NICK FRIEND looks back on the standout performers from the women's domestic 50-over competition
Victorious captain, leading run-scorer and by far and away the player of the tournament, Georgia Adams could scarcely have envisaged a more productive month – both on collective and personal scales.
By her own admission ahead of the competition, there was a time when all of this felt a long way from any kind of reality. By the time she took the final wicket of a final ultimately shaped by her chanceless 80 at Edgbaston, she had brought her overall tally for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy up to 500 runs at an average of 83.33 – 105 clear of anyone else, boosted by her unbeaten 154 against Western Storm during the group stage. Higher honours surely beckon.
Perhaps the most consistent player in the competition, it is easily forgotten that the Scottish wicketkeeper-batsman remains just 20 years of age – the younger of two hugely impressive sisters. Her bat-carrying effort against Central Sparks gave her a well-deserved Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy century – one of five scores above fifty in just six games.
In a Lightning side that ultimately finished bottom of the northern section of the tournament, she could hardly have done more for her team’s cause. Only Adams scored more runs or faced more balls – a big future awaits.
Like in Adams’ case, this was a significant month for Eve Jones, the 28-year-old Central Sparks captain, still clinging onto international aspirations. The left-handed opening batsman averaged 66.8 through a profitable campaign, rounding off her group stage with an effort of 115 not out, albeit in a losing cause.
Jones is one of many domestic stalwarts who might have entered this competition – and this new professionalised era – wondering what the future held. She has done her cause no harm, even if England find themselves hardly short on top order options.
The Bryce sisters enjoyed a terrific Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy campaign
Namechecked by Heather Knight – her Western Storm teammate and, more pertinently, England’s captain – in an interview with ESPNcricinfo about the standout players in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, Luff backed up such support with hard evidence: a century and three fifties, to be exact.
Of all the sides to miss out on the final, Storm will have been most disappointed, given their reputation as winners, albeit in a different era for the women’s game. At one stage, Luff, skippering Storm, was indomitable – consecutive scores of 60, 85, 104 and 79, doing all she could to throw her own hat into the international ring.
Luff could benefit in those conversations from her batting position; unlike both Adams and Jones, her runs came in the middle order, where there might just be more room for manoeuvre in Lisa Keightley’s side.
Warwickshire’s captain before joining up with Central Sparks, Kelly quietly went about her work at No.3, forging an effective partnership with Jones. She was the tournament’s fifth-highest run-scorer but will be frustrated to have recorded a high score of just 59 – the only one of the top six run-getters not to reach three figures.
Her runs, though, were important runs, especially given the paucity of contributions elsewhere in her side. Only Kelly, Jones and Gwenan Davies scored more than 70 runs for Sparks across a six-match group stage.
And so, the value of an unbeaten half century in a four-wicket win over Thunder takes shape. Likewise, another fifty set up almost certain victory over Lightning, only for her dismissal to trigger a tame, match-swinging collapse.
Rising importance of analysts symbolic of women's domestic cricket's changing face
For Sterre Kalis, this was a truly fascinating tournament. The Netherlands batsman, with a WT20I average of 37.06, didn’t score a run until the fourth game of the group stage, having registered three consecutive ducks in her first three innings for Northern Diamonds, facing seven balls in total during a rotten initial rut.
And so, fair play to head coach Danni Hazell for sticking with her. Because when she came good, she became a pivotal part of the beaten finalists’ side, ultimately ending the competition as the seventh-highest run-scorer.
After a breakthrough 87 against Central Sparks, she added successive knocks of 55 against Thunder and then in the final against Southern Vipers. An overall average of 39.40 was considerably greater than she had been threatening.
The older of the siblings but still a relative spring chicken at 22 years of age, Kathryn Bryce was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker until Charlotte Taylor came from nowhere to swoop for that particular crown in the final.
Bryce’s seamers accounted for 14 wickets at 15.42 apiece, including five against Diamonds, four against Thunder and three against Sparks. Her five-wicket haul was accompanied in the same game by an unbeaten 71, but she still ended up on the losing side.
Her scalps that day were Lauren Winfield-Hill, Hollie Armitage, Nat Sciver, Sterre Kalis and Katherine Brunt – the entirety of Diamonds’ top order. Her batting fell away thereafter, but a fine competition nonetheless.
Georgia Hennessy is only batting so low in this team so as to ensure a place for the allrounder; 209 runs and 11 wickets represent a fine return for the 23-year-old. With the bat, she enjoyed a curious competition: in four of her six innings, she made just 18 runs.
In the other two, she struck 86 and 105 – the latter was one of five centuries across the competition. With the ball, seven of victims were South East Stars batsmen, spread across both encounters with Tash Farrant’s team. Overall, much like Luff, Hennessy could be mightily satisfied with her own month’s work.
Charlotte Taylor took six wickets in the final
For all the talk around Georgia Adams’ Bradmanian summer, Southern Vipers’ bowling attack might have slipped beneath the radar. But the left-arm seamers of Tara Norris were a vital part of their perfect, unbeaten run to the title.
She took 10 wickets in her first three matches, including a match-winning salvo against Western Storm that went some way to clinching Vipers’ place in the final. Storm were 154 for 2 until Norris’ spell altered the course of the chase, dismissing Hennessy, Heather Knight, Katie George and Alex Griffiths all inside six overs.
No one was more surprised than Charlotte Taylor herself at what she accomplished at Edgbaston in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final. Her figures of 6 for 34 were, as far as she could recall, the best of her life.
“That’s the best I’ve ever bowled. I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” she said after the final. “I’m proving to myself week in and week out that I can play at this level. Lots of people wouldn’t have seen me play too much cricket, and I think that works to my advantage, especially with my bowling.”
In just five games, she ended with 15 wickets – more than anyone else across the competition, having not even been part of Vipers’ squad at the beginning of the season.
Susie Rowe's journey from cricket and back a valuable symbol of how far women's domestic game has come
A World Cup winner in 2017, Alex Hartley represented a significant symbol for the overhaul of the women’s domestic game this summer. She was handed a retainer deal, before taking on the role as Thunder captain.
And while her side ended third in the round-robin phase, Hartley herself offered a reminder of her abilities with the ball. She took 11 wickets at 15.45 apiece, including a ten-over spell of 4 for 8 in a win against Lightning.
That effort included five maidens, with only Tash Farrant across the entire tournament bowling more. Overall, a welcome return to cricket for the 27-year-old.
For unrivalled coverage of the county season, subscribe to The Cricketer and receive 3 issues for £5
Subscribe to The Cricketer for exclusive content every day: The inside track on England's Test tour with George Dobell in Pakistan, award-winning analysis, breaking news and interviews and the only place for in-depth county coverage all year round. Plus: An ad-free app experience at your fingertips. Subscribe to thecricketer.com today for just £1.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.