy, in her last ever professional match, brought her experience to the task and kept a measured pace such that the score was always just neatly ahead of the DLS par. Wilson followed suit, and between them they put on a 121 run partnership before Healy placed her final short in professional cricket into the hands of Ruby Strange, just as the rain started to fall. Katie Mack joined Wilson at the crease, but only two overs later play was suspended as lightning crackled around the ground – NSW at this stage were 1/129 and ahead of the DLS par score.

Alyssa Healy, departing from the crease in her last professional game.

A long break ensued, and while the ground was spared the dramatic storms that drove over Sydney that afternoon, the proximity of the lightning kept players from returning to the ground until 5:35pm, much to the increasing frustration of the Queensland players. With the NSW innings shortened to 32 overs and a revised DLS target of 220 runs – the wet outfield and looming darkness were to provide additional challenges to the run rate for the NSW batters.

But Wilson and Mack charged in an electric atmosphere created by the crowd, setting the tone with aggressive running between the wickets to not only put pressure on the Queensland field but also to keep up to the run rate. Needing 91 runs from 9 overs at the resumption of play, four overs later Wilson and Mack had put on 44 runs and were beginning to look in control of this challenging chase. But Jess Jonassen changing ends seemed to be the magic twist that the Queensland team needed, and in the 28th over they forced the run out of Wilson, a few balls before Katie Mack was caught in the deep by Grace Harris. New batters Anika Learoyd and Georgia Adams arrived at the crease and the next stage of this all-or-nothing chase began. Learoyd and Adams battled valiantly and continued to pressure the Queensland field, such that even when a running mix-up occurred, the Fire were not able to execute the run out. But the pressure of the run rate was also showing on the batting, and Learoyd fell making a valiant push for boundaries, Charli Knott taking a catch just inside the rope in the penultimate over. With 15 needed off the last over, Jonassen took the ball and bowled tightly enough that Adams and Maitlan Brown were unable to get more than 2 runs from any delivery. Brown was run out, and then Adams was caught off the last ball, sealing Queensland’s victory by just 7 runs.

Helen (Crystallised Cricket) is a writer based in Dharug and Gundagarra country, and here is writing about a game played on Dharug country. She acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands that she writes from.

INDIA v AUSTRALIA – TEST DAY 3: India Crushed as Healy Goes Out on a High

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Helen Maynard-Casely at the WACA

Australian captain Alyssa Healy contemplates the pitch decoration as she walks out to shake hands with the Indian team. Image credit Andy Casely

It took less than 100 minutes today for Australia to wrap up the Test with a bow. Even as they strode out to the middle the Indian batters knew that this was a tough day at the office. That said, returning batters Pratika Rawal and Sneh Rana set to business in the first 30 minutes, and Rawal turned her 43 overnight into a half century. The batters worked past the 125 run deficit from the first innings and began to build a lead. But they faced the spin of Ashleigh Gardner and Alana King, and with a WACA pitch starting to crack in after the high heat that was never going to end well.

Just as we were thinking of looking up the records for India 7th wicket partnerships, Gardner’s bowling beat Rana’s outside edge and she was wandering back to the sidelines. The nameless* Kashvee Gautam came and went for a duck – not able to replicate her heroic 34 runs from the first innings when Alyssa Healy plucked a ball in the slips from Alana King’s delivery. Soon after Sayali Satghare fell similarly to close fielding off King’s bowling. The Indian innings was dealt its final blow when Annabelle Sutherland made an insane amount of ground to take a diving catch sent sky high by Rawal off of Garner’s delivery. India were only 24 runs ahead.

The change of innings was rapid, and Australian openers Phoebe Litchfield and Georgia Voll were perhaps impatient to get into their ice baths. A small wobble of a LBW challenge on Voll hardly seemed to phase the pair, and in the 4th over the innings it was the Queenslander who swept a classy shot through the close field to the boundary to bring up the total, the match and the series.

Beth Mooney hugs Alyssa Healy, and we can only interpret quite how much went into that hug. From shared experiences, to the passing of the gloves, a tender moment to witness. Image credit Andy Casely

And so ended the 152nd Women’s Test, not perhaps a classic of the genre, but notable for Australia as they have now won three test matches in a row, well and truly reversing the spate of drawn Tests. Despite the team only playing on average one Test a year, they have found the tactics to force a win, and with this exerted dominance on the multi-format series that they have played.

