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2018 Diary

A Ramble on Women's Cricket
 - with diversions -

This diary will be updated erratically throughout the year.

Previous Page :  Play for Love not Money and A Record or not a Record?

What Do You Make of the Numbers?

Recently a commentator in the final of the bi-lateral between India and England stated that Mithali Raj had just made her 50th ODI 50. The tweet below shows that you have to be careful how you read stats like that. It may be true that this is the 50th time she has made a score between 50 and 100, but not the 50th time she has passed the 50 mark in ODIs because on a number of occasions she went on to 100 or 100+ .

Hypocaust brings up, directly or indirectly, the point about how we present numbers. Cricket is a game that lends itself to all sorts of stats, in fact new ones seem to appear everyday as more and more computer software becomes available. In fact those that are fluent in the use of spreadsheets can deduce a huge amount of data to answer all sorts of questions. Some of the results are more interesting than useful, but there's little doubt that team analysts derive all sorts of numbers from their work. Some will undoubtedly be useful to the captain next time she takes the field, but I wonder if some will simply serve to confuse.
And a related issue - as the ratio of support staff to the number of players keeps increasing, I wonder at what point it all becomes too confusing. Also, when we consider the women's game at what point should the money spent on this reach the level at which it would be a better investment in the future to support more players. Are we nearly there? There already? Got ages to go yet? I wonder.

And Another (Numbers) Thing...

Sometimes too stats can reveal what somehow slips through the consciousness. For instance, without scrolling down the page, name the top three players who have been quickest to 1,000 ODI runs, measured by balls faced.
Now we both know you've cheated and looked at the graphic below...

I suspect everyone would have guessed at Meg Lanning and we all know Nat Sciver's hitting power, but how did Chloe Tryon creep in there?

[Chloe Tryon]

Chloe Tryon takes a firm stride forward against England in South Africa in 2016

Just to make the point even more strongly - take a look at this...

It rather emphasises the point.
Creeping under my radar at any event, 'hypocaust' asks why she hasn't had a WBBL or KSL contract and it's a valid question. With that sort of record she deserves a place among the best in the business. I'll watch her this summer with closer interest.
And do follow @_hypocaust on Twitter and check the web site at... https://emergencycricketblog.wordpress.com/

County Commences

Sussex headed off in the quest to return to Division One is something of a style in the first matches of the weekend over the early Bank Holiday.

Bank Holiday Heroes
It was a remarkable weekend for Sussex Teams

[Ella McCaughan][Ella McCaughan]

Ella McCaughan 103* carrying her bat throughout the 40 overs
for the Under-15 side in their victory against Essex

[Georgia Adams][Georgia Adams]

Georgia Adams 106 from 104 balls against Derbyshire

[Freya Davies][Freya Davies]

Freya Davies takes 6-10 in the same game
Sussex best ever  bowling is Holly Colvin 7-3 (in 2010). Freya lies in tied 2nd place with Charlotte Burton (in 2006).

This match was remarkable in giving Sussex the widest margin of victory in its history.

[Sarah Taylor]

In the match against Northants Sarah Taylor made 88 while Georgia Elwiss took 3-13

My thanks to 'Hypocaust' for the stats

Women's IPL - Let's Hope so...

Well we've had the Challenge Match between two teams, each of which included 5 overseas players and the balance made up of Indian players, some internationals and some not. It proved to be a tight game with one side winning by one run on the very last ball of the match.
While a tight game is always worth a watch the spectacle was spoilt in a number of ways. Firstly it did bust a myth in which I had believed for many years, namely that the Indian nation were mad about cricket. Seems they are not -  few turned up to watch - very disappointing. We then had to endure a long wait while to discover that the third umpire (I use the term loosely) was not conversant with the Laws of the game. Surely, for a match of this stature, and bearing in mind that the BCCI must have shelled out  plenty of cash to put this on, the salary of a qualified umpire would not have added much to the bill.
The cricket also had it's unfortunate moments. Simple catches went down, even when attempted by some of the more experienced players. Add to that a slow wicket which was never going to provide an exciting match and what could have been a revelation proved to be - well I hope not a revelation to those who have not watched a women's game before.
Still I shouldn't be too churlish. The fact that this match occurred at all has to be a positive sign and we must hope the beginning of something big in the future. This will mean most of the major countries will have tournaments to be proud of. Let's imagine a future where there's a WBBL, a women's IPL, and a Kia Super League. Oh no, I forgot, the KSL is in its death throes. Well a few years back we didn't have any tournaments of this nature, so I guess two around the globe is something to look forward to.

Pakistan and Nepal See a Brighter Future

Pakistan have just announced that they are preparing to launch a blind women's team. To date Nepal and the West Indies are the only other countries to decided to set one up a couple of years ago.
What to say? Well - shame on some of the rather richer countries who have not given this any thought while these two nations and one federation, despite considerable financial constraints, have been brave enough to give this a try. Let's hope others soon join them and these three sides are not simply left playing each other all the time!

Next Page : England/South Africa ODI Series Commences