Kia Super League Teams taking shape

With the announcement today of the three international players who have signed for each of the six Kia Super League teams, the shape and strength of the teams is beginning to emerge. This follows on from the announcement last week of the England players allocated to each team.

Big names are Ellyse Perry to Loughborough Lightning, as suspected; Meg Lanning to Surrey Stars; Suzie Bates to Southern Vipers; and WWT20 winning captain Stafanie Taylor to the Western Storm.

The final piece in the jigsaw is due next week when the two or three Academy players per team will be announced, together with the additional players that each franchise has selected to boost their roster to the full 15. We will wait to comment on the strengths of each squad until the full 15 players have been named, but in the meantime here is how the teams are currently shaping up :-

Lancashire Thunder
Kate Cross, Sarah Taylor, Danni Wyatt
Sarah Coyte, Deandra Dottin, third tba



Loughborough Lightning
Georgia Elwiss, Rebecca Grundy, Amy Jones, Beth Langston
Sophie Devine, Dane van Niekerk, Ellyse Perry



Southern Vipers
Charlotte Edwards, Tash Farrant, Lydia Greenway
Suzie Bates, Sara McGlashan, Megan Schutt



Surrey Stars
Tammy Beaumont, Laura Marsh, Nat Sciver
Rene Farrell, Marizanne Kapp, Meg Lanning



Western Storm
Heather Knight, Anya Shrubsole, Fran Wilson
Lizelle Lee, Rachel Priest, Stafanie Taylor



Yorkshire Diamonds
Katherine Brunt, Jenny Gunn, Dani Hazell, Lauren Winfield
Alex Blackwell, Shabnim Ismail, Beth Mooney



MD
14/IV/16

WBBL Shakedown

The ticker-tape has been cleared up and the MCG has fallen silent after the final of the inaugural WBBL reached an exciting, if rather unprofessional, conclusion on Sunday. It was the Thunder that returned to Sydney with the trophy, probably sharing a plane with their dejected Sixer opponents.

To be honest the final was not a great cricketing spectacle, but then finals often aren't! The Thunder contrived to drop simple catches, and fail to run out opponents who were at one time both on the ground in the middle of the wicket. The Sixers were equally as generous and misfields accounted for three of the Thunder's 10 boundaries. Without them it would have been a much tighter contest. It was therefore probably appropriate that the game finished with a leg-side wide, on which the batsmen ran a single, only to be gifted an overthrow by, of all people, Ellyse Perry, as she fired at the stumps at the bowler's end from two yards away and missed.

But ultimately the rather amateur-standard of the final actually reflects the true current state of women's cricket. There are very few full-time professionals currently in the women's game. Of those who played on Sunday I would suggest that only four players actually fall into that category - Perry, Alyssa Healy, Alex Blackwell and Stafanie Taylor, with perhaps Erin Osborne as another. The rest are effectively amateurs or semi-pros at best.

The fact that the Aussie public seem to have taken the WBBL to their hearts and made it such a huge success would suggest that they can look beyond the odd fumble and dropped catch, and that they are enjoying seeing the girls perform on the big stage. There is a massive wave of support behind women's sport at the moment and the WBBL is surfing that wave. The trick now is to make sure that there are more waves to be caught.

No doubt the top dogs at Cricket Australia are currently in a room somewhere licking their nether regions contentedly. And indeed they have every right to do so. They have invested heavily and wisely in women's cricket. Not only are there decent contracts in place for the Southern Stars (and a willingness to change who those contracted players are), but they have invested in the domestic players playing in the WNCL with all players receiving Au$7,000, and a further Au$3,000 - Au$10,000 if they play in the WBBL. But, perhaps even more significantly, CA shared the cost of getting the WBBL onto free-to-air television. No-one had any great expectations for the viewing figures, but they have been huge, which meant production company Ten decided to switch coverage to their more popular channel and cover more games. The result has been an explosion of interest in women's cricket in Australia and talk of a standalone television deal for WBBL2.

