The 2025 TMS Hundred Awards

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You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live. Welcome to the 2020500 Awards. I am your host Henry Moran and your adjudication panel is the England Ashes winner Stephen Finn. England World cup win Alex Hartley and if there are commentary World cup, well, she'd be winning it, wouldn't she? Alison Mitchell and so we're going to go through various categories between the four of us to try and work out what's been some of the highlights and best moments of the tournament. If you want to get in touch with your nominations and suggestions, all you need to do is tmsbc.co.uk on the email WhatsApp 03301-231-1826 or text from the UK 811-DE double-1 messages at your standard network. Right, so what we're going to do first of all, and I've got some suggestions from the rest of our team too, but our first award of the day is going to be the best innings of the tournament now at the Oval. We may have seen it with Davina Perrin's fabulous hundred off 42 deliveries, but Alex Hartley, where do you stand on.

Divina Perrins 42 off 42, 100 off 42 balls. I had Jordan Cox's 86 off 29 balls as the innings of the tournament, but it's quite quickly changed for me now. And it's Davina Perrin today.

And why, what made it so special?

Well, I think the fact she just got the first hundred of the tournament. We've not seen a men's hundred this year or a women's hundred this year. And the fact that she's come out 18 years old and taken the game on, I mean, we've spoken about it so much, but it's, you know, she just. The way that she, she played today was just fantastic. Took the game on put, you know, the, the London spirit completely under pressure. They look frazzled. And the fact that she's only 18 years old, 101 off 42 balls was pretty special.

Stephen Finn, hard to argue with Alex's case there, isn't it, all things considered, but there are some noteworthy contributions, not least here where we saw Jordan Cox hitting that quite fabulous 86 off 29.

Yeah, that was a very, very good innings. It set the game up for the Oval Invincibles. But I would say that that was mighty impressive and the six hitting capabilities were mighty impressive. But I'd say the better innings within a context of. Within the context of a game was probably Sam Curran and Jordan Cox's partnership here when they beat the, The Trent Rockets in the group game where they turned the innings round, they scored 100 off about 25 balls. And, and yeah, the Trent Rockets called the, the innings break and. Not the innings break, the. The timeout, the strategic timeout. And from there, the Oval Invincibles went ballistic. So you could have either or there, but I'm going to say Sam Curran's 54 from 24 in that innings because his strike was up. Was up over 220. But yeah, that was restrict, ridiculous batting to drag them over the line in that game.

Yeah, I would agree with that. I might chuck in a couple of other honorable mentions before we get Allison's suggestion as well. Phoebe Lichfield 59 not out of 39, was, was a brilliant knock for the Northern Superchargers against the Birmingham Phoenix. And that showed a real. Sorry, 59 not out of 28 balls. And that showed a real acceleration in run scoring and she played a couple of knocks like that, actually, where she just managed to go through the gears at such an extraordinary rate of knots that you, you did wonder if had she had the time, she would have gone on and got three figures. But what about some of the other knocks? I love Joe Root's 76 off 41 versus the Oval Invincibles at the oval, because it, it showed a completely different gear to Joe Root, one that I've not seen before.

Yeah, it was one where we were like, is this really Joe Root biting out there? And the way he came in and manipulated the field was the impressive thing for me. With, with that knock, he came in and played the reverse ramp which got him going and then he was able to clip the ball off his legs, drive the ball through the covers, hit over the top, obviously play the ramp shots again. It was a brilliant innings, Finney.

It's interesting seeing a tournament like this where players, obviously there's a slightly different pressure to what you see in test match cricket and occasionally you'll see players unburdened in a way that sees a completely different style of play. And we saw that from Root. He looked, ran out, looking really determined, but also sort of full of the joys. And he's played a couple of knocks like that. The two highest innings in the, in the men's tournament is 76 or 56, 41 rather, and 64, not out of 41. Two really brilliant knocks.

Yeah, well, he loves playing cricket, doesn't he? I think he's someone who throughout his career has always maintained the ability to play with a smile on his face. And yeah, there's something quite unburdening about being the, the leading player in the world and the person in Test cricket in particular that the country looks upon to score all the runs. There's probably something very liberating about coming into a franchise tournament and still being one of the bigger name players, but being able to, to explore and play around with your game and not have as much of a spotlight on you individually. So it's no wonder that in those innings that he's got going, he's, he's been masterful because he is that kind of player indeed.

