2nd European Ladies U17 Indoor Tournament, Potsdam, Germany

A top report from Hungary about the tournament (www.hungary4cricket.com)

Report
As soon as cricket took off at Comenius School in Szekesfehervar back in the autumn of 2006, one of our biggest plans was to enter international tournaments. For girls in continental Europe, they are few and far between, so when I found out about this one, I based my plans around it – there is nothing like an upcoming trip to focus the mind and motivate the players!

Just two weeks before the tournament we lost Fanni, our experienced wicket-keeper and last season’s best female player, due to her handball commitments, so Dominika stepped in as a player and Anna quickly learnt how to keep. Domi’s tournament was to be cruelly cut short in the end, as she twisted her ankle in the first match and spent all of Saturday at a nearby hospital, but she contributed greatly to the team spirit.A few days before flying to Berlin, the request came in from the President’s International Team for us to ‘donate’ three players to them. Vivi, Emese B and Zsuzsi (the only non-Comenius player on the trip) volunteered to switch sides, leaving Hungary with 9 players and thus easing the squad rotation problem!

Hungary’s first match was against last year’s champions, the Dutch national team, and the result was never in doubt. The same applied to the match against Shirehampton from England, who were very professional. Watching and playing against these two teams was a lesson in fielding (everybody is always active) and in all-round cricket style.

To save some pride in the group, we came to the last match of the first day, against Schwerin from Germany. Although they had some very little people in their team, the senior (one very senior!) players pulled them through and we came up short again.

Meanwhile, PIT had tied one game and lost the others in their group, so they also ended up bottom. The attitude of the Hungarian girls in that team was praised, as was Zsuzsi’s enthusiastic fielding.

So, Sunday came and with it the prospect of two more matches. Not for Blanka, though – she fell sick at breakfast, so she had to watch the games horizontally.

First up for Hungary was radiomultikulti Cricket Team ReinFüchse Berlin, last year’s best German team, looking very professional in their white and green kit, complete with sponsors’ logos.

When Brigi was bowled by the first ball of the match, the prospects looked bleak. Nika, however, had other ideas and her stylish hitting took Hungary to 73-3 off 8 overs. Our first two bowlers, Emese M (with a bandaged hand!) and Claudia, put the pressure on from the word go and once Berlin’s two best players were out cheaply the game really swang our way. Brigi made up for her batting disappointment with the perfect last over to give Hungary an 11-run win!

PIT also won, against Schwerin, which left the two Hungarian sides playing for 5th and 6th places. Compared to Sunday’s first match, the bowling in this one was not on the mark and we fell 8 runs short due to all the wides. In truth, PIT outbatted us, scoring 25 to our 24 from our totals of 71 and 63 respectively, so the result was fair. Zsuzsi’s fielding (against her own country!) definitely made a difference, as she made some acrobatic saves from Nika’s off-drives.

So 3 Hungarians came 5th and 9 Hungarians came 6th. And we made lots of new friends in a super-friendly tournament. Shirehampton came unstuck in the final against their local rivals Thornbury, while Holland outplayed Oldenburg to claim third place.

Special mention must be made for Anna, who kept wicket very well throughout the tournament, and for Claudia, who got better and better as a captain. Enikő, Mirtill and Blanka (on the first day) were not overawed by the environment and Nika came good with the bat, scoring 47 runs and only getting out twice.

Away from the action, we were given a guided tour of historic Potsdam and fed nicely at Kemnitz. The hostel that all the teams stayed in was great and we were even fed for free, when the English girls decided to abandon their pre-ordered Sunday dinners and go out on the town to celebrate their first and second places!

For almost half of our girls it was their first time on an aeroplane, but apart from some earache due to some turbulence and a fast descent, nobody was troubled. They will have to get used to travelling – we have been invited to Germany, Holland and England later in the year thanks to the impression the Hungarian girls made on the other coaches.

Now we just have to keep the ball rolling…

Australia Domestic Season 2008/09

A look ahead to the Australia Domestic Season; the squads below show the players who have represented teams at national level.  New South Wales are clear favourites for the title yet again (they have won 10 of the last 12 titles), and feature far more national players than any other team.

New South Wales

•  Lisa Sthalekar
•  Leah Poulton
•  Ellyse Perry
•  Holly Colvin
•  Kate Blackwell
•  Alex Blackwell
•  Sarah Andrews
•  Leonie Coleman

Queensland

•  Melissa Bulow
•  Jodie Purves
•  Kirsten Pike

 South Australia

•  Karen Rolton
•  Shelly Nitschke
•  Kris Britt
•  Emma Sampson

Victoria

•  Sarah Edwards
•  Clea Smith

Western Australia

•  Rene Farrell

Brunei Under19 Girls Start Cricket

The Brunei Darussalam Cricket Association (BDCA) had it’s first-ever cricket training camp for U-19 girls in June. 20 of its participants were involved in a series of basic cricketing drills.