One can use this juncture to wax lyrical on the departure of Alyssa Healy from both captaincy and the international game. On reflection it is not so much that she was an innovator of the women’s game, but she was the most stalwart of ambassadors. Having worked in the game through the advent of professionalism and overseeing the transition, she was the ultimate advocate in nudging space and visibility for the women’s game. This was of course coupled by her fierce determination to never be anyone’s niece, or wife, but very much a cricketer to excel in her very own right. We are glad we got to watch her play, and because of her impact many more will grace a similar stage.

*OK, this should be explained, the author is still rather fuming that ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY (of all occasions) the Indian cricket team can send a player into the TEST field without the dignity of including her name on her shirt (she literally had duct tape covering over another’s name on her shirt). Though such actions should never detract from the players themselves it is a reflection of how the administration that oversees them views them.

Helen (Crystallised Cricket) is a writer based in Dharug and Gundagarra country, and here is writing about a game played on Whadjuk country. She acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands that she writes from.

INDIA v AUSTRALIA – TEST DAY 2: Australian Heroes Journey Continues as Milestones Pass

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Helen Maynard-Casely at the WACA

Australia conducted the second day of the Test to near perfection, keeping India in the field through the heat of the day and batting at an aggressive rate – resulting in the tourists finding themselves batting in the dreaded twilight session. The loss of the top order without finding a lead has India needing something extremely special on the third day to remain competitive in this Test and the series.

The WACA scoreboard during the tea break.

It is probably returning on the second day where it really sinks in that you are playing Test cricket. Muscles are sore from the day previous, and you find yourself again in the field wearing whites (hopefully with your name on) and battling on. The game becomes more of a journey, and instead of one destination, there are virtual (and real) milestones to mark the progress.

As Ellyse Perry returned to the crease, after sitting on 43 overnight, she would have known that only 30 runs separated her from two auspicious markers. The first was to be only the second Australian Woman to reach 1000 test runs, and the second would be that she would only need three further runs to pass Karen Rolton’s career total of 1002 runs. Perry was not to allow the Indian bowlers to deprive her of this feat, and working with her overnight batting partner Annabelle Sutherland looked unruffled as the session progressed. Not only did they both seem unfazed by the 39 degree heat (running three effortlessly) they each used boundaries to glide past their half centuries. As a result of the momentum, Perry broke both 1000 runs and then became the highest test run scorer for Australia in a matter of balls.

But even as Perry reached this lofty position, there would have been mutterings in the crowd that it was unlikely that she would hold this record for the 16 years that Rolton did. As she stagnated just past the total, Sutherland accelerated to meet her score – and when Perry was dismissed LBW by Deepti Sharma it was perhaps a nuanced passing of the guard. Sutherland continued in her own hero’s journey, and by just after the tea break brought up her century with a whippy pull shot to backward point, reaching the milestone of the first Australian woman to score four test centuries at just 24 years old, and with many years ahead to pass Perry’s new Test runs mark. She batted on through the heat, with her Test average climbing with her live score, peaking at over 100 before she fell also to Sharma’s bowling – punching a ball too high and into the hands of Harmapreet Kaur.

Annabelle Sutherland returns to the dugout after scoring 129, an innings that cemented herself into the Australian Test records. Image Credit Mike Edelstein.

The Indian spinners worked through the heat of the day, and though giving Sutherland leeway, they had otherwise restricted the Australian middle order. Ashleigh Gardner only scored 1 run, Talia McGrath 13 runs and Beth Mooney just 19. But Australia had built a lead, and by the time India’s pace attack – headlined by debutant Sayali Satghare – finished the tail, late afternoon shadows had consumed the ground. Satghare finished the innings 4 wickets for 50 runs, when she forced Lucy Hamilton to push a ball into Sneh Rana’s hands (the latter redeeming herself after an awkward drop off Mooney’s second ball).

You have to wonder though, if this was the trap Australia had set. Throughout their batting innings each of the players had batted relatively aggressively (considering the few Test innings these players get) to the point that you had to wonder if this was the game plan. To get 100 or so ahead, and to put India back into bat in the twilight session. If so, it worked perfectly, Australia’s reply of 323 to the Indians’ first inning totals of 198 – meant that they had a 125 run cushion, with tricky pink ball batting conditions facing India.