Another name that I might throw in there is Liam Livingstone, who hit a brilliant innings early on in the tournament. It was one of the, the moments of the tournament for me, that 69 not out that he scored at Edgbaston against the Invincibles and it came so quickly as well. It was 69 of 27 balls off.

The back of a Bit of sledging as well.

Yeah, exactly.

Tom Curran calling him a fat slob.

Yeah, there's just a lot to it that I really enjoyed. There were sort of little narratives and things within, within the innings that were. And for me that was one of the knocks of the tournament. I think we can all share our agreement. Jordan Cox at the top of the, the pile, but just ahead. So not quite at the top of the pile. Davina perrin for that 100 because it's second. Yeah. You know what I mean? Bowling spells and we've seen some good ones in the tournament. Alex, have you been impressed with the bowling overall?

Yeah, this year for me it's been a, a tournament for the bowlers, to be completely honest. You know, especially in the men's comp, we've seen some low scoring games, some pitches that have suited the bowlers and to be completely honest, I can't even remember what I said.

Henry, you said, Alex, that your favorite bowling performance was Matt Henry. That's a fear guy.

Ah, yes, it was. He, he bowled 20 balls for five runs and he was nipping the ball both ways. It was an exceptional innings. You know, he bowled from both ends, but the way that he was getting the ball to talk and it was a surface that aided the bowlers, don't get me wrong. But yeah, it was, it was a brilliant innings in the way that he managed to bowl his variations but also just bowl quick and get the ball to move both ways. It was a lovely watch.

Well, I think that's the thing, isn't it? You need to be so versatile as a bowler that sometimes, you know, we talk about it being a batter's game and it really does feel that way at times in the 100.

It, it can be a batter's game. Yeah. But you have to think on your feet and the good bowlers do survive and, and come out on top the the innings or the performance that I was most impressed by was Lauren Bell's performance against the Welsh Fire. The last group game of the competition. The Southern Brave scored 106 from their hundred balls, which is a low score. And it felt as though that the Brave would have to bowl very, very well in order to defend that. And Lauren Bell bowled 20 balls and she got four. Four for six. Well, bow and bowled at the top and tail of the innings as well to, to open up and then close it out at the toughest time. So that was my bowling performance of the, of the competition.

Yeah, I think that is a fair enough assessment. And, and certainly she, she's had an outstanding tournament, hasn't she? Leading wicket takers well. Josh Tongs had a great tournament. You look at the ways performed for the originals. 14 wickets across six matches is pretty good going Alex, isn't it?

Yeah, and I was going to say he's not played all the games either, has he? So yeah, no, he, he's bowled nicely and you know, I think Manchester originals have had that. Almost like we're just going to bow rockets and, and see what happens. And him and Sunny Baker have bowled nicely in partnerships.

A few suggestions for Lauren Bell, by the way. Theon Wynn, BBC Sport Cricket writer Daniel Norcross suggesting that as well a suggestion from Artif Noaz and I like this one. Sonny Baker against the London Spirit took one for 21. But it was those first 10 balls when up against David Warner he tied him in knots.

Well and that's where actually I, I take umbrage with the way that the most valuable player is decided in tournaments like this because I think in the scenario and in the situation of games bowling and going around a run, a ball is so undervalued or going at less than a runner ball in a high scoring game, it's so undervalued versus someone scoring 30 off 20 balls. I think there needs to be a serious rethinking about the way that those rankings and awards are done because I don't think bowlers get fair justice in those for their performances.

I think there is something to be said for that, Alex. And sometimes bowling a good economical spell and putting pressure and one thing, another can be so important.

Oh, absolutely. You've got two bowlers sat here that it's, it's a batters game, obvious. Obviously we want more for the bowlers and I completely agree with Finney. I think, you know, batters can go out and smack a few but bowlers that have to think and you know, bowl their variations and get on top of batters and capitalize on that. Yeah, I think a lot of the time are undervalued.