ACC Development Officer for Brunei, Aminul Islam, conducted the four-day session and was very impressed with the “enthusiasm and spirit shown by the girls.”

“All of them took the game very seriously and also coped fantastically well to their very first cricketing session. They will have to train hard for the ACC U-19 Women’s Championship in November but I’m sure they can do well,” said Mr. Islam.

Mr. Islam went on to say that it was very encouraging to see that nineteen of the participants were local.

Haidee Tiffen (New Zealand)

Proud to be Kiwi

The White Ferns have just finished their second winter camp and boy is it winter. Lincoln in the summer can be freezing at the best of times, and our touring teams will vouch for that, but this past weekend we were treated to snow. For some of the North Island girls it was the first time they had actually seen snow falling! As you can imagine, it was very exciting and naturally the morning run was cancelled and the girls decided to make snowmen instead.

The camp was full of cricket, more cricket, guests and fun. The highlight of the camp would have to been the Ready Steady Cook challenge. It involved everyone being split into three teams and getting a list of ingredients to create their master piece. One group, that I was proud not to be a part of, suffered a series of unfortunate events which led to their main meal tasting like cat food. The other two teams actually made edible food. Steve Jenkin was the only brave soul to eat the cat food meal which for interest’s sake consisted of a tuna, asparagus, baked beans and avocado wrap, with a stuffed potato consisting of those ingredients all over again. Hmm, not ideal!

We had the pleasure of Cate Sexton, who was the manager of the White Ferns team that won the World Cup in 2000, speaking to the group. Cate is now the Black Ferns [NZ women's rugby] manager, who are currently the World Champions. She shared her experiences with both successful teams and told us what she believes is the recipe to World Cup victory. From my personal experience Cate is the utmost professional who played a major part in us winning the World Cup in 2000. For me personally, as the only player left from that winning team, it brought back some wonderful memories as well a reminder of how old I am.

We also had the exciting news that Suzie Bates was named in the Tall Ferns [basketball] team to compete at the Beijing Olympics. We are all very proud of her achievement and we wish her the best. She is a talented sportswoman with a massive future in New Zealand sport.

It has been interesting reading about developments in other international teams around the world. I am personally pleased to see the women’s game improving in the area of player contracts. It is an exciting time to be involved in the women’s game and I too, like Shelley [Nitschke], am at the wrong end of my career. Obviously seeing Australia follow the ECB and I am sure the BCCI will follow, it seems like a natural progression for New Zealand Cricket to address this area for their international women.

As most international amateur sports people can empathise with, it can be extremely stressful working full-time, training like a professional athlete, participating in cricket series and occasionally spending time with your partner, friends and family. We all make huge sacrifices to play a game we are tremendously passionate about, so any financial remuneration that enables us to free up some of that precious time is an enormous help.

The White Ferns have some amazing young talent coming through [especially in the likes of Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine], and if we can make cricket a more attractive option through some financial assistance, it will enable NZC to secure their talents for the years to come.

I am currently teaching at Hillmorton High in Christchurch. Ann Brokenshire my Principal and her support staff have been fantastic with juggling my cricket days off. My Head of Department, Melissa Ruscoe is the current captain of the Black Ferns, so Hillmorton High is leading the way in girl power.

New Zealand has a very small population of four million people. We realise that our population is probably the size of a small Indian wedding [Mithali, I know I am one of your 4 million …] and, as a Kiwi, this fact makes me extra proud of our achievements. The White Ferns’ World Cup squad have very clear goals in mind and we are extremely driven to fulfill these. We are all proud to wear the silver fern, call ourselves Kiwis and tell everyone our home is New Zealand.

Urooj Mumtaz (Pakistan)

Twenty20 – ladies style

From a personal perspective it was really nice to be one of the Player of the Series for my 12 wickets and 145 runs. The other Player of the Series, Bismah Maroof, our young left-handed opening batsman, again confirmed her potential as she topped the run scoring list, while it was really good to see Asfa Batool taking wickets as well.

The tournament has given us a good idea of who the best Twenty20 players are in the country and I am sure that will influence the thinking of the selectors when they meet to decide who will be in our training camp squads ahead of the series against West Indies.

One disappointment of the past week was the size of crowds at matches, which were again really made up only of families of players, but on the other hand it was great to have most major news crews in Pakistan covering the final.

