Phoebe Graham’s The Hundred weblog: Who have been this season’s standout performers and the place can girls’s sport develop?

Oval Invincibles retained their girls’s Hundred title in Saturday’s ultimate, whereas Trent Rockets edged out Manchester Originals within the males’s; Phoebe Graham picks out her girls’s staff of the match and identifies just a few key areas which may assist the ladies’s sport develop stronger nonetheless

Phoebe Graham’s The Hundred weblog

Phoebe Graham displays on a “fabulous” second season of The Hundred, selecting out among the standout performers and figuring out just a few key areas which may assist the ladies’s competitors develop even stronger nonetheless…

What a wonderful finish to the match.

Two phenomenal video games of cricket; Oval Invincibles are reigning girls’s champions and Trent Rockets take the trophy dwelling for the boys.

There have been blue skies at Lord’s, the wicket deceivingly seemed like a belter and but we have been set for a day of grit, dedication and 4 groups battling for each run on the sector. Two low-scoring, nail-biting, glorious video games of cricket.

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Highlights of Oval Invincibles’ win over the Southern Brave within the The Hundred ultimate at Lord’s.

Not the wicket that batters would have dreamt of however, with a full home at Lord’s, it was a momentous day, one which can be remembered for years to return.

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Highlights of Trent Rockets’ victory over Manchester Originals within the males’s ultimate of The Hundred at Lord’s.

Both champions have been well-deserving winners. They had among the strongest, standout gamers all through the match and performed constantly implausible cricket. There have been many similarities within the profitable bowling assaults however each groups’ largest weapon was their outrageous tempo and swing up entrance with the ball, complimented by their energy and aptitude hitters with the bat. Shabnim Ismail (Invincibles) and Luke Wood (Rockets) delivered a masterclass on the right way to hit dramatic speeds and nonetheless swing the brand new ball. Then Suzie Bates, Lauren Winfield-Hill (each Invincibles), Alex Hales and Dawid Malan (each Rockets) every deserve standing ovations for his or her run-scoring efforts throughout the match.

What I beloved about The Hundred this yr was the breakthrough expertise within the reigning champions’ assault. Sophia Smale and Eva Gray got here in from nowhere and completely owned the match.

Sophia Smale was one of many breakthrough stars of this yr’s Hundred with Oval Invincibles

To give some context, once I say ‘nowhere’, Smale is 17 years outdated, has solely performed three video games of home cricket for Western Storm, having previous to that solely performed academy cricket. She just isn’t an expert cricketer and has taken to this match like a duck to water, taking eight wickets in seven video games. This match continues to point out how integral it’s for the way forward for girls’s cricket.

The Hundred is creating future stars of the sport, however what does the ladies’s sport must give attention to subsequent yr to as soon as once more push it ahead?

• Power and velocity – When tempo bowlers hit 70-75mph+ and have a bouncer of their armoury, batters have been left shell-shocked on the crease. Deandra Dottin, Emily Arlott and Ismail used such deliveries successfully all through the match – wicket-taking balls. This is one thing that may proceed to develop within the sport and we’ll see tempo bowlers get an increasing number of savvy with their variations.

• Countering the spin – How will groups prepare so that they counter-attack proficient spinners akin to Alana King and Sophie Ecclestone? These gamers proceed to dominate the match. Soph mentioned to Alice Capsey as she took her leg-stump at Emirates Old Trafford, ‘do not play spin to me’. Is she proper?

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Manchester Originals gamers Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone tackle the ‘Draw Your Teammate’ problem.

• Play the total eight video games – Having three groups end on the identical variety of factors within the group stage exhibits the significance of taking part in all eight video games. Due to the Commonwealth Games overlapping with the beginning of the match, groups would have been lacking a variety of worldwide gamers for his or her first two group video games. But as the ladies’s sport continues to develop, we have to belief that the group phases will maintain up on their very own two ft with or with out worldwide gamers. In the boys’s match, the Rockets coped okay with out Joe Root!

• More sport time domestically – There is a giant distinction within the quantity of cricket performed within the males’s versus the ladies’s sport. Therefore, gamers are stepping as much as the massive stage with restricted publicity to stress conditions and shut video games of cricket. Currently we play seven one-day video games within the Rachael Heyhoe Flint match and 6 video games within the Charlotte Edwards Cup. That’s solely 13 video games of aggressive home cricket. We want extra girls’s cricket, each domestically and internationally.

• Increased fan engagement – We continued to see record-breaking attendances all through the ladies’s competitors. 270,000 followers attended the video games, over 10,000 followers per sport within the home match. This is over 3,000 extra on common than final yr, with fewer matches. This for me would have been unthinkable years in the past, however now, we hear the roar at Emirates Old Trafford – it is an additional fielder for the house staff. How can we get the gamers interacting much more with the followers?

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Alice Capsey provides her response after the Oval Invincibles retained The Hundred title.

• U19 ‘wild card’ picks – Capsey, Smale and Gray have all damaged by on this competitors from ‘nowhere’. How can we encourage extra groups to select a youthful participant and provides them expertise and publicity to those environments? We had Mahika Gaur with the Originals at 17 years outdated. She is a proficient participant and it was wonderful for her to be uncovered to this setting for her growth.

• Equality in pay – There continues to be a giant discrepancy in pay. With the highest girls gamers getting paid lower than the underside tier gamers within the males’s competitors. I’m not stating they must be equal but, however I do consider this yr’s match has as soon as once more proved the dial wants to show.

I’m unhappy to say it is throughout. It has been an incredible match, that will get higher and higher annually. I can not wait to see what subsequent yr brings.

My staff of the match: Smriti Mandhana, Laura Wolvaardt, Alice Capsey, Deandra Dottin, Nat Sciver, Eleanor Threlkeld (wkt), Sophie Ecclestone, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Alana King, Emily Arlott, Lauren Bell.