A look at the game in the Hundred (women’s) between London Spirit and Trent Rockets that happened earlier today, with special emphasis on the spectacular finish provided by Nat Sciver-Brunt.
Earlier today London Spirit took on Trent Rockets in the Hundred (Women’s). The game was a good one although it came to a premature end due to an amazing display of hitting from Nat Sciver-Brunt for the Rockets.
THE SPIRIT INNINGS
London Spirit never really got into top gear. Danielle Gibson scored 36 off 27 balls at the top of order and Kiwi all rounder Amelia Kerr scored 36*, but took 30 balls to score them and these were the best innings for the Spirit. The best bowlers for the Rockets were their spinners, Kirstie Gordon 2-19, Alana King 1-18 and Bryony Smith 1-19, all bowling their full allocations of 20 balls. The end result was an indifferent total of 124-4 from 100 balls.
THE ROCKETS CHASE
For most of the second innings things were going the way of the Spirit, although Nat Sciver-Brunt was singlehandedly keeping Rockets hopes aloft, reaching a classy 50 off 32 balls. With 20 balls left Rockets were five wickets down and had 35 runs still to score. There then followed a truly extroardinary sequence of seven balls. First Scrivens hit Gardner for a four and six, then a single brought Sciver-Brunt on strike. Sciver=Brunt concluded the set by hitting the next two balls for sixes, reducing the ask to 12 off 15 balls. It took one legal delivery. The 86th ball of the innings, bowled by Danielle Gibson, saw Sciver-Brunt hit a third successive six, thrashed over midwicket. The next delivery was smashed baseball style even further over midwicket, and just to make things worse for poor Gibson it was called a no-ball, meaning that her final spell was officially 0.1-0-14-0! This sequence of four successive sixes took Sciver-Brunt’s score from a splendid 57* (37) to a stupendous 81* (41). In addition to the blitz that ended the match with 14 balls to spare Sciver-Brunt had hit nine fours along the way. Carlos Brathwaite once won a T20 World Cup by hitting four successive sixes, and Kapil Dev once saved India from following on with a similar sequence (Lord’s 1990), but England managed to win that one anyway. For the first time this season Rockets finished up looking more like Apollo 11 than Apollo 1.
PHOTOGRAPHS
For the feature image I have done an experiment. I could not pick between two of my photos so I have endeavoured to combine the best features of both. Otherwise this is my usual sign off…
A look t the many challenges and changes the County Championship has faced and survived in its long history. Also a large photo gallery.
Today would be the second day of the second round of county championship matches of the 2023 season, except that there is so much rain around the country that no matches are currently playing as I type this, hence I am listening to commentary on today’s IPL game. In this post I look back at the many challenges that the county championship has overcome.
A TURBULENT PRE-BIRTH
Although matches between teams bearing the names of counties have been happening for over three centuries (teams dubbed ‘Kent’ and ‘Surrey’ did battle in 1708), it wasn’t until the mid 1860s that anyone had the idea of ranking county sides, and not until 1891 that a properly organized county championship took place (so many sometimes conflicting authorities assessed counties between 1864 and 1890 that there are no fewer than seven different listings of ‘Champion Counties’ from that period. In 1845 The All England XI played it’s first match, and was to continue to exist as a travelling XI playhing matches against the odds (opposition sides of more than 11 players – 15, 18 and 22 were common numbers) for some 30 years. A split led to the formation of the United All England XI, and subsequent to that the United North of England and United South of England XIs were established. At one point it seemed that English cricket might suffer a rugby type split, with the professionals playing games against the odds in their travelling XIs and the amateurs playing 11 v 11 matches, but such was averted – the key figure of WG Grace threw his lot in the with the MCC, though he also continued to turn out for the United South of England XI – his price for supporting the establishment and thereby ensuring that English cricket would continue to be run from Lord’s and would not split was that he be allowed to make a mockery of the principles of amateurism. In the end the travelling XIs withered on the vine, and by the early 1880s the last of them had ceased to exist. Matches against odds lasted longer – England tours of Australia featured such matches for many years to come.
