The Hundred (Women’s) Team of the Tournament

The league stage of the Hundred is done, ending yesterday, so only two matches remain to be played, the eliminator between Northern Superchargers and London Spirit and the final between the winners of that and Southern Brave, who qualified straight into the final by virtue of winning the league stage (and they did that by a distance). In this post I pick an XI based on my estimates of the players contributions to the tournaments. I will inevitably have overlooked deserving cases, but remember that I can only pick 11 players.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

1. Danni Wyatt-Hodge (Southern Brave, right handed opening batter). The veteran has had an excellent tournament, not just with the bat, but also with some outstanding fielding.
2. Kira Chathli (London Spirit, right handed opening batter). Being moved up to open the innings, both for Surrey and for the London Spirit has been the making of 26 year old Chathli, who has been a revelation in her new batting slot. She was one of the first names on the team sheet for this exercise.
3. Phoebe Litchfield (Northen Superchargers, left handed batter). She has had a great tournament, and I wanted at least one of my team’s leading batters to be a left hander for reasons of balance.
4. Sophie Devine (Southern Brave, right handed batter, right arm medium pacer). The Kiwi veteran has been a big reason for Southern Brave’s dominance so far this year.
5. Grace Harris (London Spirit, right handed batter, off spinner). This team’s X-Factor batter, the one who can come in and start blasting right from the first ball she faces. Her bowling probably won’t be required (I rank her seventh in this team’s pecking order).
6. *Georgia Adams (Southern Brave, right handed batter, off spinner, captain). This was a close call, with Charlie Dean the other candidate, but Adams’ superior batting gets her the nod as this team does have a bit of a tail.
7. +Rhianna Southby (Southern Brave, wicket keeper, right handed batter). The best keeper in the competition, and picked on that basis.
8. Alana King (Trent Rockets, leg spinner, right handed batter). One of only two players from a side not to qualify for finals weekend to make this XI. She got the nod for this slot ahead of compatriot Amanda-Jade Wellington.
9. Mahika Gaur (Manchester Originals, left arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter). The most economical bowler of the competition, beating the player one place below her in this order. She made history when becoming the first player to bowl all of her 20 balls in the Power Play phase (balls 1-10 straight through, five balls out of the attack, balls 16-25 straight through).
10. Tilly Corteen-Coleman (Southern Brave, left arm spinner, left handed batter). Has had a superb tournament, claiming 11 wickets in eight group matches and going for less than a run a ball.
11. Lauren Bell (Southern Brave, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). The leading wicket taker of the tournament (even before last night’s frankly ridiculous figures of 4-6 from a full 20 balls against Welsh Fire), she has been the bowling spearhead for the team who have left a chasm between themselves and the rest this tournament.

This side has enough batting for requirements, and that bowling unit of Bell, Gaur, Corteen-Coleman and King, with the remaining 20 balls to be bowled by some combination of Devine, Adams and Harris is outstanding.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

The wicket keeper position can sometimes be a tough one. However I personally only considered one other option, Beth Mooney (Manchester Originals), because I could have used another left handed batter. I would countenance most other suggestions that people might make, with one exception: Amy Jones has had a terrible tournament, and no matter how highly one rates her overall that has to disqualify her. The left arm spin bowling department presents an embarrassment of riches, but Corteen-Coleman has had the best tournament of all of them, and that is reflected in her side’s dominance of the league stage. Feel free to make suggestions of your own, but do remember to consider the effect those suggestions have on the balance of the side.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…