B3 Custom Bat Competition

We have teamed up with our friends at B3 Cricket to give you the chance to win the perfect cricket bat - handmade especially for you!

What makes the perfect bat?

It is a question that many have pondered, but few, if any, have been able to answer. It is all to do with weight, feel, grain, pick-up, middle, density, handle, shape, profile, grip, ping… the list goes on and on. The truth is that every bat is different. Wood is a natural product and no two clefts are ever the same.

Clefts? A cleft is the rough piece of wood that will form the blade of the cricket bat once it has been pressed and shaped. The clefts are cut from English willow and dried, before they are delivered to the clever guys at B3. The density of each cleft is measured. The more dense (ie the more compact) the cleft the heavier it will generally be.

So picking the right cleft to make your bat from is crucial, and if you are female it is even more important as weight is a vital factor in making the perfect woman's or girl’s bat. Most girls are not as tall as men, or as strong, which means they will generally need a lighter bat. But that does not mean that their bat will be inferior or that the ball will not ping off the middle. It just means you have to get the right density cleft; hand-press it carefully to compress it; and then shape it to suit the way that you bat. 

Some people have a tendency to hit the ball higher or lower on the bat than others. If you prefer to play on the front foot then you probably hit the ball lower on the bat more often than not. If you are a back foot player then you probably hit the ball higher up the bat. By adjusting the shape of the bat and the thickness of the blade you can adjust the height and area of the sweet spot on the bat – the rather inappropriately named “middle”.

It follows therefore that if you go to a shop you could pick up a hundred cricket bats and none of them would be right for you. The answer is to make a bespoke bat – perfectly tailored for your height, weight, and style of play. That is exactly what B3 cricket can do for you. And they are experts in making bats for women. 

Some of the rising stars of English women’s cricket are looked after by B3 – such as Lancashire Thunder's Emma Lamb.... 

Emma Lamb

"B3 bats are excellent quality and well manufactured. The service provided by B3 is second to none. Great bat, great service"
Emma Lamb

Freya Davies (c) Don Miles

and Sussex and Western Storm’s Freya Davies...

"Nothing is too much trouble for the guys at B3. You can tell that they are cricketers themselves. They take pride in providing you with the perfect bat".
Freya Davies

plus Warwickshire skipper Marie Kelly...

Marie Kelly (C) Don Miles

"B3 offer a quite unique service for cricketers at all levels. They combine the latest technology with the personal touch. They, and their bats, are top quality" Marie Kelly

And we would like to offer all you female players the chance to have a bespoke B3 cricket bat made especially for you, by the dedicated and very talented guys at B3. 

You can pick your own cleft, decide on the size and shape of your bat, and even be there to see it being made. Plus you can choose from a huge range of bat stickers and grips, so that your bat is perfect for you. You will be the envy of all your team-mates.

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

A winner will be picked at random after the closing date on 21st March 2017. Good Luck!!!

MD

23/II/17

WWCQT - Super Six - Round 3 Results

Comfortable wins for India, South Africa and Sri Lanka mean that the four qualifiers for the Women's World Cup in June are India, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

India and South Africa will contest the final of this WWCQT.

Final Round Results

Pakistan 67 all out (Bisht 5/8)
India 70/3
Scorecard here

Ireland 166 all out (Waldron 33*)
South Africa 82/1 (won on D/L (47))
Scorecard here

Sri Lanka 197/9 (50 overs) (Jayangani 84, Khatun 3/18)
Bangladesh 68/6 (SL won by 42 runs on D/L)
Scorecard here

Final Super Six Standings

MD
19/II/17

WWCQT - Super Six - Round 2 Results

India and South Africa have qualified for the World Cup in June thanks to convincing 9 wicket wins over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, respectively.

Pakistan have kept their qualification on track, alongside Sri Lanka, with a crushing win over Ireland, who can no longer qualify. Sri Lanka play Bangladesh in their last game, and even if they lose will almost certainly go through over Bangladesh on NRR, barring a calamitous result.

With just one round of games to be played the table looks like this.

Results

Bangladesh 155/8 (50 overs) (Hoque 50, Joshi 3/25)
India 158/1 (Meshram 78*, Raj 73*)
Scorecard here

Sri Lanka 142/9 (50 overs) (Hansika 48, Luus 3/40)
South Africa 145/1 (Woolvaardt 50*, Luus 50*)
Scorecard here

Pakistan 271/5 (50 overs) (J Khan 90*, N Khan 72*)
Ireland 185 all out (C Joyce 41, Sandhu 2/25, Yousuf 2/45)
Scorecard here

WWCQT - Super 6s - Round 1 Results

The first of the three rounds of the Super 6 stage of the competition has been completed, and India have taken a firm grip on being the first team to qualify for the World Cup, with a thumping 49 run win over closest rivals South Africa.