There was even talk at one stage that the final was going to be televised and although it didn’t happen this time, it would be great for us to get some broadcast coverage in the future, for this event.

With the final of the tournament being held in the National Stadium at Karachi, it was great to play on a ground that will be hosting the Champions Trophy in September.

I hope all the top players will be able to make it to Pakistan and I know my team-mates and I are keen to watch as many games as we can live, in order to pick up some tips from some of the stars of the men’s game.

Urooj Mumtaz (Pakistan)

Who will be No. 1?

There have been many exciting developments for our sport in recent years, but I have to admit it is great news that there will soon be an ODI Player Rankings system for women’s cricket. The rankings will spark additional interest in the women’s game, especially when there will be some high profile events in 2009 such as the Women’s World Cup. I am sure there will plenty of competition amongst players from different teams to improve their own ranking and I am sure it will occasionally get mentioned in the dressing room as well, but I think a bit of good-natured rivalry will be beneficial for the sport. I think the rankings will be particularly important in countries like Pakistan, where we don’t receive as much publicity and attention as other teams.

It will be nice to think that people will follow the No. 1 batsman and bowler in the world, in the same way that supporters are fanatical about the player rankings for men. I can’t wait until October when we will find out where all the players are rated.

Hopefully the rankings will provide us with an opportunity to raise the profile of the leading players and use the publicity to encourage more girls to take up the sport. It would be really nice to act as role models to girls who are interested in playing the game.

Preparations for the World Cup are going well – I can’t believe that it will only be six months to our first game against India. We have just gathered in Lahore for a batting and bowling training camp for which 28 players are in attendance.

During the camp the selectors will pick the squad for the home series against West Indies, after which I believe the squad will remain reasonably settled in our build-up to the World Cup.

I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to play cricket with the national team on a regular basis, for after the West Indies series we will be taking on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in a tri-series.

Then there will be more training camps before taking on an Indian state side in Pakistan. After that I’ll have to give some thought to packing my bags for Australia

ICC to rank top women cricketers

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will launch a one-day internationals player ranking system in October.

The first set of ratings will initially apply to ODI cricket only and England players are expected to feature highly.

The scheme begins five months ahead of the ICC Women’s World Cup in March and the ICC World Twenty20 next June.

England captain Charlotte Edwards has backed the development of the rankings, calling it “another positive step forward for our game.”

She went on: “The rankings will help bring a new level of interest to the sport and that can only be a good thing.

“I have played international cricket for over a decade now and I don’t think there has ever been a more exciting time to be involved in the women’s game.

“We have two major international events next year and we need to make sure women’s cricket uses them to raise the profile of the game to a new audience and promote some of the stars in international cricket.”

England players such as captain Edwards, and fellow batsman Claire Taylor, who played her 100th ODI on Thursday, and seam bowlers Isa Guha and Sarah Taylor are all likely to be close to the top of the list.

Guha, one of the key figures of the England team during their impressive Ashes win at the start of the year, said: “It will be great to have a rankings system that provides a definitive guide to who the game’s leading players are.”

The announcement came as England looked to take a 3-0 lead in the series against India at Taunton on Thursday. They are riding high after winning the first two series of the summer against West Indies and South Africa.

Cri-Zelda Brits (South Africa)

World Cup day dreams

Six months to go and we’re now really counting down to the start of the World Cup. We are now back home after a tough tour in Europe and although we didn’t manage to beat England, I believe we made significant progress during the tour, which provided invaluable experience for us and the tough challenges that lie ahead. Our bowling and fielding performances, particularly in the Twenty20 matches, showed we are getting closer to competing with the top sides, although admittedly there is much work still to do on our batting. All credit to the England’s bowlers, who bowled really well, but we are going to have work very hard in provincial cricket in the coming months to raise our performance levels with the bat. There isn’t much difference in pace to the bowlers we faced against England and those at the World Cup qualifiers, but the key difference is accuracy. England’s bowlers bowled a great line, which must make life much easier for Charlotte Edwards as captain, as it pressurises batsmen into playing high-risk shots if they want to beat the field. It wasn’t a scenario we coped particularly well with and it is an area that we are going to have to address as a matter of urgency.

Away from the tour of England, I am greatly excited by the news this week that the ICC are going to be launching the first-ever rankings for women’s cricket. I think this is a step in the right direction, as if it is something that has been shown to work in the men’s game, then there is no reason why it shouldn’t work in the women’s game as well.

I also believe that the rankings will help the public better identify some of the leading players in world cricket, particularly when not that many women’s international matches are broadcast on television at the moment.