Riley Meredith picked up 4 for 9 against the originals at Cardiff which was a pretty good effort, let's be, let's be honest about that. And so that might get a little bit of a mention in there as well in the women's competition. Well, we've, we've mentioned Lauren Bell's effort with the ball but, but some brilliant spells as well. Jess Jonison 4 for 10 for, for the Fire against the Brave. Also TILLY Corteen Coleman 4 for 13 the, the bowl that turned 18 during the tournament. Yeah, she's. She's been impressive. I also thought Eva Gray has had a very good tournament. She picked up 4 for 19. And yeah, there have been some good bowling performances, but it is for me that Lauren Bell. Go on, Vince.

Yeah, I. Yeah. Individual bowling performance. Yeah. And I think someone who we've not talked about actually, who has had a good tournament with the ball in hand has been Mahika Gore. She hasn't taken the wickets that her partner, Lauren Filer did at the other end, but she's been the most economical bowler to bowl 50 balls or more in the entire women's competition. So I think for the same reason that we were arguing that bowlers don't get enough MVP points. If you're opening the bowling and you're going at the cheapest economy rate out of all rollers in the competition, then you deserve a shout out.

What about the best English player in the tournament, men's and women's, across the competition? So one. One name from either the men's or the women's, but who for you, Alex, has. Has stood out as a real exceptional candidate.

I really struggled with this one. Really struggle, especially when it comes to the women's competition. But with the men's competition, I just went. Jordan Cox. I. I think his consistency throughout this tournament and his ability to win games and I guess take the game on. And also that confidence that he has about him, the fact that he feels like he can win a game from any situation, he has done on. On plenty of occasions. So I've gone Jordan Cox for the best English player.

327 runs and an average of 65. Quite hard to argue against. Vinny.

Very, very difficult to argue against. Yeah. And his impact on games as well. The partnerships that. That he's been in, in tight games when the Oval Invincibles have needed people to stand up and get over the line, I think he's been. He's been a huge part of that. I would give a shout out for Sam Curran for his impact with both bat and ball. Same with Ran Ahmed. When you're talking about the overall English qualified players and. And the people who affect games the most across both innings, I think those two names have to be thrown into the. The mix as well.

Yeah, feels that way. I think you could make a case for Lauren Bell in terms of leading. Wicked taker. Being. Being up there that you certainly. Yeah, I think that's.

Yeah, absolutely. I think she. She's been the one English player from the woman's side that's. That's Properly, you know, put her hand up and I know she's been really good and consistent for a couple of years now, but just feels like her game's gone to another level and she showcased that on what is the next step to international cricket or the closest thing to international cricket. And some of these games will have been more competitive or harder for Lauren Bell than when she was playing the West Indies at the start of the year. So, you know, it's. Yeah, she's been absolutely.

It's a good point you make that Alex. Actually a lot of the time the cricket that you see in. In the hundred, particularly in the women's competition, is going to be higher standard than some international games. And certainly the men's competition as well.

Yeah, certainly the women's, I would say. Yeah. And such a funny thing isn't you look at the top run scorer lists, there's not many English names Australian. All the. The majority of the highest performance are performers, are overseas players. And you hope that with time, with talents like Davina Perrin and. And other youngsters that are coming up through the ranks, we start to see a turn in the tide of that. But it's certainly more noticeable in the women's game than the men's. Natsuva Brunt has had another good tournament.

I mean, we expect. It almost goes without saying, doesn't it?

Yeah.

She.

She's 256 runs, an average of 148. Hasn't bowled. Has she bowled at all or not bowled as. As much as maybe she. She would have done. So she'd have had far more impact if she was able to bowl more or at all. But certainly she's up there. Strike rate of 150 is always a.

Leading line, not a player that statistically has been the best. But I think one of the great stories of the tournament in the women's side is London's Sport Spirits opener Kira Chatley, who has been someone that came in for Heather Knight as a replacement, really had not pulled up any trees previously in. In her 100 career and played brilliantly at the top of the order for the London Spirit, scoring totaling the end of 243 runs. Did she. No. 220 runs. Sorry. With a high score of 69. But it was that strike rate of 150. So she was getting the innings off to a quick start and sort of what the tournament is about. As we mentioned with, with Davina Perrin, you want someone to step up and play some sort of big role from. From outside the England setup.

Yeah, absolutely. And it just shows, I guess, being professional at the domestic level, now you're starting to see the rewards. Slowly but surely, you know, these girls are coming out of school, out of uni and stepping into a professional environment and you can see that the game is getting better and better and, you know, we need batters in, in England, we need more batters coming through. So it is good to see.