Sri Lanka have also given themselves a decent chance of making the trip to England with a hard fought win over Pakistan, which means that Pakistan and Bangladesh, who overcame a lacklustre Ireland, are probably fighting it out for the fourth place.

This is how the table currently looks, plus the games still to be played...

Results

India 205/8 (50 overs) (Raj 64, Meshram 55, Kapp 2/23)
South Africa 156 all out (Chetty 52, Pandey 4/34)
Scorecard here

Ireland 144 all out (Shillington 37, Delany 37, Alam 3/21)
Bangladesh 145/3 (Akhter 52, Hoque 34*)
Scorecard here

Pakistan 212/7 (50 overs) (N Khan 64, J Khan 63, Ranaweera 2/33)
Sri Lanka 216/5 (Kaushalya 65*, Weerakkody 45, Fatima 2/28)

MD
15/II/17

WWCQT - Fifth Round Results

The fifth round of games concluded the initial dual league structure games, and there were no last minute surprises with comfortable wins for India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan.

It means that those four teams, together with Ireland and Bangladesh, have secured ODI status for the next four years and proceed to the Super 6s phase of the tournament. There each team will play the three teams that qualified from the opposite group. Once all the games have been played the top four teams will qualify for the Women's World Cup, and the top two teams will play off to see who wins this qualifying tournament.

The Super 6 games start this Wednesday. South Africa and India carry 4 points through to the Super 6s, Sri Lanka and Pakistan 2 and Ireland and Bangladesh 0 (as they only beat teams who have now been eliminated).

Group A - India, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Thailand

Zimbabwe 60 all out (Yadav 5/19)
India 6/1 (Krishnamurthy 29)
scorecard here


Thailand 122/8 (50 overs) (Boochatham 50, )
Sri Lanka 123/3 (50 overs) (Kumarihami 49)
scorecard here

Group B - South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea 76 all out (Tau 30)
South Africa 77/0 (Wolvaardt 43*)
scorecard here


Scotland 91 all out (Mir 5/14)
Pakistan 94/4 (Khan 35*, Gordon 4/29)
scorecard here


MD
12/I/17

WWCQT - Fourth Round Results

The fourth round of games are done and dusted and South Africa have joined India in the Super 6s.

Tomorrow is a rest day and then the final round of league games are due to be played on Monday.

Sri Lanka and Ireland eased their worries with wins over Zimbabwe and Thailand, the latter confirming Thailand's exit from the competition.

In Group B Scotland and PNG scrapped it out to keep their slim Super 6 hopes alive and it was Scotland who just came out on top. They will have to beat Pakistan tomorrow to stand any chance of getting through, but NRR looks against them.

Group A - India, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Thailand

Zimbabwe 149 all out (Musonda 32, Ranaweera 4/18)
Sri Lanka 153/2 (Jayangani 58, Weerakkody 33)
scorecard here


Ireland 218/7 (50 overs) (Garth 98, Delany 50, Padunglerd 2/25)
Thailand  172/9 (50 overs) (Boochatham 44, Tippoch 42, O'Reilly 3/28)
scorecard here

Group B - South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea

Scotland 169 all out (Scholes 35, Priddle 31, Siaka 6/19)
Papua New Guinea 162 all out (Tau 46, Anderson 3/35, Gordon 2/27)
scorecard here


Bangladesh 100 all out (Ahmed 39, Ismail 3/14)
South Africa 101/4 (Lee 34, Wolvaardt 30)
scorecard here


MD
11/I/17

WWCQT - Third Round Results

The third round of games have now been played. Big wins for India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and a first win for Zimbabwe, but they have Sri Lanka and India still to play, whereas Ireland have Thailand.

It looks like India, Sri Lanka and Ireland are heading to Super 6s from Group A, and South Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh from Group B.

Group A - India, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Thailand

India - 250/2 (50 overs) (Kamini 113*, Sharma 89)
Ireland 124 all out (Lewis 33, Joyce 31, Yadav 3/30)
scorecard here


Zimbabwe 191/8 (50 overs) (Musonda 35, Marange 34,  )
Thailand 155 all out (Tippoch 50, Mutasa 4/28)
scorecard here

Group B - South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea

Scotland 140 all out (Anderson 28, Khatun 3/21, Kubra 3/31)
Bangladesh 143/3 ( Hoque 53*)
scorecard here


Pakistan 276/5 (Zafar 115 retired, Khan 100, Siaka 2/34)
Papua New Guinea 40 all out (Sandhu 5/11)
scorecard here


MD
10/I/17

WWCQT - 2nd Round Results

Here are the results of the second round of games. No surprises as India and South Africa claim their second wins, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka open their accounts.