In contrast the ECB, who have also invested heavily, have provided contracts for 19 players, but nothing for those below them. The Women's Cricket Super League this summer will see no salaries for the participants. Instead the ECB will provide franchises with money to cover small match fees and expenses for the players (including those already on England contracts), and the competition is incentivized by prize money for the winning team and the losing finalist, with one pot to be shared by the players and another for the franchise host. That will be very welcome for the 30 or so players who share the prize, but is not so great for the other 60 or so who do not.

As for television coverage we have no news yet. Clare Connor has talked of "positive conversations" with broadcast partners, but nothing more than that. Is the WCSL even outside the ECB's current deal with Sky? Perhaps the success of the WBBL on television in Australia will allow those conversations to produce something positive or for the ECB to commit further investment into television coverage. It is what the competition desperately needs. Without being able to latch on to an existing franchise system for the men, as the WBBL did with the pre-existing BBL, marketing the WCSL and creating a product to inspire the next generation of women cricketers is going to be a tough gig without it being on television. And the coverage needs to be top-quality. In Australia Ten committed exactly the same production techniques and cameras to the WBBL as they did to the BBL. It showed and it worked.

As my Mum used to say "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing right!"


MD
25/I/2016

Looking ahead to 2016!

At the end of the year there is always a tendency to look back at what has been, and it is true to say that 2015 has been a watershed year for women's cricket, not so much perhaps on the pitch, but in it's coverage and it's credibility as a standalone, entertaining and financially-viable product. Press and television coverage of the Women's Ashes was unprecedented. Every ball was on the television, including the Test at Canterbury (much to the annoyance of some patronising know-it-all journalists - who actually know very little at all about women's cricket). Every national newspaper had match reports, and carried interviews and background pieces on the players.

The Ashes was followed by the inaugural Women's Big Bash in Australia, which has been a huge success so far, with television audiences beyond anyone's expectations. The tournament looks set to stay and to grow and is a fantastic advert for women's cricket.

But enough of looking back. Let's look forward. 2016 is jam-packed with some great cricket. Here is a quick run-down of what to look out for over the coming 12 months.

January 2016

The Final of the Women's Big Bash
After 56 T20 games the semi-finals of the WBBL will be played on 21st and 22nd January and the final will be on Sunday 24th January. Who will get there? Well my money would be on the Hurricanes, the Heat, The Thunder and, maybe, just maybe, the Strikers. First team to take home the trophy? I have to stick with my original pick and say it will be the Heat. Whoever it is it has been a great step forward for women's cricket.

Australia v India 
Just two days after the Big Bash finishes the Aussies start a three match T20 series against the Indians, followed by three ICC WC ODIs. It could be carnage! The Aussies will be in prime T20 form, a format that the Indians don't seem to like much. The Aussies also sit top of the ICC WC standings and they are likely to hand out a 3-0 drubbing to the Indians in this slightly longer format of the game. With three ICC WC ODI series to play after this the Indians will be staring down the barrel at the bottom of the ICC WC standings.

January should also give us some more details about the new Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL) T20 competition planned by the ECB for August.

February 2016

South Africa v England 
No sooner will the England players have returned from their WBBL experience than they will be on the plane to South Africa for England's first tour under new Head Coach Mark Robinson. England have just renewed the contracts of the current 18 players, plus added Fran Wilson as the nineteenth. Squad, and then team, selection will be interesting and one hopes that the England players will be up for the challenge. Languishing in fifth in the ICC WC table, no less than three wins in the three ODIs will be acceptable.

New Zealand v Australia
Two weeks after their last encounter with the Indians the Aussies will be playing their first ICC WC ODI game in New Zealand. It should be a good series. The Kiwis demolished a poor Sri Lanka side in November and will be keen to nick at least one ODI off their local rivals, if not the series win, as they did to England last February. Under new Head Coach Haidee Tiffen New Zealand  look a rejuvenated unit, but the Aussies will be strong favourites to extend their lead at the top of the table.

