Day 78: Derby hots up as venue for women's cricket to excel

 

There is only one benefit to the early county championship matches being only able to view via a stream. That is, the temperatures outside can fluctuate wildly. I can remember many an April day spent in warm sunfilled skies but equally just as happy to be wrapped in several layers, a sleeping bag and hot water bottles.

That being said, I have been freezing cold in August at Derby, in the days T20 and when Derby was still an open ground with the last remnants of its racecourse days.

The locals humourlessly dub the city Derbados. I graduated from the city’s university, and I have spent some happy days watching cricket at Derby.  

It does have it’s detractors, and I guess there are many reasons for that. Derby has quietly become a good venue. It hasn’t lost that ground over a stadium feel, but the building of the media centre and other facilities has made it feel like ground going in the right direction.

In 2017 it saw not just one remarkable innings in a women’s game but two.

Harmanpreet Kaur scored the first in a World Cup semi-final against Australia. It was an innings that grew in stature as Kaur got used to the conditions and the bowling. By the end, Australia had run out of ideas. Kaur would finish on 171 not out, smashing 20 fours and seven sixes in the process.

A month later, Suzie Bates scored an unbeaten century in a Kia Super League game and finished unbeaten on 119 in 72 balls.

Bates also took three for 15 and took an outstanding boundary catch to cap an outstanding individual performance.

Derby has become a regular venue for women's international cricket and staged its first game in 2006. It isn't the only Derbyshire venue to host international cricket for women as Queen's Park, Chesterfield has provided the setting for games between Australia v New Zealand. Australia also played India there in 2011.