Today I started yet another women's cricket season. This time it was at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton. And for the first time in many years I was there as a completely impartial observer. What I am looking for in particular this year is the next generation of international players. Hopefully I will see some good games of cricket along the way, as well as some exciting individual performances.
First up at The Bowl were Hampshire and Essex. Hampshire finished top of the table last year. Essex finished bottom. Hampshire had England players Bouchier, Kemp and Smith to help them out. Essex didn't!
Invited to bat on a blustery day with an ice-cold wind, Essex lost England hopeful Grace Scrivens for a duck, and then Cordelia Griffith was run out with only 21 on the board. It looked like little had changed from last year. But then former Berkshire stalwart Lissy MacLeod and young gun Jodi Grewcock added 94 for the third wicket before Lissy ran herself out. Grewcock carried on in the face of some fairly toothless bowling it has to be said. She looked to be heading for a well-deserved hundred, but a rather ugly swipe and a miss at a Dattani straight ball was her undoing. She is already on the England radar, perhaps more for her leg spin bowling potential, but she showed she has a good temperament. Predominantly a back foot player, happy to pull, hook and cut, she is sometimes tentative coming forward. But she is lefthanded and has the added plus of her bowling. Essex will need her to maintain this fine start with the bat. Hopefully a finger injury sustained while bowling later in the day was not too serious, although she left the field mid-over and never returned, which are not good signs.
Once she had gone for a fine 80 you felt the Essex innings would inevitably peter out to not many over 200, but some measured batting from Amara Carr (33) and some rather more lusty batting from Sophia Smale (33), plus some dire catching from Hampshire allowed Essex to post a competitive 265/8. Hampshire's bowling and fielding let them down badly.
When batting Hampshire suffered their own early loss as Bouchier lofted McGregor tamely to mid-off early on, but that brought Abi Norgrove to the crease to join Ella McCaughan. These are two of the quietest and most unassuming youngsters, but they batted together with a maturity that belied their age. Circumspect at first, Hampshire only had 78 on the board after 20 overs, but unflustered they ran well and put away the bad balls. It was a surprise to the hardy spectators and to McCaughan herself when she chipped a return catch to Smale on 90. Hampshire were still 99 runs shy of their target. Freya Kemp, who didn't bowl, lopped to the wicket. Frenetic at first, she should have been caught early on by MacLeod, but she worked through it and the pair added 40 before Norgrove holed out at long on for a splendid 85. She hid her head behind her bat for most of the walk back to the pavilion. But this was her highest score and her disappointment shows she has the right attitude to score more.
The Kemp drop was costly. She went on to score 46 at better than a run a ball, and despite being out in the penultimate over she and stand-in skipper Naomi Dattani (25*) saw Hampshire home with just two balls to spare.
This was a game that Hampshire should have dominated, but their bowling let them down. Essex will have taken heart from both their batting and bowling performance, but they may continue to struggle in this early part of the season.
As for prospects Grewcock and Norgrove impressed, but McCaughan stood out. Quite how the new Head Selector left her out of the recent South Africa internal games beats me. England's current loss is Hampshire's gain. Hampshire need to make the most of her while they have her.
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Elsewhere newcomers Yorkshire were bowled out for just 178 in under 34 overs by Somerset at Taunton. Alex Griffiths and Chloe Skelton helped themselves to four wickets each as Yorkshire found ways to get themselves out. It looked like Somerset were in charge of the reply, despite lowly contributions from England pair Heather Knight (5) and Dani Gibson, with Sophie Luff and keeper Jess Hazell looking comfortable at the crease, but Hazell was unfortunately run out at the bowler's end for 18 and Somerset slipped from 99/3 to 115/8 in the space of 6 overs. The game seemed to be Yorkshire's for the taking, but Sophie Luff found a willing and determined ally in debutant leg-spinner Lola Harris. The couple took the score to within 9 of the Yorkshire total before Harris (18 off 55) looped a catch back to Claudie Cooper. It was left to Maddie Ward, endeavouring to make amends for a bad drop of Sophie Luff when she was on 52, to try and winkle out the last wicket, but Luff hit two 4s to level the scores and then struck the next ball straight back to Ward who could not cling on to claim the tie. Skipper Luff (76*) scuttled through for the single and jumped in delight as she completed the winning run. Somerset had won by one wicket.
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At Chester-le-Street Lancashire handed Durham a thumping opening defeat. They put 303/8 on the board thanks to another century from Gabby Lewis (131), who put on 176 with Eve Jones (82) for the second wicket. The Durham bowlers, including Lauren Filer in their ranks, had no answer. Sophie Turner and Katherine Fraser picked up three wickets apiece as the Lancashire batters went gung-ho in the last few overs, losing five wickets and adding just 13 runs.
As feared Durham's batting crumbled. They were all out for 154 in 40 overs with Emily Windsor (46) the only batter to score over 30. Emma Lamb, after failing with the bat, took four wickets with her off-spin. This could be a long season for Durham fans.
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And finally to Edgbaston where Warwickshire took on Surrey on a wicket cut almost on the edge of the enormous square. There is one thing you do not need when bowling at Surrey's power-packed line up and that is a short boundary. Warwickshire would have been content with their early work as they had Surrey 95/4 at the end of the 17th over with Scholfield, Dunkley, Capsey and Chatli all back in the pavilion supping on a mug of warm tea. But Danni Wyatt-Hodge, batting at 6, proceeded to pepper the Edgbaston boundary hitting eight 6s and ten 4s as she shot to 124 off just 80 balls. In tandem with a more circumspect Alice Davidson-Richards (57 off 75), the double-barrelled duo added 118 for the fifth wicket off 95 balls. And when ADR was out youngster Jemima Spence spanked a very good-looking 79 off 48 balls with eleven more 4s and two more 6s, as Surrey took their total to a mammoth 389/9.
Warwickshire lost Davina Perrin early in their reply and at halfway through their innings they looked completely out of the game at 138/5, but some more late heaving to the short boundary from Em Arlott (90) and Issy Wong (45) took Warwickshire past 300 and denied Surrey a bonus point win. All seven of Arlott's 6s were carted onto the short side from the same end. It meant Warwickshire finished on 337/9, but still lost by 52 runs.
Martin Davies
12/IV/2026
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