Don't let cancelled games settle Div 1 Title!

Defeat for Kent at the hands of Middlesex, and wins for both Yorkshire (just) and Sussex on Bank Holiday Sunday set up the Monday games (Berks v Kent and Yorkshire v Sussex) as key matches in deciding which of the three teams would walk away with the 2015 County Championship title. Unfortunately the weather intervened and neither game got underway, so yet again a women's competition is thrown into uncertainty.

As things stand Kent are currently top of the league with an average of 15 (105 points in 7 games), followed by Yorkshire on 14.83 (89 points in 6 games) and Sussex on 14.5 (87 points in 6 games).

Kent have completed their scheduled fixture list, but should replay the cancelled Berkshire game before 28th September. Yorkshire still have Lancashire to play on 13th September and Sussex have Berkshire to play on the same day. They too should replay their cancelled game before the end of September. But will either cancelled game get played?

Under the league rules counties have seven days to agree a date and venue for the cancelled fixture. If the home side cannot sort it out then the away side are entitled to. All fixtures must be played by 28th September. But the counties have a very poor record of cancelled games being reorganised, especially this late in the season.

If the cancelled games are not played then if Yorkshire beat Lancashire and score seven or eight bonus points, they will win the league. If they score 6 bonus points they will be level with Kent on 105 points, but Kent's win over Yorkshire would mean they win.

However if Sussex were to beat Berkshire and claim full bonus points (8) then they too could finish on 105 points, which could see a three-way tie, for which there is no provision in the league rules.

If it ends up just being Kent and Sussex at the top then it would come down to which team has the highest net run rate for all completed matches, as the teams tied in the notorious Beckenham encounter earlier in the season.

Let's avoid all that and get the games played and have a proper winner of the 2015 Women's County Championship.

MD
01/IX/15