Back on the job for World Cup heroines

Round Two of the State Insurance Cup gets underway this weekend in various provinces around the country. Last weekend the majority of the Clear White Ferns were in action again for the first time following the huge success at the CricInfo World Cup.

As you may already know I am not involved in this years State Insurance Cup as is the case for Dot (Catherine Campbell) and Debbie (Hockley) but we have all been following the competition so far with interest.

I was able to watch some of the first round match between Auckland and Canterbury on Monday and it was quite ironic that the end result was not too dissimilar to our World Cup final against Australia. Auckland chasing 180, required one run for victory with 2 balls remaining and 2 wickets in hand, when the young Canterbury pace bowler Sarah Burke bowled Elfriede Komp.

What a nail biter - almost too much for members of the Clear White Ferns to bear in one season!

So......it was the last ball of the match when the new batsmen Natalie Scripps attempted to use a "soft hands" approach to push for a single - unfortunately she didn't make contact and the ball went through to the keeper. She took off for a single (as you would on the last ball) but the non-striker failed to make her ground and was run out - the result a tied match - now you don't see that very often in a one dayer.

Auckland came back strongly the following day to beat Canterbury convincingly and this has taken them to the top of the table with seven points after four matches. Both Auckland and Northern Districts, who scored a great win over Wellington in the first round, are the only teams to have played four games whilst the remaining sides have played just two.

There have been some pretty impressive performances so far in the competition with E.T (Helen Watson) leading the way by posting a century, followed by an 86 against Otago. Maia Lewis has also impressed scoring 89 against Northern Districts and my trusty dance partner Bill (Haidee Tiffen) also came through with a good bowling performance picking up a five-wicket bag.

One of things to stand out so far in the competition has been the contribution some of the younger players have made, many of whom were involved in the national Under-21 tournament held recently in Christchurch.

Having played and attended these tournaments I'd have to say that the standard this year is up there with the best. The skill level, athleticism and fearless approach to batting by the young payers certainly bodes well for the future of the game and it has been great to see these players step up and perform at the next level.

One only needs to browse through the score cards from the first round of the State Insurance Cup to see new names like Jenny Stafford, Amy Mason, Philippa Gerish, Sarah Burke and Hannah Rae to name just a few who are starting to feature.

I am sure that before the end of this competition there will be many other names at the forefront of women's cricket, so we will watch with interest.