Yeah.

And I think when you're looking at impacting games, because you look at overall statistics in a tournament like this and sometimes people's numbers might not stand out. 220 runs doesn't sound like a lot, but in two of the eight games, she pretty much won her team the game by. By getting them off to a flyer really quickly and getting ahead of the game. So in a quarter of the game she has had a significant impact, which is. Is something that needs to be nodded.

Towards interestingly across the women's competition. And maybe this tells a bit of a story about the dominance of Australians in the tournament. But you look at that list of top run scorers in the women's side of things and we'll get on to overseas players in a moment. But Meg Lanning, Phoebe Lichfield and top of the pile, they got three England names, then it's Grace Harris and then you got Elise Perry, Laura Wolf, far Charlie kn. So load a big string of Australian players in there. In the men's competition, the top 11 leading run scorers are all England players or English qualified players. And then you have to go down as far as Kane Williamson with 204 runs before you get another three England names. And David Warner and, and, and on we go. So it's an interesting, I don't know, interesting little statistical factor.

Yeah, yeah. I think that kind of along the lines of what we've highlighted. I, I still think it's very difficult to sit here and judge the women's game on numbers like that, because the teams have only turned the county teams and the new structure has only been in place this year, allowing more people the opportunity to make it a job and to really fully commit to becoming better cricketers. So I think it's unfair if we sit here and judge it with a blanket like that. And certainly we hope to see in the coming years an uptick and stories like Davina Perrins and the way that she's affected a few of the games this year, in particular, the lot the. The eliminator at the oval with that hundred that she scored. The. The longer that this tournament goes, the more performances we'll see like that, which will hopefully turn the tide.

Overseas player then. And lots of options. Suggestions. Where did you stand on it? I should also say in terms of English players, some of the. The names that we mentioned have been the popular ones. Jordan Cox, Michael Vaughan, Carlos Brathwaite. Alex. You said that as well. Ali has suggested Jordan Cox. Other names in there. Ray and Ahmed as a potential one. Sam Curran, Daniel Norcross said he's had a good tournament as well. But what about overseas players?

Who's.

Who's stood out for you.

In the men's game? I think Rashid Khan. It's helped that he's played in the Oval Invincibles team, but again, you look at those. You look at singular performances. He went around the park a couple of times, which can happen, but in important games, he's put his hand up, taken important wickets. He's been handy with the bat as well at times. So probably from. From the men's per. Perspective. Rashid Khan.

Yeah, men's perspective. I've gone Donovan for Ferreira. I think he's. He's been brilliant. His ability to hit sixes has just been so entertaining. I think with one every six balls. Six or something.

Every time he comes to the crease, you just think, well, that's going for six. Yeah.

And he's just so good to watch. He's entertaining. He's what this competition is about. And I. I think from a men's side of things, he's somebody that I'm like, all right, yeah. I want to watch you play cricket.

Yeah.

The amount of. You have to give David Warner a yard for the amount of quotes that he's. And air time that he's got. The competition around the world.

Well, indeed, yeah. He does a good job at that, let's be perfectly honest. But with the ball, there have been some really good candidates. I think Rashid Khan's 12 wickets. Riley Meredith's picked up 12 as well. I think Chris Green's had a very good tournament. In a struggling Welsh fireside, he's taken 11 wickets across eight matches and bowled some difficult overs as well at. At a reasonable economy rate. Jason Barendorf is another with the ball in. In terms of overseas signings for the. For the over Invincible, who I think has been impressive. Ali Mitchell joins us. Ali, instinctively, the name. When I say overseas player dominating the 100 this year, you say, well, I was try.

I'm not giving you a quick answer, am I? I was trying to broaden out a little bit and I looked at Sophie Devine, lead wicket taker for the Southern Brave Helping them to march through to the final, winning all eight matches. She finished up with three match hero awards. So she's had impact in a winning way. And then I'm going to give her marks for outstanding amateur dramatics as well because I don't know whether you've seen much of Southern Brave's social media feed, but she could take to the stage and be an actress.

Excellent.

How good is it to see her enjoying her cricket again? Obviously she's come back off a break, a mental health break. She pulled out of a lot of international cricket. She's retiring from 50 over cricket at the end of the 50 over World cup in October. But to see her back enjoying her cricket is good to see.