South Africa v West Indies
As England leave South Africa so the West Indians arrive for three ICC WC ODIs and three T20s. The Windies will be keen to cement their place in the Top Four (they sit equal top as I write this), but South Africa will know that they need the points too, with New Zealand and Australia their final two opponents. Stafanie Taylor is world class for the Windies, but she cannot win the series on her own. I think the Saffers might just pip them 2-1 on home soil.

March 2016

Women's World T20
Hard on the heels of all the ICC WC ODI action comes the Women's World T20 Cup in India. This is the fifth time the competition has been held and the Aussies have won the last three. They will be hot favourites to make it four in a row. But T20 is a tough game to call.
Ten teams will fight it out for the World Champions crown - the top eight, plus Ireland and Bangladesh, who qualified in December. The groups are :-
Group A - Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Ireland
Group B - England, West Indies, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
The top two teams in each group make it to the semi-finals, with the final being played on 3rd April at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Anything less than a place in the final for either Australia or England will be a disaster. The West Indies and South Africa made it to the semis last time in Bangladesh, but they will have to fight tooth and nail with New Zealand to make it this year. India will hope to perform well on home soil (especially now that they too are contracted players), but T20 is not really their thing.
Let's hope the crowds are better than the last time India hosted a World Cup (50 overs in 2013), when the grounds were almost empty for every game.

May 2016

After a short lull the English domestic season will start on 1st May with nine county teams each playing each other to become County Champions. Last year Yorkshire won the title, and this year newcomers Somerset and Staffordshire will find themselves slugging it out with the best in the country in Division One.

June 2016

England v Pakistan
June will see the arrival of the Pakistan team in England for three ICC WC ODIs and three T20s. England will expect to pick up all the points, but it could be a good series for England to introduce some fresh faces to the squad, before the 2017 World Cup to be held in England. Coach Robinson will have found his feet by this time, so it will be interesting to see his first proper squad selection.

India v Sri Lanka
Sometime before the end of July Sri Lanka have to return to India to play at least their three ICC WC ODI games. Both sides will be desperate to get some points. Sri Lanka had seemed to be making progress as a team, but their recent results have been disappointing to say the least. It may be too little too late for India, who will finish their first ICC WC campaign with series against Pakistan and then the West Indies. A top four place may be out of sight for them by this time.

August 2016

Women's Cricket Super League
The much-heralded WCSL should kick-off in England with a two week, six team, T20 competition in August.

The franchise-based tournament aims to bring together the best of the best, but the details are still sketchy. Applications have been invited to run the teams and are now being considered. The winning bidders will be announced in January, but it looks like there will be two London-based teams, one on the south coast, one in the south west, one in the north-west and one in the midlands.

With the success of the Big Bash the pressure will be on the ECB to bring the same pizazz to the WCSL. But the ECB are starting from scratch unlike Cricket Australia who tagged the WBBL onto the existing successful Men's Big Bash teams and structure. The plan is to extend the WCSL to the 50 over game the following season, but I just cannot see this happening for a whole host of reasons.

October 2016

South Africa v New Zealand
This is the first of the 6th round games in the ICC WC and is already pencilled in to start on 8th October. The rest of the games in the round are below and they have to be played by the end of October 2016.
West Indies v England
Pakistan v India
Sri Lanka v Australia
England will almost certainly go to the West Indies in late September/early October.

November 2016

The final round of ICC WC games have to be played in October and November. The fixtures that remain are :-
Australia v South Africa
Sri Lanka v England
India v West Indies
New Zealand v Pakistan
The teams that finish in the top four positions in the table will automatically qualify for the World Cup in England in 2017. The other four will have to compete in the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier 2017, where they will be joined by six regional qualifiers. The ten teams will be competing for the final four places at the Women's World Cup. It means the bottom four could still get through, but teams like Ireland, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Scotland may have other ideas.

December 2016

WBBL/2
And so we return to the WBBL. No doubt WBBL/2 will be bigger, better and even more fun than WBBL/1!!