Bowling pace under the lights, Australia had a dream start when Darcie Brown sent Smriti Mandhana’s leg stump tumbling, with the India opener only on 2 runs. Verma fell in short order, nicking Lucy Hamilton’s delivery to Beth Mooney. India’s batters struggled on, with only Pratika Rawal proving resilient. She had to watch helpless as four more of her batting partners fell to the Australian pace attack, Hamilton picking up the wickets of Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh in the 24th over. Sneh Rana joined Rawal and survived at the crease up to stumps, and India finished the day still 20 runs behind the Australian total with 4 wickets remaining.

An odyssey of a day in Test cricket at the WACA, but hard to go past the controlling tactics of the Australia team. They will return tomorrow likely to clinch the 4 points from the Test victory and the series win.

INDIA v AUSTRALIA – TEST DAY 1: Australian Smiles as India Struggle

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Helen Maynard-Casely at the WACA

Australia have the upper hand after the first day in their one off Test against India. India batted first and despite several batters getting good starts, the visitors struggled to 198 runs in their first innings. Today not only marked the start of the Test, but also the first game since the West Australian Cricket Association ground’s upgrades were completed. The players greeted not only new stands and manicured grass hills, but also the novelty of people spectating as they queue for a water slide that snakes down one of the light towers. (The opportunity to actually watch the cricket from within a swimming pool will definitely be indulged by this author at some point in the proceedings).

*As the floodlights started to dominate the WACA twilight, Australia contemplate how to finish off the Indian tail.*

The teams took on the WACA pitch and heat today in the 152nd Women’s test. To put that into context, the most experienced Test player competing today, Ellyse Perry, was contesting her 15th Test match. In the time since she made her Test debut in 2008, the Australian men’s side have played 196 Test matches.

So this rare contesting of the format inspires much joy, always coupled with a little trepidation. The joy was apparent with the awarding of a baggy green to Lucy Hamilton, and the trepidation evident in both sides batting form.

Harmapreet Kaur led a side changed somewhat from the ODI series, adjusting for injuries and looking for players to suit the conditions. Australian captain Alyssa Healy won the toss and put the visitors into bat, with Hamilton’s excitement extending to the first wicket of the match, when she took out Smitri Mandhana’s middle stump in the 5th over. Shafali Verma capitalised on a cautious start to her innings, but with 35 runs on the board, she nicked an Annabelle Sutherland delivery to the waiting gloves of keeper Beth Mooney. By the first break of the day India were on shaky ground at 4/99 with captain Kaur and Pratika Rawal also out.

Into the late afternoon diminutive Jemimah Rodrigues worked to push the looming Australian field out and away from her. With both Georgia Voll and Phoebe Litchfield fielding under the lids close in, she seemed surrounded and isolated from Deepti Sharma at the other end. They weathered this close field that accompanied Ash Gardner’s bowling waiting for their chances. As crowd favourite Alana King was brought in midway through the second session, Rodrigues took her chance – putting several boundaries away. This accelerated her towards her half century, bringing that up in the 57^th over – off 70 deliveries. But this was to be the only milestone reached by the Indian batters – with Sharma, Richa Ghosh then Rodrigues all sending shots into the waiting hands of the Australian fielders.

As shadows lengthened in the middle session of the day-night match, the Indian tail fought on, Kashvee Gautam in particular hitting a number of good boundaries. But this wasn’t to last, and as night fell so did the final Indian wickets, resulting in a first innings total of 198. Sutherland was the most successful of the Australian bowlers with 4 wickets for her 17 over, conceding only 46 runs; plus three wickets for debutant Lucy Hamilton.

Under lights the Australian openers Georgia Voll and Phoebe Litchfield strode out. Neither looked comfortable in the conditions, and seemed rattled early by India’s pace openers. Voll’s wicket, bowled for only 2 runs by Sayali Satghare, brought the sun-faded helmet of its owner Ellyse Perry to the crease. After weathering some attritional deliveries, Perry released tension by cracking an on drive to the boundary to the delight of the crowd. But the home team were not to find comfort for too long – a lightning quick diving effort from Rodrigues snatched a seemingly impossible catch to dismiss Litchfield.

Suddenly Healy and Pez were at the crease together, and as much as many of us hoped it would never end, the classic partnership was relatively short-lived with Healy getting dismissed by Sayali’s bowling forcing her to hit an uppish shot for an easy catch by Rodridges. The day was seen out at the crease by Pez and Pez 2.0 (aka Sutherland), with both settled under the floodlights and with Indian bowling in the last part of the day’s play. Australia will return tomorrow with two previous double centenarians wanting to build on what India may already be viewing as an ominous partnership.