Yeah. I just think she's been a huge figure for the team over here in the hundred. Yeah. So there's a little bit of, I guess a little bit of sentiment in that and that, you know, saw her win the T20 World cup last year and just how much that meant after such an elongated sort of outstanding career and an international career in a team that always tries to punch above their weight.

Yeah.

And finally she got that reward with the trophy. And then coming over here to join the hundred and help the Southern Brave team dominate, which really has had an impact to help them dominate.

We've not seen as many batters dominate in the men's game from overseas, but certainly in the women's game, those overseas signings have been pretty dominant. You look at Meg Lanning, 287 runs. Her form did dip away towards the back end of the tournament, but like Sophie Devine, she was playing with a smile on her face.

Yeah. It's good to see, really good to see, isn't it? You know, Meg Lanning doesn't play international cricket anymore. She's retired from Australia, but still dominates world cricket. And it's any team that's got Meg Lanning in it is a better team.

Yes.

Yeah. And so often she, her perception of Meg Lanning is just such a serious player, but actually seeing her relax and you know, join us on player mics and have a bit of a laugh and you know, we're discussing golden retriever dogs at one point and coffee houses.

Yeah.

But yeah, just some of her glorious batting, it makes you think she would easily continue to play international cricket. But for her own sake she decided to step away from that and then. Yeah, the franchise world is all the richer for that.

Yeah. Phoebe Litchfield, I think is a, is a strong shout. There's a few names that have been repeated in terms of our team suggestions, Carlos Brathway, you, Alex Hartley mentioned Phoebe Lich related.

Artif Nawaz, Annabelle Sutherland for me.

Okay, yeah, go on. That's, that's an interesting one. I, I think it's, it's very strong case to argue for it.

Yeah, I've just, I think she averages 45 with the bat. She's taken 14 wickets across the competition. Her team have made it through to the final and I think she's played a big part in that and she's a big athletic presence in the field as well. You see her moving around, you think she's going to catch everything and stop everything. So yeah, she's been impressive for me and I probably would have her with Sophie Devine as the player of the tournament.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Daniel Norcross suggests that by the way, for every.

Does he, we've had, he, he actually just messaged me saying, have you been stealing my answers? You can't see my minds must be entwined.

But.

Which is a worry.

That is, that is a really alarming prospect. But it is worth saying that unlike most people who just gave one answer, Daniel's given at least two answers for every single category.

And they all have to play for sari.

No, surprisingly not quite a lot too actually. But it's, it's a, it's an interesting one, isn't it, the overseas signing. Because what do you look for? Do you look for a player that plays you one or two match winning innings or, or bowling spells or something that provides real consistency and leadership? I mean you can look at it two ways.

Yeah, you can, I think, look at it of everything. I think when I've picked Phoebe Litchfield, it's not only her match winning capability but the way she entertains when she plays and the way she, you know, plays that reverse switch, hit the reverse sweep and you know, she, she's getting young girls picking up a bat going, I want to play that shot. That's why I've sort of gone with her as well.

I think that makes sense. And it is that, that X factor, isn't it? That fear factor that is created when someone walks out. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live.

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Michael Vaughn said Rashid Khan, who had actually, after a year where he's not had great figures, he actually had a very good hundred.

Yeah, his story was quite interesting, wasn't it? Coming back after his surgery injury, coming back into the game after a break and being very clear about, you know, I needed the time away to, to get back into the game. Our cover's coming off again here. But he also got absolutely taken apart, didn't he? Who was it with the bat? The other end? I was watching that game, I was commentating it.

Liam Livingston.

Yes. Took apart again. Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston. That's right. So, you know, not, not you can't shine every single day but he's shown quite a few of them.

He has indeed. Yeah. So that polling spell against the Spirit at Lords was one particularly outstanding performance. So that brings us on to catch of the tournament. There have been some good ones, there's.

Been some excellent catches.

There's only one.

No, come on. There's no way.

There is only one.

There's only one.

There is only one. Phil Salt.

Well, there have been quite a lot of suggestions for Phil Salt, I should say.

Can't be anything else, can it?

Carlos says that you do Alex as disaster fon the wheel jacks catch where.

He went one handed left high right handed, reverse cup over his left shoulder. That was, that was my competition.

Deandra.in is one suggestion that she was.