MD
30/XII/15

Women's Cricket Super League Contenders

The deadline for the submission of tenders to become a Women's Cricket Super League Host expires tomorrow. The decision on who has won the six franchises will not be made public until January next year, but it seems that of the 28 expressions of interest relatively few have turned into solid bids. In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph Clare Connor, the Head of Women's Cricket stated that "assuming we get enough high quality bids it (the WCSL) will start as a T20 event". Perhaps there is a tacit admission there that the hosting package has not proved to be quite as enticing as the ECB had hoped.

How the WCSL Map might look?

But from the flurry of recent press releases it does seem as though some interesting bids have been submitted, with an interesting geographical spread.

Hampshire CCC are fronting a bid for a south coast franchise, based at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, with the "support" of Sussex, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. Quite what "support" means is not made clear.

Somerset CCC, Gloucestershire CCC and Exeter University have combined for a possible south west franchise, based around the university's training facilities and the county grounds at Taunton and Bristol.

In the north west Lancashire have confirmed their interest in being a WCSL franchisee, with the support of the Cheshire CB. Lancashire can of course boast the excellent training and playing facilities they have at their disposal at Old Trafford in Manchester.

It also looks like London could have two rival franchises based at Lords and the Oval. The MCC and Middlesex are believed to be getting together to try and get a franchise based at the Home of Cricket, and Surrey CCC stated back in July that they would be submitting a bid, with, you would guess, the Oval as hub of their franchise.

So what of the Midlands? All quiet so far, but there has been a great deal of interest from Loughborough University, where of course the National Cricket Performance Centre has been established. The problem Loughborough has is that they do not have a ground that could host televised matches with crowds. The nearest first-class men's and women's county is Nottinghamshire, so it would be no surprise if they submitted some kind of joint bid, perhaps with the support of one or more of Warwickshire, Staffordshire and even Worcestershire.

As for the north east Yorkshire, last year's Division One county champions, are the closest and biggest women's county, but have yet to commit to any bid. And in the south east it does not look as though any bid will be forthcoming from Kent or Essex, perhaps on the basis that they know they could not compete with the resources available to the London-based franchises.

For now it is all speculation, but once the bid winners are announced the next headache will be how the England and England Academy players are allocated to the various franchises. No-one has quite explained how this will be done, only that the hope is that the teams will all share the England resources equally to ensure a tight and entertaining competition.

No wonder Clare Connor is having sleepless nights.

MD
12/XI/15

Women's Cricket Super League to start in 2016

The ECB have today announced that a new Women's Cricket Super League will start in 2016. Amidst a blaze of camera crews and familiar cricket faces from Sky, TMS and the like, Clare Conner, the Head of Women's Cricket in England, sat patiently outlining what she described as the "most significant development in women's cricket for a very long time". Her enthusiasm for the project was obvious and the amount of media attention almost unprecedented in the women's game. It was exciting to be part of it, and one can only hope that the product that is produced at the end of the day is just as exciting.

The headlines are that there will be six Women's Cricket Super League teams, with the ECB investing £3M in the project over the next four years. In 2016 the six teams will compete only for a T20 prize, which will include some money, both for the players and the organisation that is running the team - quaintly referred to as "the host". In 2017 this will be extended to a new WCSL 50 over competition as well. Quite who those "hosts" will be is not clear yet, as the ECB are asking for "Expressions of Interest" from organisations that want to be involved in the project - these could be existing counties, universities, sporting organisations such as the MCC or indeed organisations involved in any sport. The ECB is basically open to offers. Hosts will need to prove a business case to the ECB to be awarded one of the six team franchises (although pointedly this was not a word that was used during the Press Conference) and they will be tied in for four years. How do you make your case? Well you will need to tick the ECB's checklist of criteria which relate to expertise, standards, coaching model, engagement with the community, growth forecasts and general business development. Franchises will hopefully be awarded by the end of 2015.