WNCL: NSW Breakers Dodge Thunder to Secure Finals Spot

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By Helen Maynard-Casely

In the Southern Hemisphere the cricket season is getting to the pointy end. Those out of the running for finals are probably looking towards the off-season. It’s now round 6 (the penultimate) of the WNCL and it is down to only a few teams in the hunt for the two final spots. NSW Breakers, current table leaders by a margin, came into the round in pole position only needing one more win to secure their spot, but the chase for who will join them is on. WA have already continued their bid for this, with a double win over Victoria in this round. SA will be visiting ACT later in the round, needing two wins in Canberra to keep their final hopes alive. QLD Fire have a bye this round, so can only wait it out for now.

But eyes today were to NSW who were hosting Tasmania at Cricket Central. The Breakers, wanting to consolidate the top of the standing and punt towards hosting rights for the final; vs Tasmania, unfortunately not in the hunt for finals, but looking to regain form after a challenging middle part of the season.

Tasmanian ranks were bolstered by the return of both Lizelle Lee from the WPL and Kathryn Bryce from Scotland duties. NSW retained Alyssa Healy in the side, but Ellyse Perry’s spell for her state is over now, as she is with the Australian squad for the international series against India already in full swing. In her place NSW bought in young gun Lucy Finn for her first state cap – last seen with her heroic-but-unsuccessful 49 not out for Sydney Thunder in the WBBL, the tall pace bowler would add to the NSW attack.

Not only did the sides today have to battle each other, but the heat was oppressive especially in the first innings. Tasmania won the toss and put NSW in to bat in a humid 33 degrees Celsius, but with the humidity it felt more like 37 in the middle.

The Breakers had a good powerplay, getting 57 runs on the board and only losing Healy, who flighted the second delivery by Courtney Sippel to the short mid-wicket fielder. With Tahlia Wilson following her a few overs later, this brought together Katie Mack and Anika Learoyd at the crease. From here the two of them formed a partnership to anchor the innings, weathering spells of tricksy bowling from the Tasmanians. Spin in particular seemed to tie them both down, and during the middle overs runs were hard to come by. But they persisted, and by the time the partnership was broken as Learoyd played an ill-advised ramp shot in search of the boundary and her fifty, NSW were at a healthy 195 runs for three wickets in the 34th over.

Katie Mack continued, supported by both Claire Moore then Maitlan Brown, but she fell one run short of her century, caught by Emma Manix-Geeves off Bryce’s bowling as she pulled a shot over her shoulder. A clatter of wickets at the end had NSW all out as they completed their overs, posting 274 runs – which included 5 penalty runs incurred when the ball hit Lizelle Lee’s discarded helmet during the innings.

With 275 to chase down, Tasmania would have hoped that openers Lee and Rachel Treneman (currently the leading run scorer in the competition) would put a good dent in the total. That was not to be the case, with Breakers captain Lauren Cheatle bowling Trenaman in the opening over, the ball finding middle stump to send the bails flying. The second over saw Lizelle Lee caught amazingly by a sprawling Sam Bates at deep fine leg for a duck. With Elyse Villani and Ruth Johnston following them back to the pavilion soon after the Tasmanian innings was in disarray at 4/22 in only the 6th over. But like the NSW innings, Tasmanian batters Emma Manix-Geeve and Kartyn Bryce formed an anchor partnership to bring themselves back into contention for the game. Manix-Geeves took a while to get runs, but suddenly in the 10th over worked out Maitlan Brown’s bowling and got three boundaries off consecutive balls, frustrating Brown’s tight bowling spell.

Manix-Geeves reaches her century, but ultimately in vain as Tasmania had a hard day out against NSW

From there Manix-Geeves and Bryce built a good partnership, going toe-to-toe in run accumulation. NSW started to change up the bowling in an effort to remove one of the pair, bringing Bates, Sarah Coyte, Lucy Finn then Frankie Nicklin into the mix. Nicklin made the breakthrough, trapping Bryce LBW, and seeing off the 85-run partnership.

As the Tasmanian innings progressed the temperature eased, and the light started to change as sun was filtered through building storm clouds. To the West threatening clouds were bubbling, and conscious that a lightning strike within 10 km would see players off the park eyes started to dart to the DLS runs required. Tasmania were tantalisingly getting towards DLS par a number of times, with NSW taking wickets to keep this jumping ahead. Though thunder was heard in the 31st over, the storms never quite broke into the Sydney basin, and the game continued to its conclusion. Manix-Geeves was able to go one run better than Katie Mack and reach 100 runs, only to be caught the next ball as she tried to push the run rate. From here Tasmania’s batters slipped more and more behind which in turn forced them to try and push the runs. This, coupled with a series of good catches held by NSW fielders, meant that by the time the 10th wicket fell Tasmania were 44 runs short.

