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Shafali Verma leads Birmingham Phoenix Women to record runchase in The Hundred

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It was raining fours at Edgbaston, Birmingham during the Birmingham Phoenix Women vs Welsh Fire Women game in The Hundred. A total of 31 fours were hit in both innings combined as Phoenix made completed a record win, chasing down 128 with all wickets intact and 24 balls remaining in the Hundred ball format. Shafali Verma and Eve Jones, the two openers of the Phoenix played tremendous knocks to get the team over the line. 

Chasing 128 in a 100 ball game is not an easy task and as a matter of fact, in The Hundred’s Women’s competition, this is the biggest victory in terms of wickets and ball remaining. The two Phoenix Women openers didn’t give any chance whatsoever to the Fire Women bowlers as they exploited each and every corner of the Edgbaston ground. 

While overseas star India’s Shafali Verma remained unbeaten on 76 off 42 balls with the help of nine fours and two sixes, striking at more than 180, 29-year-old Jones was equally impressive in her innings of 52 not out of 35 balls. The Fire bowlers kept searching for wickets but were unable to find any. Verma was adjudged Player of the Match for her performances with the bat. 

Earlier in the day, after winning the toss, Phoenix had decided to field first. Fire, with the help of Bryony Smith’s 38 and Alice Macleod’s unbeaten 19 off 13 balls managed to reach 127 for the loss of nine wickets. Kristie Gordon took two wickets for Phoenix. 

With this win, their second of the season, Phoenix have kept themselves alive for the Playoffs with one game to go. Although a lot of permutations and combinations would have to go their way along with the victory in the last match.

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From death bed to The Hundred: Nicole Harvey’s awe-inspiring fighting spirit

Nicole Harvey is now playing in The Hundred for Welsh Women and having played in all the five matches of the team till August 06, she has taken three wickets with her leg break. She did brilliant in the domestic T20 competition, the Charlotte Edwards cup for Western Storm to bag a Hundred contract with Fire. But it wasn’t always like that for Harvey. At one time in her life, she actually believed that she could not live anymore. “I honestly thought I was going to die. I’d even written a will because that’s how real it was. I certainly didn’t think that I’d ever play sport again,” Harvey told Storm website in July this year. But this statement was just the tip of the iceberg of what the 28-year-old went through during the second wave of the Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Recounting her experiences, Harvey said, “On the 30th of August last year I became really ill. I was 32 weeks pregnant, and I hadn’t been feeling well for about a week. It got to the point where I couldn’t even lift my legs to get my trousers on.” “Within 40 hours of that, I was diagnosed with sepsis. I had a nephrostomy bag fitted to my right kidney. I was seriously ill in the ICU and they thought that I could die. It was pretty scary,” added the Storm player, who had not represented the team before this season. Harvey further explains that it got so worse that even the doctors lost hope and asked her husband to see her even when she was suffering from Covid-19. “It got so bad that they eventually let my husband in to see me despite the Covid restrictions. I had to have a C-section at 37 weeks due to complications and because I was so weak,” she said. But as the saying goes, it ain’t over till it actually is. So Nicole too refused to give and fought literally till her last breath. “I couldn’t even sit up, let alone walk for a while. Even in January this year, I couldn’t run. It’s been quite a whirlwind, but Jonty and I are here to tell the tale,” said the Cornwall born. But in her fight, she was not alone, there were many that fought alongside her and Nicole doesn’t forget to thank them enough. “My mum lived in my house for three months and slept on the floor because of Covid. She bed bathed me and got me in and out of bed so that my husband could carry on working,’ she said. Now part of the Fire and earlier having represented Somerset Women, Nicole also thanked her teams and support staff who have allowed her to carry her son along in every tournament. “They’ve allowed Jonty to be on the road with us and things like that. Everyone has just gone above and beyond to be supportive,” she said. It wasn’t easy for Nicole to fight back as she said, “When I first tried to run at the end of January, I couldn’t really do it and I just cried.” But instead of giving up, her near-death experience has made her more resilient and she did fight back. Ever since her comeback to cricket in June this year, she has taken 9 wickets in 10 games and wants to keep on contributing to all her teams as much as she can. “I just want to make good contributions to Somerset, Western Storm and Welsh Fire. I want to be someone who is a key part of the team. I want to keep getting fitter and stronger and improving my game. I want to learn from those around me and I’m looking forward to picking the brains of people like Sarah Taylor,” said Nicole. After all that she has been through, if there is anyone that could touch the heights that she/he wants to, it is Nicole Harvey.

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No contact tracing bands in this IPL, Bubble Integrity officers to keep track of teams

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to do away with the contract tracing bands, haired as a pioneering technology during the 2020 edition of the IPL. They would now be replaced with Bubble Integrity Officers, who were also present during the last edition, but whose roles were confined to checking bubble breaches only. This time around they would be travelling with each team and tracking all their movements. The reason for doing away with contact tracing bands was their inefficiency in catching the movement. “BCCI has decided to do away with the idea of wearing contact tracing bands as not only is it sometimes difficult to feed information for sportspersons during the course of a tournament but also, we had a few instances earlier this year when the devices couldn't catch the movement of the players and the fact that they had left a certain location wasn't updated and players and support staff realised this much later,” a source told ANI. The reason behind employing the Bubble Integrity Officers is the fact that they can accordingly at any instance of breach instead of a separate team assessing the case and taking action. "As a result, it has been decided that the Bubble Integrity Officers present with the teams will keep a track of the movements and act accordingly if there is a case that comes up during the course of the tournament. There will be 4 integrity officers with each team and will work in shifts to help with this," the source explained. Within the Bio-Secure Environment, 14 bubbles will be created as mentioned below: Franchise teams and support staff - 8 Bubble, Match Officials Match Management Team - 3 Bubbles Broadcast Commentators and crew - 3 Bubbles. The source further explained the regulation for the tournament which will be beginning on September 19 in UAE. "All franchise team members must quarantine in their hotel room for 6 full days before entering the bubble,” he said. “Upon arrival and before commencing any group training activities, all team members who will be included in the bubble will follow the below-mentioned RT-PCR testing plan. A nasopharyngeal swab will be taken for testing. Test reports are available within 8-12 hours after sample collection,” added the guidelines as accessed by ANI.