Group A - India, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Thailand

Thailand - 55 all out (Joshi 3/4, Sharma 2/8, Yadav 2/10, Gayakwad 2/18)
India 59/1 (12.2 overs) (Kamini 24*)
scorecard here
match report here

Sri Lanka 239/8 (50 overs) (Weerakkoddy 61, Surangika 53, I Joyce 4/39)
Ireland  93/9 (Kenal absent)(Shillington 36*, Fernando 3/21, Ranaweera 2/16, Weerakkody 2/37)
scorecard here
match report here

Group B - South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea

Scotland 142 all out (Anderson 50, Ismail 3/30, Khaka 2/9, Van Niekerk 2/21)
South Africa 143/4 (Tryon 45*, Chetty 35*, Gordon 2/39 )
scorecard here
match report here

Pakistan 227 all out (Maroof 35, Ahmed 3/40, Khatun 2/37, Kubra 2/43)
Bangladesh 160 all out (Sultana 41, Islam 34, Fatima 3/28, Mir 2/19, Sandhu 2/27)
scorecard here
match report here

MD
08/I/17

WWCQT - 1st Round Results

The Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament (WWCQT) is underway in Colombo, with the first round of games having been completed. Here are the results and links to full scorecards and match reports.

Group A - India, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Thailand

India - 259/4 (50 overs) - Vaidya 89, Ray 70*, Sharma 54, Prabodhani 2/56
Sri Lanka 145/8 (50 overs) - Perera 34, Jayangani 30, Gayakwad 2/19, Bisht 2/27
scorecard here
match report here

Ireland 237/6 (50 overs) (Garth 63, Delany 47, Nkomo 2/46, Mutasa 2/53)
Zimbabwe 118 all out (Ndiraya 35, Garth 3/24, Metcalfe 3/38)
scorecard here
match report here

Group B - South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea

South Africa 258/9 (50 overs) (Tryon 79, du Preez 40, Sandhu 3/51, Khan 2/45)
Pakistan 195/6 (50 overs) (Abidi 62, Van Niekerk 2/35)
scorecard here
match report here

Bangladesh 215/6 (50 overs) (Akhter 56, Hoque 51, Oa 2/23, Jimmy 2/32, Tom 2/35)
Papua New Guinea 97 all out (Siaka 32, Ahmed 2/13, Khatun 2/14, Ghosh 2/20, Alam 2/27)
scorecard here
match report here


MD
07/I/17

Kia Super League 2017 fixtures

Kia Super League 2017 fixtures

Thursday 10 August – Southern Vipers v Western Storm (Ageas Bowl, live on Sky Sports)

Friday 11 August – Yorkshire Diamonds v Lancashire Thunder (Headingley, live on Sky Sports)

Saturday 12 August – Western Storm v Loughborough Lightning (The Cooper Associates County Ground, live on Sky Sports)

Sunday 13 August – Surrey Stars v Yorkshire Diamonds (Kia Oval, live on Sky Sports)

Tuesday 15 August – Loughborough Lightning v Southern Vipers (The 3aaa County Ground, live on Sky Sports)

Wednesday 16 August – Lancashire Thunder v Surrey Stars (Emirates Old Trafford, live on Sky Sports)

Friday 18 August – Loughborough Lightning v Yorkshire Diamonds (Loughborough)

Sunday 20 August – Lancashire Thunder v Loughborough Lightning (Blackpool CC)

Sunday 20 August – Southern Vipers v Surrey Stars (Ageas Bowl)

Sunday 20 August – Yorkshire Diamonds v Western Storm (York CC)

Wednesday 23 August – Lancashire Thunder v Southern Vipers (Liverpool CC)

Wednesday 23 August – Surrey Stars v Western Storm (Guildford CC)

Saturday 26 August – Surrey Stars v Loughborough Lightning (Guildford CC)

Saturday 26 August – Western Storm v Lancashire Thunder (The Brightside Ground, Bristol)

Saturday 26 August – Southern Vipers v Yorkshire Diamonds (Arundel)

Friday 1 September – Finals day (1st Central County Ground, Hove, live on Sky Sports)

MD
01/II/17