Sunrisers v South-East Stars
Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester
Strange how a rained-off game of cricket can cause such extreme emotions.
This was the last ever franchise match to be stage in England. Last, that is, until the ECB changes its mind again about the optimum form of women’s cricket. Given the ever increasing pace of life, that may come in as little as the next four years.
For Sunrisers this was an achievement to rival the best. Since the start of the franchise experiment in 2016 they had been the back markers till last year. A long winless run marked their course till last year.
Now they found themselves disputing a final against a side that, though it hadn’t reached an RFHT final either, had known great triumphs.
Grace Scrivens completed her first duty, she won the toss and invited the opposition to bat first. Did she already know about the weather forecast?
SES began dreadfully, Kate Coppack brilliantly. She found her way through Alexa Stonehouse’s defences with a beauty, then, almost inexplicably, through Paige Scholfield’s two balls later. Scholfield played a full drive at a ball without measuring its lengh, to continue her dismal run from the Ireland tour. As Bryony Smith dug in with Alice Davidson-Richards, their good work was undone by another disastrous run-out – a complete misunderstanding between Stars’ two senior batters. That was 21-3 inside six overs. Kira Chathli has been in fine form recently, but she played across a Coppack delivery that kept low and was lbw (17).
A restorative partnership developed between ADR, who is in the form of her life, and Aylish Cranstone. They took the score to 123-4 before Jodi Grewcock lured Cranstone (30) down the track for a neat stumping.
SES’s batting is so deep that only pessimists were concerned. Phoebe Franklin played nicely for 33, till she was undone by the returning Coppack (6-1-17-3!).
It was ironic that Kalea Moore came out to join ADR with the score reading 179-7, not 131-7, when they started their semi-final stand of 90 on the 14th. She couldn’t repeat the feat, becoming Coppack’s fourth victim with a wild reverse sweep.
While the tail failed to wag, ADR continued to dominate the scene, even farming the bowling once only Dani Gregory and Tilly Corteen-Coleman were left in support. Could she claim a hundred before fate took over? No. It wasn’t her partners who fell, it was ADR. She moved into the nineties, hitting a two then a four over mid-wicket, then fell agonisingly lbw to the crafty Mady Villiers for 93. It was her seventh 50 of the campaign and she topped 600 runs in the process.
Despite her efforts a total of 212 fell well short of expectations.
The Reply
Memo: rain was to intervene. But still the drama rumbled on.
After Stonehouse conceded six runs off the opening over. Corteen-Coleman produced her party- trick, taking a wicket in her first over. When cricket decides the 1-over match is the only profitable future, TCC will become a millionaire overnight.
From there till the seventeenth over SES remained wicketless. Scrivens (39*/47), still only 20 years old, dug in, happy to offer Cordelia Griffith the bulk of the strike. (39*/47). Griffith (57/68) matched ADR for her ease at the crease. She played delightful off drives, and added more productive strokes on the other side.
Sunrisers had been scoring much faster than SES, so WASP was firmly in their favour; so was DLS.
It was Moore who at last provided the breakthrough, getting Griffith to mistime a drive to the reliable Scholfield at extra. A wicket-maiden. But the 100 was up in the 20th, and Scrivens pulled a savage four to show who was in charge.
Just after the floodlights came on, Moore trapped Grewcock in two minds and reached for a return catch well above her head.
Even so, Sunrisers could already bask in the sun, even though the umpires met for a first chat about the darkening skies. Then, before the 26th over could start, they whipped the bails off. The rain descended, as if glad to be seeing the end of franchise cricket. All very sad and upsetting.
Result
SE Stars: 212 (46.2 overs)
Sunrisers: 121-3 (25 overs)
Sunrisers win by 27 runs (DLS method) Player of the Match: Kate Coppack (4-27)
Teams
Sunrisers: Grace Scrivens (captain), Joanne Gardner, Cordelia Griffith, Jodi Grewcock, Alice MacLeod, Mady Villiers, Florence Miller, Eva Gray, Amara Carr (w-k), Amu Surenkumar, Kate Coppack
SE Stars: Bryony Smith (captain), Alexa Stonehouse, Paige Scholfield, Alice Davidson-Richards, Kira Chathli (w-k), Aylish Cranstone, Phoebe Franklin, Ryana Macdonald-Gay, Kalea Moore, Danielle Gregory, Tilly Corteen-Coleman
Umpires: Jack Shantry and James Tredwell
Afterthoughts
They are many and varied, even confused.
1 This was the end of the line for the eight regions. Is the system that replaces it the answer? I am completely torn on the issue. By nature, I am dead against franchises. In world terms they mean a complete loss of identity, players coming and going at the whim of somebody with money. Every player has her price.
But the county system being revived looks old-fashioned, to say the least. No other team sport supports it any more, and the way it is working out fills me with indignation.
2 Let’s assume for a moment I’m a Kent supporter.
There were seven in this final: Alexa Stonehouse, Alice Davidson-Richards, Grace Scrivens, Kalea Moore, Phoebe Franklin, Ryana Macdonald-Gay and Tilly Corteen-Coleman.
Scrivens is many people’s choice as the main reason for Sunrisers’ great advance and their trophy; she is a likely future England player, if not captain. She was not out at the close.
Three of the six have played for England Under-19s. Five of Stars’ six bowlers were born in Kent and coached there.
Where will they be playing next season? Alice Davidson-Richards, Paige Scholfield, Alexa Stonehouse, Phoebe Franklin, Tilly Corteen-Coleman and Ryana Macdonald-Gay all signed for Surrey back in June.
That takes us straight back to the bad old days of franchising. The well-to-do counties, Surrey above all, can mop up all the leading lights, no matter where they come from. In fact the Ovaltines have offered contracts mainly to local products, but nowhere do they mention the source of the talent they are pleased to announce.
What happens when Kent are allowed to re-emerge in a lower tier later this century? Will all those talented players return hotfoot to Beckenham or Canterbury? What is the reward for counties putting huge and costly effort into development programmes, when the players produced are snapped up by rivals? That’s professional sport for you.
3 After the raging success of The Hundred, attendances haven’t grown for the CE Cup and the RHF Trophy the way the ECB must have hoped. What do crowds want these days?
4 It was a pleasant change to see not a single overseas player on view at Grace Road. It was an all-England affair for once.
5 On a lighter note: The BGU (batting-gloves union) has issued a formal complaint to the ICC over unacceptable GBH (grievous bodily harm). It claims batters are striking each other violently on the glove unnecessarily often. The union threatens to withdraw their use from all cricket matches till justice is done.
