Loud music, pyrotechnics, but no fans. Kesteven stars as Lancashire win on a day when cricket got its scheduling wrong

Photo Credit: Lancashire CCC

When project Darwin heralded a new era for women’s domestic cricket, one could argue that some of the changes were more to do with branding than with cricket. The eight regions of the previous system became eight counties, based roughly in the same geographical locations as the previous regions. The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy became the Metrobank One Day Cup – pretty much the same format and schedule of the previous year. The Charlotte Edwards Cup became the Women’s T20 Blast, with an emphasis on exploiting double-headers when possible, but a similar number of games with a final day format just like before.

The two big changes on the cricket side, one could argue, have firstly been the increased opportunity for players at Tier 2 and Tier 3 level to play more cricket and more meaningful cricket and secondly, the Vitality Women’s T20 County Cup, which reached its climax on Monday 26th May with a finals day in Taunton.

This is knockout cricket. It involves all the counties from all three tiers – 8 from Tier One, 10 from Tier Two and 19 from Tier Three. It throws up the possibilities of giant killings, of top international players going to tiny obscure grounds and playing against amateur players, of real jeopardy and of a finals day involving four teams, all bringing their fans to enjoy a festival of cricket on a Bank Holiday Monday. It is also a compact tournament – all 36 games fit into a 3 week window between 5th and 26th May, so almost like an ICC tournament, the competition would build up and gain momentum as teams progressed, with a tournament-type narrative, where individual performances are highlighted and previously unheralded players’ stories could be told.

There have been some excellent highlights of this year’s competition. The super over between Somerset and Durham was tense, knockout cricket at its best. The sight of Eve Jackson of Glamorgan dismissing England’s Emma Lamb on the school field where Eve is a Sixth Former was the sort of brilliant story that this format throws up, as was seeing Oxfordshire’s very young side take on The Blaze, last year’s T20 competition winners, in Nottingham – all great moments which show the game at its best.

However, having created this excellent and inspiring tournament, it seems that the ECB and the counties have once again failed to promote the finals day. As a result, there were fewer than 100 people spectating at Taunton on the Bank Holiday Monday. It was shameful, but unsurprising.

This follows on from last year’s Charlotte Edwards Cup Final at Derby, which drew another small crowd (although a lot more than 100 people) and no catering was provided for those who did turn up for a 12-hour marathon of cricket. Fans were having to get take-aways delivered to the ground. 

At least Taunton seemed well prepared for a big finals day. We were greeted by very helpful members of staff, some of whom had been hired in for this special event. It is so embarrassing to be at an event with dozens of stewards, caterers, pyrotechnics operators, car park attendants, and yet hardly any spectators. It is bizarre to have loud music and flame machines going off when nobody is there to watch it.

Where was the publicity for this event? Whose responsibility is it to market this event? Did cricket fans know it was happening and how to obtain tickets? Is our product so unappealing that its showpiece finals day attracts only a smattering of players’ friends and family? There were twice as many spectators watching Glamorgan play Lancashire on a field in Brecon two weeks ago than there were watching Lancashire lift the trophy against Surrey in the final. That is appalling.

On top of this, the final was scheduled for the same day that England were playing West Indies at Chelmsford. So, the England coach and many of the leaders of the game at the ECB couldn’t be there. Plus, the women’s cricket writers and broadcasters who are passionate about the game and would want to support this finals day, were all covering the England game.

The final itself was a very enjoyable game. Lancashire, who had seemed nervous in their semi-final when chasing a low total against the Blaze, came out firing and their star was completely unexpected: Tilly Kesteven, 20 years old, had only signed a short-term deal for them 2 weeks ago following an injury to Eve Jones. The Loughborough University student had a terrible semi-final, run out without facing a ball after a mix up with opening partner Emma Lamb. Kesteven came out playing glorious shots in the final, finding the boundary 14 times as she took apart the bowling of England players Alice Davidson-Richards and Ryana MacDonald-Gay. The left-hander looked like the senior player as Lamb let her take the lead as they put on 86 together in the first 10 overs, only 27 of those runs coming from the bat of the England opener.

Rapid cameos from Seren Smale and Fi Morris piled on the runs for Lancashire and the misery for Surrey. Kesteven was eventually out bowled by Kalea Moore at the end of the 18th over, but by that time, one suspected that Lancashire had already got themselves into a winning position. A total of 172/6 seemed insurmountable.

Surrey, who have had chance to observe closely this season how to chase down scores which seem unobtainable, gave their all and for a time gave the impression that they might keep up the scoring rate.

However, the introduction of Sophie Ecclestone to the bowling attack, spearing in her left arm spin, impossible to get away, made the target ever more distant for Surrey. Chathli and Smith at the top of the order contributed 46 runs from 25 balls faced, but whenever the DLS par score approached parity, Ecclestone would bowl a miserly over which saw the DLS gap widen, or would take a wicket to make the gap gape further. Her 4/12 from four overs was enough to give Lancashire breathing space throughout the chase, and as she bowled the final over – taking her 4th wicket and conceding only 3 runs – Surrey already knew the game was up.

So, Lancashire win their first trophy of the professional era. They are the inaugural winners of this tournament. One can only hope that future winners of this trophy have more eyeballs on them.