While the main focus will always be on making sure your team win, it will be nice to know that there is something else to play for in every game and I am sure everybody will be keen to do as well as they can in the rankings.

However, I am sure those who are the top of the rankings will be under that extra bit of pressure to perform, as every opposition player will want to do well against them and show that they are capable of competing with the very best cricketers in the world.

I am looking forward to seeing where we are all rated in the rankings, which I believe will be unveiled in October, and I am sure there will be some jokes flying around the dressing room when they are released on where players are ranked.

Until then, it is a case of training, practice and mental preparation, and day-dreams of World Cup success. Oh – and a place near the top of the batting rankings would be nice too!

Isobel Joyce (Ireland)

Why women’s cricket is going backwards in Ireland

Another series … well I suppose you can hardly call one Twenty20 and a one-day international a series, but for lack of a better word, another coach – this time it is stand-in coach South African Albert Van der Merwe. Our previous stop-gap coach, Matt Dwyer, has other commitments so he couldn’t stay with us after the West Indies games.

Since those matches, there has been a lot of club cricket being played, and we seem to be getting into the swing of things just when the summer is winding down. I would be lying if I said that the preparation for the South Africa games was ideal, but the girls have been training hard, and are taking an optimistic approach to the upcoming tour.

It feels like Irish women’s cricket is coming to the end of an era, and I have to say, I don’t know where we go from here. When all other Irish cricket is thriving, did everybody somehow forget about us? I was reading some postings on an Irish cricket website recently and some of the comments (in reply to a posting about how little the Irish women’s team gets in support) were along the lines that the men are the ones who have been successful, so that is where Cricket Ireland will obviously concentrate its efforts.

This was not a reflection on Cricket Ireland’s views of the women’s game, or on how they prioritise; it was the opinion of a few regular male club players and how they think cricket in Ireland should be prioritised.

In one way, who can blame people for making comments like this after our lacklustre performances this year? But this is amateur sport, and that means it is not supposed to be about who is winning what, it is supposed to be about promoting the game and participation in sport. When most of the other women writing blogs on Girls Aloud are praising the leaps forward that the women’s game is taking, I would say that we in Ireland are going backwards.

All of this just detracts from what we are trying to do though, and that is to compete with the teams that are one and two places ahead of us. The teams we should be trying to beat are Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa.

We are a little bit wiser going into these games than we were when we played South Africa in the ICC Trophy. We didn’t know much about their bowling attack then, and we didn’t stick to our game plan.

When it comes down to it though, all I want to do is go out there and play my best cricket, and hope that the other girls on the team will do the same. That is the attitude that we are going into these games with; everything else like support, funding and tours will just have to wait.

Jenny Gunn (England)

England v South Africa 2008 Series

It was still raining on August 20 when we were due to play our first Twenty20 match against South Africa, so this match was called off without a ball being bowled and moved to a double header on Saturday.

On a chilly, windy Friday we were put into bat in the first of three matches. Lottie [Charlotte Edwards] set off on a flyer and with Tayls [Claire Taylor] poorly, I was given the chance to bat at three.

My parents were coming to watch. My dad always gives me stick saying I can’t hit the ball off the square so I was quite happy when I hit a six. The funny thing was my mum and dad missed every ball of my innings and arrived just in time to clap me off as I walked up the changing room steps! Lottie smashed 45 off 34 balls and Lydia [Greenway] 25 to help post 138.

South Africa got off to a slow start and some sharp fielding saw them fall behind the run rate. It was only Susanna Benade with 34 who managed to score runs but they finished on 84, some 54 runs short which meant we took a 1-0 lead.

On Saturday we played our back-to-back Twenty-20 matches.

We were once again batting first and wickets tumbled early on. We were still scoring quickly with Lottie being well supported by Beth [Morgan]. Lottie was unbeaten on 76 off just 66 balls as we managed to post 116.

Like the day before, South Africa struggled to score runs in the first six overs and once we got our two spinners on and set the field back, the boundaries were hard to come by and the run rate just increased every ball. They finished on 79 to give us a 37 run victory.

We had one hour before our next game started and again we were batting first. This time Squirt [Sarah Taylor] was the one who took it to their bowlers and scored 31 before she was out. Beth batted positively in the middle for 22 before Lottie came in down the order to score a quick 33 and set South Africa 123 to win.

This time they came out playing a few more shots but this brought us wickets. Anya [Shrubsole], making her debut, ripped through the top order, taking 3-19 from her four overs which resulted in her getting player of the match. Our two spinners once again contained the middle order and South Africa were finally bowled out for 80 which gave us a 3-0 series win.

We now have four days off at home before we meet up at Bristol for our next series against India.