Leaping, flying at full stretch, wasn't she, Charlie Dean.

Charlie Dean here was a very good.

But nothing, nothing beats Phil.

Talk us through it, Alex.

I don't even think I can. I genuinely don't think I can.

For those, like, imagine a salmon, you know. You know, like a salmon pops up out the water.

Yeah.

And then it's. It's tail, like flips to give it that little couple of inches extra to gasp the air before it then plunges down back into the water. As Phil Salt took off, his heels flicked and he seemed to gain a couple of extra inches.

I wish we were actually videoing Finney because he's sort of demonstrating this.

He threw out his hand and it stuck. And then because they were losing so badly, he tried his hardest not to grin or smile.

Yeah.

You could see the corners of his mouth going like he was a cartoon.

That was a majestic recreation, Finney, and I have to say I enjoyed it.

Enormously, but we'll hope I had to do it again.

Will Jax also had to time his jump and he was also a jump and elite.

But was it salmon, like?

I would say possibly it was dolphin.

Like. Like a dolphin.

There was something of a playful leap. Yeah.

Rest that right arm up, reverse cup, grabbed it over his left shoulder, almost took it behind him.

Something quite rhythmic, isn't there, about that?

It's like Ali's passionate about this one.

Yeah. I might give it to Ali just for the.

Just for the strength of argument.

Yeah, it was. That was a brilliant catch as well. I mean, there have been some absolute crackers. I can't remember.

Hang on. I also had my boucher, which was another sort of reverse.

Yeah.

Remember that one that was to dismiss Tammy Beaumont.

Yeah. I thought. I thought she made that look harder than it was.

Yeah.

Oh, harsh judge. What about. We've done a lot of positives. What about a little bit of a negative turn on things. What's been the biggest disappointment of this.

Year'S Easy Easy Welsh Fire as a whole, as a franchise?

Because the women had a good couple of years, the men have been disappointing for. For. For the history of the tournament, really.

It almost felt like when you looked at the men's signings this year, you thought, oh, they could compete. You know, they've done well. Steve Smith, Johnny Burt's back, Chris Green, Riley Meredith. And still something is missing from. From Welsh Fire. And then the women have sort of followed suit this year and they've been bang average to watch. You know, they've not played good cricket. They've. There's been a few close games, but it's almost like you turn up to one of those games and you go, all right, congratulations to the opposition. You've already won before. The game's already started.

Yeah.

I was disappointed by the fact that we weren't able to have any Indian cricketers in this year. None in the women's side came close to Deep Se Sharma featuring but then even she pulled out in order to prepare for India for their series. So that was a shame. Understandable. Why I'm never going to sort of criticize international commitments coming first, but I just think, yeah, in terms of disappointment, that was a shame that we didn't have that sort of sparkle of, of Indian players in the tour.

Yeah.

And we hope that that isn't going to be a sign of things to come as well as the WPL grows in, in, in value and, and everything else commercially and, and, and beyond. But, but of course Indian male cricketers don't play any of franchise leagues apart from the ipl. And though slightly confusingly, there is going to be a big influx of money from IPL owners, it doesn't necessarily follow that you'll get the India players following to, to play afterwards. So we'll wait and see on that one. But I agree, I think that is a, is a bit of a shame and it did mean that there was a real dominance in terms of Australian names. Sixteen of the 24 overseas players were from Australia. So that tells its own story. In the women's competition earlier I was.

Flagging that Ashwin is now going to be available for next year. Even if the BCCI rule is still in place that contracted Indian players, IPL players can't play in the hundred, Ashwin is going to be a free agent. And even if Finney was alluding to the fact he doesn't think anyone would actually pick him, I think surely if, if he's the only male Indian, you know, recently retired cricketer who's, who's available and wanting to play and could do a job, you think a team would just want to be the first in the hundred to have.

Or has he retired because he wasn't going to get retained?

Well, that's probably coming to.

In terms of the ipa. Or is he retired because somebody here has promised him a gig? Who knows? We'll find out.

We will find out.

The marketing opportunity will be massive and the additional eyeballs on any team that's got an Indian player will be massive.

Exactly. Certainly will. What about you, Finney?

The weather this last weekend has been a Big disappointment.

Yeah, a little bit. But then, yeah, we've been so lucky.

What's an English summer without covers coming on and off and on and off and on and off again.