PROFESSIONAL LIMITED OVERS CRICKET
From 1891-1962, although the there were many changes in how the championship was calculated and who played in it (just eight counties played the first few, six more were promoted to first class status in 1895, Worcestershire in 1899, Northamptonshire in 1905 and Glamorgan in 1921), the championship stood alone. Between the 1962 and 1963 seasons two major decisions were made: the distinction between amateur and professional was abolished (there were precious few amateurs left, and even fewer whose amateur credentials would have stood up to any sort of scrutiny) and henceforth all first class cricketers would be professionals, and the first professional limited overs competition, the Gillette Cup was launched, starting in 1963. In 1969 the John Player League, matches of 40 overs per side, to be played on Sundays (the shorter allocation of overs meant the games could start in the afternoon) was introduced, and the county championship programme was reduced to 20 matches per season (28 had been standard). It was increased back to 22 and then 24. Then, four day championship cricket was introduced, Durham were given first class status, and a for a few years 17 four day matches (each of the 18 counties playing the other 17 once) became the standard. England continued to struggle, and after much controversy and debate, two more big changes happened in the year 2000, in the wake of England sinking to the bottom of the world test rankings: The County Championship was split into two divisions with promotion and relegation, and ECB central contracts were introduced, giving England control over the top players. England’s fortunes rose rapidly. Overall, although Duncan Fletcher’s policy of effectively using a central contract to bar holders of such from playing county cricket took things too far both these moves have been successful.
EVEN SHORTER FORM CRICKET
In 2003 the ECB introduced yet another competition, with innings of just 20 overs per side. Players took a while to get to grips with the approach required by this format, but it proved extremely popular.
15 years later, the ECB decided that yet another competition was needed, and opted for a quirky new format of innings comprising 100 balls each bowled in sets of five, with players allowed to bowl two sets back to back, but no more. This competition was called The Hundred, and one of its effects was to push the County Championship, now a mere 14 matches per season, further towards the margins of the season as it now ‘owns’ August, with a One Day Cup of much reduced stature taking place alongside it. The Hundred has brought much greater prominence to women’s cricket, but I do regret the ever increasing concentration of County Championship matches at the beginning and end of each season, with few games happening in high summer. However I have no worries about the future of the County Championship – it was born facing challenges, and has faced challenges at many points of its life so far, and it is still here.
A look at Rwanda’s involvement in the inaugural Women’s U19 T20 World Cup, plus some recent photographs.
Greetings from the frozen wastes of West Norfolk – the freeze here has now got to the stage where Bawsey Drain is partially frozen over, never mind the ponds. In today’s post I look at a great story to emerge from the inaugural Womens U19 T20 World Cup, and make some suggestions for the future.
THE BIGGEST SUCCESS OF THE TOURNAMENT
Obviously in absolute terms this will belong to whoever ends up lifting the trophy, which will not be Rwanda, whose journey will end at the Super Six stage (England, New Zealand and India are all looking strong, and no one familiar with Australia in knock out stages would dare rule them out), but in relative terms, to reach the Super Six stage, and to win one match at that stage (v West Indies) on Rwanda’s resources far outranks any of the achievements of the big guns.
RWANDA’S STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
Rwanda are an excellent bowling side (Henriette Ishimwe, who took four wickets in four balls to seal the win over Zimbabwe had a comparatively quiet match in the Super Six win over West Indies, when the spinners dominated) but struggle with the bat – that great win over West Indies was achieved with only four wickets and two overs to spare even after dismissing their opponents very cheaply. If a side is going to be weak in one department I would prefer it to be batting, as a good bowling side can often make up for frailties with the bat, whereas there is nowhere to hide if your bowlers cannot do the job.
