On a day when rain caused total washouts up and down the country St George's Road Harrogate was spared long enough to allow Kent women's XI to give their Yorkshire counterparts a drubbing sufficient to confirm that poor performances in white ball cricket are not confined to the male of the white rose species.
Yorkshire were champions in this form of cricket last year but Kent brought a side to Harrogate today bursting at the seams with international cricketers and who demonstrated a superiority in all forms of the game which saw devotees including Malcolm, Jennifer, Tony and Richard of Harrogate on their way home shortly after four. Apart from the recently deposed England captain Charlotte Edwards, and there was support for the idea that her dismissal had been handled shabbily, Kent could boast of Tammy Beaumont, Lydia Greenway and Laura Marsh and if that wasn't enough, New Zealand's skipper Suzie Bates.
Yorkshire won the toss and decided to field but opening bowlers Spragg and Firth could not prevent the visitors getting off to a good start which induced a sense of melancholy amongst those gathered on the balcony and the score reached 87 at almost five an over before Bates fell to spinner Katie Levick. Paired with another Katie, Thompson this time, Levick put the brakes on Kent's progress and the pair bowled their full complement at close to three an over. Bates, Beaumont, Edwards and Davidson-Richards all made decent scores before the innings closed on 206 for 6. Too many for Yorkshire was the consensus tempered with a slight touch of it could have been worse.
Charlotte Edwards returns to the pavilion
End of the Kent innings
The restart was delayed by about 15 minutes when the ground staff were instructed to bring on the covers but when the Yorkshire innings did begin I would need some convincing that the slight precipitation was not heavier than that which had caused the delay. What followed was way below our modest expectations for in under 90 minutes Yorkshire were bowled out for 54 with only two reaching double figures and five recording ducks or a single. The star for Kent was eighteen year old leg spinner Megan Belt who finished with figures of 5 for 8 off her 5 overs. The last four wickets added just four. Oh dear, oh dear.
Plenty to watch this week without straying too far*: Yorks II at Clifton Park for the next three days, Derbyshire II at Darlington from Tuesday to Thursday, Yorkshire in 50 over action at Scarborough on Tuesday and Yorks II at Pudsey Congs on Thursday. Alas unsettled weather is forecast.
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