Women’s Vitality Blast (2026): top-ten batters strike-rates ‘sr’ at group-stage from ‘league one’
*History was made when Laura Harris – pictured scored the fastest competition ‘fifty’ for Surrey women from fifteen balls, on July 8. *For new readers, understanding a batter’s impact is not a case of simply taking those who slogged the most runs or listing bowlers who took most wickets in one single match. *Few ‘League one’ professionals (or Academy graduates) were given an opportunity to bat or bowl in every single match, especially as 2026 was an ‘it20’ ICC World Cup year. *As a rough guide, previous analysis revealed that between formats, ‘batters score a faster strike-rates when playing T20 than at 50 overs’ and ‘most players struggle to hit a strike-rate of one-run-per ball.’ *For favourable comparison, analysis is confined to players from each team competing in the competition’s ‘group stage’ (up to 12 matches.) For clarity, ‘semi-final’ and ‘final’ performance beyond ‘group stage’ matches is ‘additional to,’ but ‘excluded from’ all analysis:-
A) ‘Top ten’ performers with highest batters strike rates ’sr’ and with best performance (highest score/ scoring at least one ‘fifty)’ for league one (20ov) at group stage:-
1. Laura Harris (Surrey-w/Aus) sr 188: scored 252 runs (from 135 balls) with one ‘fifty’ from 12 innings, and best-score 81(32) vs Bears-w on July 8;
2. Maia Bouchier (Hampshire Hawks-w/England) sr 148: scored 355 runs (from 239 balls) with four ‘fifties’ from 6 innings, and best-score 87(55) vs Essex-w on June 7;
3. Meg Lanning (Lancs Thunder-w/Aus) sr 143: scored 363 runs (from 253 balls) with three ‘fifties’ from 9 innings, and best score 81*n(49) vs The Blaze on May 25;
4. Charli Knott (The Blaze/Aus) sr140: scored 383 runs (from 273 balls) with four ‘fifties’ from 12 innings, and best score 63*n(43) vs Somerset on July 10;
5.Jemima Spence (Surrey-w) sr 140: scored 298 runs (from 212 balls) with three ‘fifties’ from 12 innings, and best-score 69*n(41) vs Essex-w on July 5;
6. Sophie Luff (Somerset-w/) sr 139: scored 397 runs (from 285 balls) with five ‘fifties’ from 12 innings, and best-score 82*n(53) vs Surrey-w on May 31;
7. Bryony Smith (Surrey-w) sr 138: scored 347 runs (from 250 balls) with four ‘fifties’ from 12 innings, and best-score 71(35) vs Thunder-w on May 22;
8. Jess Jonassen (Yorks-w/Aus) sr 137: scored 252 runs (from 183 balls) with two ‘fifties’ from 11 innings, and best-score 65(40) vs Bears-w on July 5;
9. Anneke Bosch (Essex-w/RSA) sr137: scored 187 runs (from 136 balls) with one ‘fifty’ from 6 innings, and best score 84*n(54) vs Surrey-w on July 5;
10. Nat Wraith (Warwickshire Bears-w) sr 136: scored 185 runs (from 136 balls) with one ‘fifty’ from 9 innings, and best score 83(48) vs Thunder-w on June 28;
Vitality Blast (2026): Women’s top ten bowlers strike rates and economy in ‘league one’
*Understanding a bowler’s impact considers the number of wickets they took; as well as runs conceded against the number of balls played. *Bowler’s ‘strike rate’ is helpful to predict when a bowler may take a wicket. *Total number of balls delivered are divided by the total number of wickets taken, expressed as an average (percentage.) *Lowest score increases probability that wicket-taking should happen sooner; albeit ignoring runs conceded. *As wicket-taking ability needs to be balanced against runs conceded, the total number of runs conceded is divided by the total number of balls delivered and divided by six to give a bowler’s average number runs-per over’(conceded) ‘r-p-o’ that indicates a bowler’s economy.
B) ‘Top ten’ performers with lowest bowlers strike rates ’sr’ and economy ‘runs-per-over’ (r-p-o) with best performance (most wickets taken/conceding at least fifty runs) for league one (20ov) at group stage
1. Charli Knott (The Blaze/Aus) sr010; took 21 wickets from 12 innings, conceding 252 runs (from 214 balls) @7 r-p-o with best taking 6 wickets for 25 runs (from 4overs); vs Durham Cricket-w on July 3;
2. Grace Ballinger (The Blaze) sr011; took 16 wickets from 8 innings, conceding 184 runs (from 179 balls) @ 6.1 r-p-o with best 3/25 (4 ov) vs Hawks-w on July 8;
3. Mady Villiers (Durham Cricket-w) sr011; took 17 wickets from 11 innings, conceding 203 runs (from 155 balls) @ 7.9 r-p-o with best 4/14 (4ov) vs The Blaze on July 5;
4. Georgia Adams (Hawks-w) sr013; took 23 wickets total from 12 innings, conceding 314 runs (from 288 balls) @5.2 r-p-o with best 4/16 (4ov) vs The Blaze on July 8;
5. Ryana Macdonald-Gay (Surrey-w); sr014 took 17 wickets from 10 innings, conceding 249 runs (from 232 balls) @6.4 r-p-o with best 6/11 (4 ov) vs Durham Cricket-w on May 27;
6. Venus Weerappulli (Thunder-w) sr015 took 15 wickets from 10 innings, conceding 229 runs (from 215 balls) @6.3 r-p-o best 3/13 (4ov) vs Bears-w on May 28;
7. Heather Graham (Durham Cricket-w/Aus); sr016 took 18 wickets from 11 innings, conceding 290 runs (from 258 balls) @6.7 r-p-o with 3/19 runs (4 ov) vs Surrey-w on May 27;
8. Amanda-Jade Wellington (Hawks-w/Aus) sr018 took 17 wickets from 12 matches, conceding 315 runs (from 288 balls) @6.5 r-p-o with best 5/18 (4ov) vs Essex-w on June 07;
9. Bex Tyson (Hawks-w) sr018 took 16 wickets from 12 matches, conceding 299 runs (from 288 balls) @6.2 r-p-o with best 2/16 (4ov) vs Thunder-w on July 7;
10.Eva Gray (Essex-w) sr019; took 17 wickets from 12 innings, conceding 307 runs (from 246 balls) @7.4 r-p-o with best 3/25 (from 4 ov) vs Yorks-w on May 29;
Footnote on guest players from overseas: Suffix ‘Aus’ means guest player(s) from Australia; Suffix ‘RSA’ means guest player from Republic of South Africa;
