Aussies one step ahead again

The New South Wales Breakers, an Australian state cricket team, have announced that all their players will now earn the minimum wage in Australia of $35,000 (about £21,000) for playing in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) - Australia's state 50 over tournament. This appears to cover the entire 2016/2017 season, but that includes just six league games from 13th October until a possible seventh with the final on 3rd December.

The Breakers are the first women's state team to make this step up from being part-time players to being full-time professionals, thanks to increased sponsorship from Lendlease.

Since 2013 domestic players in Australia have been paid something to play for their state by Cricket Australia. Initially this was up to $7,000 out of a $100,000 allocation of funds from CA. In 2015 $7,000 became the minimum, and in 2016 this increased to a minimum of $11,000. With the additional money from Lendlease, NSW can now offer their domestic players the chance to be full-time professionals on a living wage.

In addition domestic players can also earn between $7,000 and $15,000 for playing in the WBBL, while Southern Stars contracted players are paid an additional $40,000 - $65,000. It means that top international players will now be earning over $100,000 from their cricket alone. NSW Breakers players who are not on Southern Stars's contracts, but do play in the WBBL will be earning between $42,000 and $50,000 per season. It seems inconceivable that the other five states and ACT will not follow NSW's example over the coming months, making the WNCL the first all professional women's 50 over league. That may not be this year, but almost certainly in 2017.

Compare this to the current situation in England where 19 players were awarded ECB central contracts at the end of January 2016. Two have subsequently retired from international cricket, Charlotte Edwards and Lydia Greenway, leaving just 17 contracted players. The ECB have never disclosed what these contracts are worth, but somewhere between £25,000 - £50,000 seems to be the general consensus. But beyond this elite group none of the other girls that play the game were paid, until the inaugural Kia Super League this season, when those who actually played a game (about 35 non-contracted players) were paid £150 per game, and, if they made the final, the squad players all shared in the prizemoney. The maximum any player was paid for the KSL was about £2,500. Those who played in all five league games will have received £750.

The ECB have declined to follow the Aussies and have not put sufficient funds into women's county cricket to make this a semi-professional stepping stone to international cricket. There is no semi-professional league where players can hone their skills before being thrust onto the international stage, or back to which, players who lose their central contracts, can fall. It seems that the ECB are pinning their hopes on extending the KSL to 50 over cricket, but, as predicted here in December last year, this will not happen in 2017.

The door is open for the ECB to make some significant investment in the top eight teams who will compete in Division One of the County Championship next year, but it seems they are not inclined to open that door. In fact it looks firmly shut. An extended KSL (home and away games - even this will not happen in 2017) is the right format for T20 cricket, but domestic players need a semi-professional 50 over league, and surely the existing county teams are the way forward with ECB backing, leadership and minimum standards for training and playing facilities? Without this England's talent pool will continue to dwindle and the Aussies will continue to dominate women's cricket.

MD
06/X/16

NZ v Eng; Aus Domestic & NZ Domestic - Audio & Links

As the England Women head out to New Zealand for the second leg of the ICC WC, plus three T20s and another two ODIs, I have done another audio update, which covers the squad selections, plus the conclusion of the domestic seasons in both Australia and New Zealand. You can listen to the WCB Audio Update here - https://soundcloud.com/martin-davies-34/wcbaudio280115. Below are links to the main stories covered in the Update.

England Squad
The 15 player England squad for New Zealand is:-
Charlotte Edwards (capt), Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Lydia Greenway, Rebecca Grundy, Jenny Gunn, Dani Hazell, Amy Jones, Heather Knight (vice-capt), Laura Marsh, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor, Lauren Winfield, Danni Wyatt.
ECB link is here

New Zealand Squad
Suzie Bates (capt), Erin Bermingham, Kate Broadmore, Sophie Devine, Georgia Guy, Holly Huddleston, Sara McGlashan, Morna Neilsen, Katie Perkins, Anna Petersen, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu
White Ferns' link is here

Aussie Domestic Cricket

Meg Lanning beats Ellyse Perry & Elyse Villani to the Belinda Clark Award for Best Aussie Woman Cricketer 2014/2015 - more info

NSW beat South Australia to win WNCL 50 over final - more info & highlights - It is there tenth consecutive title and their 17th in the 19 years of the competition!!

