Watch the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final between Northern Diamonds and Southern Vipers, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am on Sunday
Saturday 26 September 2020 22:11, UK
Phoebe Graham blogs on Northern Diamonds' route to Sunday's Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final at Edgbaston and picks out her favourite bits of the competition so far…
Five wins out of six and a ticket to Sunday's Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final at Edgbaston ain't bad!
It has been a quality eight weeks. I've been lucky to be part of a fantastic training environment at Northern Diamonds, rekindling friendships, creating new ones and cementing my love for cricket.
I've taken my first professional wickets at Headingley, scored some winning runs with the bat and all while being part of a new electric era for women's cricket.
It's been a juggling act, balancing the work/cricket/life triangle, (which I'm sure many female athletes can resonate with), but I couldn't be more grateful to all those behind the scenes who have got this competition up and running. And the best bit…it's not over yet.
As mentioned, for me, it's well and truly cemented my love for cricket. I took a break from the game when my dad passed away over five years ago. Dad was the most amazing man and my best friend.
He owned a cricket specialist shop, played minor county cricket and my sisters and I grew up on the side of the cricket pitch. Having a break from my favourite sport was much needed. Sometimes you lose your spark and love for the game. But when I picked up my kit bag to play for Berkshire with my Exeter pal Lissy MacLeod that cricket mojo most certainly came back. It's never too late!
To give context on this 'new era' and why it's so important as a female cricketer. When I was 19, there were no paid female cricketers and as I played in my final Junior Super Fours competition (which was the top 52 female u19s), if you hadn't made the England academy, you felt your England opportunities were well and truly over. The new structure bridges the gap between county and international cricket and shows clear career pathways to all female cricketers. Awesome, right?
So the final… this Sunday!! The last game with the eclectic mix of Northern Diamonds. From 19-year-old Bess Heath, who buys/sells car parts and drives her own pimped out Land Rover, to Ami Campbell running her own strength and conditioning business. We have girls coaching the future generations, marketers, students, accountants, alongside our newly-crowned professional cricketers.
To say there are some characters in that mix is an understatement. We're all used to juggling multiple things but the one thing we do have in common is we want to win this competition on Sunday.
These have been my favourite bits of the competition so far…
Around half a million people have tuned into live streams of the group stages of the competition. There's a huge appetite for the women's game, which is great to see. And never mind people watching, the fact you can watch back your innings really helps player development. The lowest point of the competition was being taken off for bowling two no-ball beamers. No one wants to be taken into the umpire's room to plead guilty for this. However, there was a silver lining, I was able to watch the footage back. Some would say it judged my strength of character, some would say I'm a mug for not following through with my action.
Celebrate Women's Big Cricket Month!
Sponsors taking the women's game more seriously. I ran on drinks to Macca [Alex Macdonald] who was batting with the England legend Nat Sciver. Macca had holes in her gloves. 'What are you up to Macca, that's ridiculous, you play county cricket'…. 'How is it PG, they're Hartley's hand-me downs, I don't have a sponsor'. After a nice little knock with Sciver, Macca had a sponsorship with Viking. She then went on and scored an integral 90-odd to help win the game against The Thunder. It's in moments like this that I think these sponsorships are not only helping to grow the game, but also help our team's sanity going into the final!
The continuous team comradery. Quick wit, ridiculous team banter and outrageous comradery is what sport is all about. The tail ender battle continues as we go to train in 'mystery lane'. It's called 'mystery lane' because our mysterious bowlers and side-armers come out, never knowing what you're going to get. Macca tells us 'for any other team you'd be batting six' or 'you're the best number nine in the competition'. We've shown throughout the comp the strength and depth of our team is a joke. Winning a game 110-7 chasing 227 says it all!
Our bounce back ability. Sometimes losing a game can be the best thing that happens to a team. We had a little shakeup losing against the Sparks but this refocussed our energy going into the final game against Thunder. We're ready for the final.
One thing is for sure, we can't wait for the game on Sunday. We're ready to show our Northern grit and going in as the underdogs isn't a bad place to be…
Watch the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final between Northern Diamonds and Southern Vipers, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am.