So, for the 26th time in the WNCL NSW Breakers are in the final, on the back of an all-round team effort in the season so far. They will be looking for the double win when they host Tasmania again on Monday, which would secure them a home final.

WNCL: A bright start for the Meteors at home in Canberra

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By Helen Maynard-Casely

We’re in the grip of a heat wave here in Australia and while the humidity rises at the coast, the heat never feels quite as oppressive in the drier air of the capital. The cicadas were in full song, clinging to the trees around Phillip Oval to herald Australian Capital Territory Meteors take to the field hosting Victoria in round three of the 2025/26 WNCL season.

This tie was probably the one least affected by losing players to the WPL, with only Meg Lanning and Millie Illingworth missing from the Victorian team sheet. Lanning has had limited impact on the WNCL this season so far, and Illingworth yet to have a run out – hence Victoria were probably very hopeful to break the spell of losses and get match points on the board.

ACT coaches had escaped the complications of those on WPL leave, though strike bowler Holly Ferling remains injured and in a moonboot after surgery. But overall ACT had great grounds to expect a win today, after showing good fight in a narrow loss away to last year’s finalists Queensland in the round before the long break in the season.

Player of the match Annie Wikman leads the successful ACT Meteors team from the side, flanked on the right by captain Carly Leeson.

It is a cliche, but the Meteors really did get off to a bright start to today’s match, with Nicole Fultum getting an inside edge that found the stumps off opening bowler Zoe Cooke first ball. This was followed a few deliveries later with Victorian captain Sophie Molineaux doing sinisterly the same thing. In the third over Cooke managed to trap Sophie Reid LBW, and the Victorian innings was in tatters at 3 down for only 6 runs.

Victoria saw some reprieve from total obliteration via a gritty 9^th wicket partnership of 53 by Rhys McKenna and Molly Strano. Mckenna, who went on to put on 62 at a run a ball, looked in solid form – bringing up her 50 with a 6 lofted down the ground. But the team will be smarting that it could have been more – Hasrat Gil was just getting settled when she was run out at the non-striker’s end, courtesy of Anesu Mushangwe getting fingers to the ball sent down the ground by McKenna. Veteran Strano had also looked in good touch, before punting a full toss from Amy Hunter to the waiting mitts of Georgia Elwiss at mid wicket.

The Victorian innings was brought to an end at the beginning of the 37th over – ACT captain Carly Leeson had brought herself in to bowl, and the change up caused McKenna to not angle her shot down enough, allowing Mushangwe to take a low catch at mid-wicket, all out for 161. Cooke and Amy Hunter were the pick of the ACT bowlers, both netting 3 wickets with steely economies.

Low totals, it is said, can be tricky to chase down, and ACT had a few stumbles along the way. A quickfire 50 off 51 balls from Leeson did much to steady the nerves, at times it looked like she was orchestrating the fielding placements more than Sophie Molineaux. As they shuffled the field in response to one Leeson shot, she would then place the next neatly in the hole just left, leaving Victorian fielders scuttling back. Leeson, however, was felled the next ball after achieving the half century – caught off of Tess Flintoff’s pacy full toss. This was the third in a series of wickets, Bowlder and Elwiss departing previously for only 4 runs scored, leaving two new batters (Grace Lyons and Annie Wikman) and still 86 runs to get. But this was only the 15th over, and the ACT batters used this to their advantage. Wikman in particular built a lovely innings, able to sit back and pick out the boundaries when suited her. This culminated in a stylish reverse sweep to the boundary the 34th over to finish off the chase, and left Wikman on 62 not out, rewarded as player of the match.

The Meteors will be very happy with their first home game of the WNCL season, picking up a win and a bonus point to boot. The one concern for Thursday’s match will be Grace Digham who had to retire hurt while supporting Wikman’s batting, she pulled up after stealing a single which looked like a hamstring issue. Victoria still are in negative points after five matches played, will be onto yet another plan to try and fashion a win.

Be Alert! More cricket incoming on Thursday, when the next match of the round takes place.

Helen (Crystallised Cricket) is a writer based in Dharug and Gundagarra country, and here is writing about a game played on Ngunnawal country. She acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands that she writes from.