If you are lucky enough to be awarded a hosting position, then in Year One the ECB will give you half of what they estimate it will cost to run your team for the year. The other half will apparently be value in kind, by way of facilities, expertise, existing coaching staff etc. The reality is that the host will probably have to stump up some of their own cash, or cash that they have derived from commercial sponsors. Quite what the cost of running a team is deemed to be seemed to be a moot point, but it sounded as though the ECB would contribute substantially less than £100,000 in the first year to each team, but that this would grow in subsequent years.

Unlike the Aussie state system none of this money is earmarked for salaries. The ECB would like the players (outside of the 18 contracted players) to be paid, but they are not insisting that this is a part of the host's model. It will be a matter for the host's themselves. As for ECB contracted players they cannot apparently be paid additional sums, although how long this would be sustainable seems doubtful. Are they really going to play more competitive cricket for no more money? How will hosts attract the best contracted players to come and play for them, rather than the team down the road? And what of those just outside the 18? If you can offer them even a small amount of cash to play, then surely your team is going to be more appealing? Failing to dictate, and initially pay for, player salaries may save the ECB cash, but it is a black hole of future problems. Match fees, player expenses and "overseas players contributions" are apparently catered for in the funds allocated to hosts by the ECB.

Those problems, and possibly many others, will land on the desk of the shortly to-be-appointed ECB Women's Cricket Super League General Manager. He or she will be busy over the next few months.

The first competition will be the WCSL T20 probably for 16 to 18 days in August 2016. The year after the 50 over competition will start, possibly with just five games per team, but more likely ten. It will be a question of scheduling as England are also hosting the Women's 50 over World Cup, plus there will still be the WCSL T20 competition and county cricket fixtures. Asked if players would be expected to play in both WCSL fixtures and county fixtures, Connor suggested that all but the top 25 players in the country would probably end up playing in both.

So far from seeing the WCSL as the demise of county cricket, Connor confirmed that the ECB would continue to invest as much, if not more in the county game, and also would be looking to reinvest in club cricket, described by Connor as "a bit of an abandoned child at the moment". There is a realisation that these form the base of the pyramid that leads to elite players at the very top. But interestingly county cricket will not involve Scotland, Ireland or the Netherlands after 2017. Players from these teams would be regarded as overseas players for WCSL purposes, and WCSL teams will be limited to just two overseas players.

So will you be watching the WCSL on your television next year? Naturally the ECB would love this to be the case, but they are currently tied in to a deal with Sky until 2019. Does the WCSL fall under this agreement? That may be for the lawyers to decide. Free-to-air coverage would be ideal, and would make hosting a team even more appealing. If the games are going to be on tv then hosts would find it infinitely easier to encourage team sponsors onboard. At the moment television coverage looks doubtful, but if the Women's Big Bash in Australia proves to be a ratings success on Aussie television then this might speed matters along.

Is this good news for English cricket? Undoubtedly. There is a lot of flesh to be put on the bones and plenty of wrinkles that will need to ironed out over the next few months and years. But this is a huge step towards "professional women's cricket" and a bigger pool of better players for England to choose from in years to come. Clare Connor and the ECB are to be congratulated on a job well done so far. Hopefully the WCSL will be the catalyst to more good women's cricket, more interest from commercial sponsors and television executives, and more interest from the general public. Exciting times indeed!

MD
18/VI/15

New Women's Cricket Super League

There has been a lot of speculation about what might or might not come out of the current review of the structure of women's cricket in England. It seems to be accepted that the current county structure is not "fit for purpose", and that there needs to be something with fewer teams, playing a better standard of cricket, between international cricket and the current county set-up. For want of a better phrase I have called this a "Super League". It also seems to be accepted that this level of cricket needs to be better financed and the players need to be paid for their commitment to it, as they are in state cricket in Australia.

Let's assume, just for a moment, that professional "franchise" cricket is going to be introduced in 2016, or sometime soon after, both for T20 and 50 over cricket. How is this going to be structured and how is it going to work?