A couple of other suggestions. Welsh Fire get a fair few mentions. Artif says that as does Fon. Specifically the women's side. Michael Vaugh says the London Spirit men's team. I think that's fair enough with Justin Langer as coach. Some real big name players in there as well. Kane Williamson's been. He's been all right. He's got his first 50 in the 100 and Jamie Smith's played some good innings. David Warner started well but then. Then rather fell away. But they've not been that impressive.

No, they haven't. And I. Well, it's been consistent throughout the history of the tournament really, hasn't it with the London Spirit men and underperformance. You would say that maybe when they're looking at recruiting. I think the over Invincibles and the way that they go about setting their team up is a blueprint for the men's game to have batters that just keep coming and coming and coming all the way down to number seven, number eight and then wrist spin bowling as well. A crucial element to a good franchise team. And the London Spirit didn't have them.

Yeah. And it's interesting, doesn't it see how certain teams, for whatever reason, it's almost part of their makeup. They just seem to struggle and never seem to find the right formula. Even if on paper it all looks as though it should be going in the right direction. Manchester Original says Carlos Brait. A little bit of a disappointment perhaps.

Well with that lineup you look at Butler Salt class and you look at the way that they're batting lineup as we say the Oval Invincibles. Their batting lineup keeps coming. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe a touch disappointed not to make it to the latter stages because on paper they look like a fairly good team as well.

Yep, I think that's fair enough. Daniel Norcross with some specific names.

Of course he does. Has he got that dart board in his flat?

He has.

I bet none of them are from Surrey.

You are correct. From the Birmingham Phoenix actually. Georgia Vol lot talked about from her as an overseas signing for the Birmingham Phoenix and the. They didn't really do a huge amount but that sometimes happens with younger players.

And there'll be such expectation as well.

Yeah. Her first stint playing in the UK as well. It's completely different to playing where in Australia where she's played and grown up playing cricket. So you can sort of understand that you know it's not somewhere that's easy to play cricket especially when you're on tired surfaces as well as we've had throughout the tournament and I would also.

Say she scored over 100 runs and yet average of 13.87 isn't great but it is more than Tammy Beaumont it's more than some quite big names. Amelia Kerr didn't quite do everything she should have done. Amy Jones had a poor tournament the England player and and there been a.

Number Tell you what is worrying Go on The fact that all like not all but a lot of the England girls that are going over for the 50 over World cup have done well in this 100 at no, it's an.

Interesting one when you feel Charlotte Edwards wants her players to be dominating domestic cricket that's got to include the 100. This is the.

Especially when Cross's been dropped or Kate Cross has been dropped and she's been up there with the lead in wicket takers.

Yeah Mike and Haley Matthews with the bat hasn't been quite as good as.

Does it just show how much the fire relied on her last year?

Yeah possibly yeah perhaps that that might be a fair point and Daniel's suggestion. Yeah Georgia Vol has one the other name Jacob Bethel.

I forgot who plays cricket.

I. I feel for Jacob Bethel because he's barely picked up a battle summer.

It feels like it's been. It's been sort of interesting watching what has sometimes I felt has been quite gleeful celebrations when he's been dismissed. Have you felt that other.

Other from other players.

Other players Just as if some people unless it's a little bit of send offs we've seen sort of now and again.

Yep.

But yeah I, I've. That just might be a perception from. From watching from afar but I have.

Sort of felt that yeah it's an interesting point.

I can't say I've noticed it but I don't think I was looking that closely so I'm, I'm happy to accept.

But I hope he you know goes on to lead the team you know in those island matches very well and but he, he will be coming in off not a great you know run in the hundred. He took some took wickets didn't he in the last. In the last outing having you know done very little with the bat but he came back took a few with the ball but yeah let's hope that hasn't sort of dented you know his confidence in, in any way and that he turns up and you know he, and he becomes the, the leader in the dressing room that clearly Brendan McCollum believes he is and has seen that in him and the way he talks to groups is everything. We hear that he has those leadership qualities. So I really hope that comes out and he has the respect of all his peers around him in that England room.

Hugh Nightingale says the biggest disappointment is Jody Grukok being drafted by the Trent Rockets. His team and then not really playing paid the first couple of matches in the team. They lost those games effectively out of the tournament before it started as well. So, yeah, there's another, another suggestion there. I might just throw in a sort of slightly more existential disappointment. And that is. Well, yeah, you know, the night closes in, the rain falls at times. I still feel, though we're into the fifth year, there are some that are desperate for the tournament to fail and.