NSW completed the double with a win in the WT20 final over Vic Spirit - more info. Looks like this could be the last WT20 competition for the states as plans for the Women's Big Bash begin to take shape - more info

New Zealand Domestic Cricket

T20 Final - Wellington Blaze blew away the Otago Sparks with a ten wicket win - more here - with 14 year old leg-spinner Amelia Kerr taking 3/19 (video here)

50 Over Final - Despite another 100 from Amy Satterthwaite (892 runs @ average of 148.66 this season) - the Auckland Hearts beat the Canterbury Magicians - more here



MD
29/I/15

Launch of WCB Audio Updates

Today I thought I'd try something new - an audio update. Well I say today, it has actually taken me about three days to put it all together, but it has been an interesting learning curve.

The idea is to provide regular updates on Women's Cricket that you can listen to in the car, on the train, at work or at home. And with a trip to New Zealand imminent I thought I might upload some updates from the other side of the world while I was away, so this is a warm-up.

They won't be long, otherwise they become too boring, but hopefully they will be informative, interesting and easy to listen to.

The first WCB Audio Update is here - https://soundcloud.com/martin-davies-34/wcb-audio-update-jan2015

It provides an update on the Australian domestic season which is coming to a climax; the latest games in the ICC Women's Championship where Pakistan have recorded a stunning 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka; and catches up with domestic cricket in New Zealand, where they too are reaching the end of their season, ahead of England's visit in mid-February for the last games in Round Two of the ICCWC.

I was hoping that England would announce their squad for New Zealand this week, but that will be at 10am on Monday, when I will be away, but check out the ECB website after 10am on Monday for all the news (http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/womens).

I hope you like the audiocast (there has to be a better name for it than that- ideas?). Please feel free to leave a comment below or email me with your thoughts - wcb@lawdox.co.uk

Relevant links from the Audio Update are :-

Aussie Domestic Cricket
WNCL News - http://www.cricket.com.au/series/wncl/I7GXJQk9REiPQ1cc2rlZNg

WNCL - Lisa Sthalekar's take on the semi-finals this weekend is here

WT20 News - http://www.cricket.com.au/series/wt20/UM6eejv7DkCG927cmV_CJQ

WNCL & WT20 results (click on All Series for past matches) - http://www.cricket.com.au/fixtures


ICC WC Update
Pakistan v Sri Lanka - series scorecards etc - http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-womens-championship-2014-16/engine/series/808849.html


Domestic Cricket in New Zealand 
Women's One Day Domestic Comp - http://www.blackcaps.co.nz/domestic/points-tables/womens-domestic-one-day-competition

Women's T20 Domestic Comp - http://www.blackcaps.co.nz/domestic/points-tables/womens-domestic-twenty20-competition

MD
14/I/15

First Results in Aus State Cricket

Results of the first round of T20 matches in Aussie state cricket are below. Big wins for the Lend Lease Breakers and Vic Spirit and Queensland Fire beat Western Fury comfortably.

WT20 - First Round
Tradies Meteors 118/8 (Kriss Britt 73*) (Erin Osborne 2/27)
Lend Lease Breakers 119/1 (Alyssa Healy 51*, Leah Poulton 50)
Lend Lease Breakers won by 9 wickets
[scorecard]

SA Scorpions 114/8 (Sarah Taylor 38, Tegan McPharlin 30) (Emily McIntyre 2/14, Nicole Bolton 2/19, Molly Strano 2/20)
Vic Spirit 117/0 (Meg Lanning 58*, Elyse Villani 50*)
Vic Spirit won by 10 wickets
[scorecard]