RWANDA GOING FORWARD
The top sides should make space for Rwanda in their schedules – more competition against them could only improve Rwanda. I would also like to see domestic competitions (Rachael Heyhoe-Flint trophy, Charlotte Edwards cup, The Hundred, The WBBL, and coming into existence later this month, the WIPL) include Rwandans among their overseas signings. There are a number of current Rwandan players who would be excellent value as an overseas signing in these leagues. A new nation with no prior cricketing heritage making its presence felt on the world stage can only be a good thing for those of who want the game we love to continue to grow and develop, and I give these young Rwandan women my heartfelt congratulations for their contribution to this tournament.
A look at cricket’s newest format, The Hundred and some photographs.
It has been a while since I last posted here, and it is time to rectify that omission. The new cricket competition, The Hundred got underway on Thursday evening, and I now offer my early thoughts on it.
ABOUT THE HUNDRED
The Hundred differs from other formats of cricket in the following ways:
No overs – there are blocks of five balls, a bowler may bowl either five balls or 10 balls at a stretch depending on the captain’s decision, and the players change ends every 10 balls. The total innings duration is 100 balls per side, hence the name. Commentator Dan Norcross made an intriguing Paris Metro based suggestion for naming these blocks – tickets on that transport are purchasable in blocks of five or ten and the word for such a block is ‘carnet’, pronounced ‘Car-nay’.
Each bowler may bowl up to 20 balls in the course of the innings.
The fielding captain is permitted to take one strategic time out lasting two and a half minutes at any time after the first 25 balls.
The first 25 balls are a Power Play in which only two fielders may be placed more than 30 yards from the bat, while for the rest of the innings five may be placed deep
If the fielding side have not started the last set of five balls by a certain preset tine they are punished by being required to bring one extra fielder in close.
PROS AND CONS
Many readers will be aware that when it was first mooted I was strongly opposed to The Hundred. I still think that it is cluttering up an already overcrowded calendar, and still have concerns about the absolute marginalization of the county championship, and I also feel that some of those pushing this competition have been unnecessarily antagonistic towards existing fans in their search for new ones. However, it is here to stay, it is very enjoyable. Also, it has undoubtedly been a huge boon for women’s cricket, with the women’s games an integral part of the tournament rather than a sideshow. On Saturday over 21,000 spectators watched the two women’s games, being respectively the largest and second largest ever audiences for a women’s domestic game in this country.
SOME OF THE MATCHES
The highest score of the competition to date came from Jemimah Rodrigues, who with the top order crumbling around her so that the score at one point was 19-4 chasing 131 to win scored 94 not out off 42 balls to carry her side to victory. Alice Capsey, the youngest player involved in the tournament, lit up Lord’s on Saturday morning with a glorious 59 off 41 balls. Yesterday at Manchester saw a bowling dominated day – in the women’s match Birmngham Phoenix tallied 113 batting first, which proved enough to win by 20 runs. Then in the men’s match Phoenix became the first side to be bowled out inside 100 balls, managing a measly 87 off 86 balls. Matt Parkinson for the home side, the Manchester Originals, took 4-9 from 19 balls, finishing the innings by taking three in four balls including as good a ball as a bowler of his type can produce – pitched on leg stump it tilted the middle stump backwards. Just to ensure that the total would never trouble the Originals Phil Salt gave the reply a flying start with 22 off 11 balls, as half the required runs were knocked off in the 25 ball Power Play. Thereafter there was no way for Phoenix to apply any pressure, although Benny Howell, a crafty medium pacer, bowled well for them.
YOUNGSTERS TO THE FORE
At the same time as the new competition is going on, so is the Royal London Cup 50 overs per side competition. With so many first choice players not available to them the counties have had no option but to select quite a number of youngsters. Yesterday’s match between Yorkshire and Leicestershire saw Harry Duke at the age of 19 rack up his first professional century, helping his side to a convincing victory.
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