And yeah, but they can get in the bin if they want the tournament to fail. You only have to come and watch. It's a success. I actually don't care about those people because the tournament is a huge success, especially for women's cricket. And you're always going to get haters. There are people that hate Test cricket. It happens. It's a thing. I think we give these people too much air time.

Well, there are still, there are still people that don't love T20 cricket as a format and I think the T20 cup then became the Blast and the BBL had launched and the IPL had launched and a decade in from when T20 cricket started in 2003, there were still people sort of talking about, well, T20 cricket, you know, like, it's, it's here to stay. Like, hang on, it's. What do you mean it's here to stay? It has stayed. It is here and it's into the future and this tournament is, is now here and it is going into the future.

And it's not to dismiss some legitimate concerns about the impact on the wider domestic game, which I do understand, but I think that it's also pumped a.

Ton of money to all the other counties.

Well, it has, but, but you know.

Crucially is going to be how that money is, is spent because it's a one off.

You can't sell the family silver twice.

Yeah, but there was one comment that frustrated me in particular and was a real disappointment actually, and that was when putting a picture up of 15, 000 people at Lords for a women's domestic match and someone replying, well, how much they know about real domestic cricket. And you Think. Well, yeah, anyway, anyway, anyway, minor gripe. So what about just finally shot of the tournament? And that could be somebody who plays a consistent shot who, you know, has a bit of a trademark or it could be an individual moment.

Well, it's really hard to describe your shot of the tournament on air, but mine was.

We've just seen Finney leap.

I'm going to stand up and do it. Mine was Annabelle Sutherland against the Manchester Originals. Let me just pull my pants out.

Right.

Uncomfy. Annabelle, you mean? Yeah, yeah. Trousers. The Northern.

We go with this.

The Northern or Australian Annabel Southern against Deandra Dotting at Headingley the other day. Just came down the pitch and just crunched her over the top with one hand and just watched the bat and just walked to the other end. It was so good. And I was like. I would watch that over and over again. That was my favorite shot.

Yeah, that's a lovely shout, Vinnie.

My shot. The tournament is Harry Brooke scooping Tim Southey for six.

I had that as well.

Yeah, I just.

I'm gonna have to go to my. Sorry, no, sorry, I'll go to my alternate.

But the context within it is. I know what it would have been like in the dressing room all summer because I spoke to Southie and he said he's been telling the players that he's just going to get them out all the time. He's like, I'm going to blow your pad off. First ball in the hundred.

Yeah, I'm going to get dropped.

Exactly. And. And I know that people like Harry Brooke would have been saying back to him, no, no, pal, I'm going to be hitting you for six first P. And Harry Brook did that. So. So for that, for the dressing room camaraderie around it all, I picked that.

Five needed to win. Superchargers. Graham Clark smashing a six off the last ball of the match to beat Southern Brave. And it was his reaction afterwards, which I think was shock and elation and that was pure gold. And I just love the fact that this tournament can give such a moment in the spotlight to, you know, one of those non international players, 32 years of age and he has a moment like that. It's brilliant.

Yeah, I agree with that. Brook's first ball, ramp for six. And that is again the suggestion, which is a popular one, that's from Daniel and it's worth me mentioning cuz the only category is given as one option. So therefore he must be very certain about it. Fon says Phoebe Lichfield's reverse switch hit drive thing versus the Birmingham Fe. Yeah. Michael Vaugh, Harry Brook. Yeah. Carlos Br says Phoebe Lichfield, switch hit, straight drive. There's a lot of sh. I. I'd go there for, for Phoebe Lichfield's reverse hitting. I think it's just been phenomenal fun and, and you know, we've seen some brilliant, brilliant balls striking. I'm also going to chuck in the. I think it was 81m. Davina Perrin hitting the eliminator game. A six over mid wicket. And then looking up to the box where the family and friends were celebrating and she'd passed 50 and suddenly 100 felt like it could happen as Alex crushes a can in the corner.

It just happened.

Okay, there you go. And so there we go. Some really lovely shouts there, so thank you to you guys for that. He scored goals, lifted trophies and broken records along the way.

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