Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy debut offers reminder of varied routes taken by domestic women's cricketers

RICHARD CLARK AT EDGBASTON: Every player could tell you a different story. A veritable patchwork quilt of experience both in cricket and life. Sparks and Diamonds' squads both drew from varied strands, and every one of them could tell a unique tale

A few short weeks ago, the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy didn’t even exist, so being at Edgbaston on Saturday to see Central Sparks and Northern Thunder do battle will have gladdened the hearts of all who had a role in the whirlwind period leading up to a competition which involves the eight new regional hubs set up to take the place of the previous women’s county system.

With the inaugural edition of The Hundred postponed, and considerable doubt for a long time over whether any international cricket would be played, the new set-up suddenly acquired a greater significance – at least in a symbolic sense – than it might otherwise have had, and the consequent acceleration in getting things off the ground has happily proven worthwhile.

But, for all that, it’s worth taking a step back for a moment and considering where this fits into a bigger picture, a five-year programme of investment by the ECB with the aim of getting England back on a par with, and above, Australia.

For, this is about much more than a month’s cricket and a new trinket for someone’s trophy cabinet.

The significance lies in an increased professional structure – far from the finished product just yet, but a potential step in the right direction towards a more robust production line for the future.

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy: Team-by-team previews

Potential? Well, yes, because much will depend on how things develop. This month’s 50-over tournament is essentially a stop-gap (akin to the Bob Willis Trophy in that respect), which will be expanded on next summer – or perhaps discarded to make way for a complete redesign – to include both T20 and 50-over competitions.

Maybe even more important is the year-round programme for the squads – both the professionals and non-professionals – intended to raise standards and intensity, together with a pathway system fed from the county age-groups, so that a ‘conveyor belt’ sees the best youngsters in this summer’s squads grow into the international players of the future.

Gazing out across Edgbaston, every player could tell you a different story. A veritable patchwork quilt of experience both in cricket and in life. Sparks and Diamonds' squads both drew from varied strands, and every one of them could tell a unique tale.

England regulars like Katherine Brunt and Amy Jones, centrally contracted now, professional in every sense, but not always so.

Brunt, whose five for 20 did so much to set up Diamonds' nine-wicket victory, first pulled on an England shirt in 2004, some ten years before professionalism materialised. She knows the hard yards, and there were times even before that first cap when her path might have taken a different turn altogether.

^{Issy Wong is clean bowled by Katherine Brunt; Wong was two years of age when Brunt made her international debut}

Diamonds openers, Lauren Winfield and Hollie Armitage – one a World Cup winner, the other a solid county and KSL presence who has never quite made it to international honours – both compiled untroubled half-centuries in a veritable romp.

The tales they could no doubt tell you about making it or not. About a central contract or no contract at all.

Long-term county regulars like Katie Levick and Thea Brookes, former England Academy players who, for whatever reason, never gained a full cap and instead have continued to churn out the runs and gobble up the wickets for their counties, would now have a professional structure to drop back into and maybe rekindle those aspirations rather than becoming yesterday’s names.

Kate Cross and the reflections on a summer finally ready to begin

At the other end of the spectrum, 18-year old Layla Tipton, a Durham youngster without so much as a KSL appearance under her belt, but with runs aplenty at age-group level in the North East has somewhere to go from there, where she can see a route forward.  Tipton is just one of a proliferation of teenagers in both squads.

Worcestershire's Emily Arlott, at 22 a former England Academy fast bowler who saw her progress stymied by injury and now coaches in schools. Playing second division cricket last year, she probably imagined her chance had gone but now has a potential avenue back into contention.

The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy is the tip of the iceberg for these and many like them as the regions gear up for the five-year programme to come. Some will fail by the wayside, because that’s the nature of things. Others – younger still – will emerge.

In a quick-fix age, the next five years matter more than the next four weeks.

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