Queensland Fire 122/6 (Beth Mooney 33) (Gemma Triscari 2/25)
Western Fury 96/7 (Charlotte Edwards 36) (Jemma Barsby 4/9, Jess Jonassen 2/17)
Queensland Fire won by 26 runs
[scorecard]

---------------------------------------------------------------
WNCL - First Round
Tradies Meteors 224 all out  (Kriss Britt 74) (Lauren Smith 4/36)
Lend Lease Breakers 227/3 (Alyssa Healy 90)
Lend Lease Breakers won by 7 wickets
[scorecard]

Vic Spirit 299/3 (Nicole Bolton 112*, Jess Cameron 67, Meg Lanning 66) (Samantha Betts 2/38)
SA Scorpions 152 all out (Sarah Taylor 58) (Emily McIntyre 2/17, Briana Binch 2/25, Kristen Beams 2/29)
Vic Spirit won by 147 runs
[scorecard]

Western Fury 144 all out (Charlotte Edwards 63*) (Grace Harris 3/16, Jess Jonassen 2/28)
Queensland Fire 148/2 (Jess Jonassen 70*)
Queensland Fire won by 8 wickets
[scorecard]

-----------------------------------------------------------------

WT20 - Second Round

Lend Lease Breakers 141/4 (Ellyse Perry 47*) (Nicola Browne 2/24)
Tradies Meteors 114/9 (Rene Farrell 28)) (Ellyse Perry 3/20)
Lend Lease Breakers won by 27 runs
[scorecard]

SA Scorpions 84 all out  (Brittany Perry 18) (Molly Strano 4/15)
Vic Spirit 88/1 (Meg Lanning 41*)
Vic Spirit won by 9 wickets
[scorecard]

Western Fury 116/5 (Charlotte Edwards 34) (Jemma Barsby  2/17, Felicity Leydon-Davis 2/26)
Queensland Fire 117/4 (Jodie Fields 43*) (Emma King 2/27)
Queensland Fire won by 2 wickets
[scorecard]

Next round of games start on 24th November - see fixtures here.

MD
11/X/14

Aussie WT20 and WNCL kick off this weekend

This weekend sees the first set of fixtures in the Australian WT20 and WNCL (Women's National Cricket League) state cricket competitions. Both competitions are fought out between the 7 state sides ( I know ACT is technically a territory and not a state, before you go there!).

The sides are:-

ACT (Tradies ACT Meteors)
New South Wales (Lend Lease NSW Breakers)
Queensland (Konica Minolta Queensland Fire)
South Australia (SA Scorpions)
Tasmania (Cripps Tasmanain Roar)
Victoria (Commonwealth Bank Vic Spirit)
Western Australia (Alcohol. Think Again Western Fury)

The format is that there are just six state 50 over white ball matches in the WNCL and 12 T20 games, before semi-finals and a final in the WNCL and a final in the T20. Two T20 games and one 50 over game are usually played against the same opponents over a long weekend - Friday pm T20; Saturday 50 over game; Sunday am T20. There are exceptions including eight T20 games that are going to played before men's Big Bash T20 league matches and the final on 28th January 2015.

This weekends fixtures (all 2xT20 and 1x50 over) are:-

Western Fury v Queensland Fire
NSW Breakers v ACT Meteors
Vic Spirit v SA Scorpions

Former Aussie skipper Lisa Sthalekar has previewed the season beautifully here. She suggests the NSW Breakers are still the front-runners in both competitions - they have won the WNCL for the last nine years on the bounce!! But Vic Spirit will be hard on their heels again, and with the influx of international players SA Scorpions and Western Fury are likely to be challenging hard too.

With the Aussies coming over to England next year for the Ashes it will be good to judge their players form, and many of the New Zealanders that England are due to meet out in New Zealand in February are also involved in Aussie state cricket. Not to mention our own Charlotte Edwards, Sarah Taylor and Heather Knight!

WCB will bring you regular updates as the season goes along, so stay tuned.

MD
08/X/14