The more I think about it the more complicated it gets. It is not just a question of throwing money at a few of the current counties and asking them to run the six or seven new franchise teams, who are going to play in the new Super League. Women's county cricket needs more than that. I hope the ECB will see that and perhaps look to appoint someone to oversee the whole project and make sure that the money that is going to be invested actually produces the results that the ECB are craving - better quality cricket, better players for England and a better product for paying spectators and television companies. Hopefully these are the aims, aren't they?

Currently women's county cricket is run by a handful of overworked and unpaid volunteers. All county cricket boards receive some funding direct from the ECB for women's cricket. But any money that is paid is paid to the county cricket board, who may, or may not, make it available to their women's cricket section. My understanding is that the ECB do pay towards some expenses - pitch hire, accommodation, staging of tournaments, etc. The rest of the expenditure needs to be covered by the county themselves - sponsors, fund-raising and players paying for their own kit, travel etc. The current annual budget for the running of a women's county team is probably less than £10,000.

If professional franchises are going to be introduced they need to be professionally run from the top down - ie they need a proper management structure with competent business/marketing/cricketing people at the helm. People who know women's cricket. It is NOT the same product as men's cricket, and to leave it in the hands of men's county executives and committees would be wrong. Women's franchises need proper coaches giving proper coaching and properly managing players and the games they play in. Women's cricket at the Super League level needs to be taken seriously and the women that play it need to take it seriously too. Izzy Westbury, in an article for the current issue of All Out Cricket, wrote about training in Australia - "Every training session and every match is tackled in the same way - with the same intensity, regardless of whether you are turning out for Australia, your state or your club". This does not happen in county cricket here in England. This attitude has to change and that will not happen if the current structure is not changed too.

Then, of course, the players need to be paid. In Australia each state is given $100,000 for the season (£50,000), from which they have to pay each of their players between $2,500 - $7,500, which would account for about half that sum. In addition CA also cover travel and accommodation expenses for the states. The state cricket associations still have to pay for balls, kit, pitch hire, umpires, scorers, training facilities etc.

The only players paid anything in England at the moment are the 18 contracted England players. There are apparently three different types of contract - tiers 1, 2 and 3 - but no-one knows how much any of the tiers are worth or who is on what tier. Speculation suggests £50,000 for tier 1 and about £20,000 for tier 3. The level below full-England contracts currently includes four players who were in the Winter training squad and 12 players in the England Academy. You would guess that for players at this level their "Super League" contracts might be worth at least £2,000 pa. It does not make them professional, or even semi-professional, but it does help with kit, travelling, physios etc.

So how should the ECB structure the new Super League? I have previously suggested seven regional teams - South East, South, South West, South Midlands, North Midlands, North West and North East, with England players and England Academy players evenly spread between the new franchises - an extended Super 4s structure if you like. The problem will be where do you base these teams for training and games? Will the ECB be able to convince the counties to allow them to use say, Chelmsford, Hove, Taunton, New Road, Grace Road, Old Trafford and Scarborough?

The temptation will be to award "franchises" to current "successful" county set-ups, but I am not sure that would produce the best results. I would much prefer that the ECB invited organisations to tender for the right to run an ECB franchise. Those who think they can do it would then have to say how they would run a new franchised team - management structure; marketing; grounds; costs; sponsorship. The current county set-ups will be in prime position to win these, but there are others who might want to throw their hat into the ring (universities for example), or perhaps join with existing counties to bring a new dynamic to the women's game. I also think it is important that the Super League teams are given their own, new identity - not Essex Eagles or Lancashire Lionesses, but Tesco Tigers, HSBC Hurricanes, B3 Devils etc.

And what then becomes of County Cricket, below the Super League? This MUST still be funded by the ECB to at least the current level of funding. It should continue in its current format, providing an opportunity for young and old county players to play at a level above club level. It should be seen as an important feeder for the Super League.

I doubt much more will be heard from the ECB until the end of this summer's Ashes series. But if England want to remain at the forefront of women's cricket then changes need to be made pretty soon, particularly with the Aussies getting the Women's Big Bash underway later this year. England Women cannot afford to be left behind as the England Men have been.

MD
17/III/15