It is a frustrating time for cricketers, with no play possible so far this season because of coronavirus restrictions.
Instead, women from four county clubs are stepping out for a special London Championship running challenge spread over three weekends.
Apart from helping keep them in good physical nick, the intention was to “drive their inner competitive fire”, according to Middlesex head of women’s cricket Danni Warren, who first came up with the idea.
And England players present and past, including Tammy Beaumont, Fran Wilson, Mady Villiers, Tash Farrant, Bryony Smith and Susie Rowe, are among those taking part.
Middlesex were up against Essex and Surrey faced Kent in the opening ‘matches’ in which players have to run as far as they can in 30 minutes. Their individual distances are then added together to come up with a team total.
Deciding which team has won, though, is a little more complicated.
To put an extra spin on things, once the totals have been calculated, they are then divided by the distance between the county grounds of the two clubs – in the case of Middlesex and Essex, from Lord’s to Chelmsford; and from The Oval to Canterbury for Surrey v Kent.
Finally, the team that made the most ‘virtual journeys’ between the two grounds are confirmed as the winners.
If the players weren’t tired enough after the physical exertions, just getting their head around those calculations will probably leave them in need of a lie down.
“It was just a silly idea I had a couple of weeks ago and then sat on it for a bit,” Warren told BBC Sport.
“I was thinking I might be a bit of a sadist, but the other clubs really bought into it and I’m really pleased with the interest shown by the girls.
“Members of our team ran distances ranging from about 4.5km to Kate Coppack’s 6.38km. It’s like cricket in that people have different strengths and weaknesses to help bring a result home. For some running like this comes very natural, for some it’s a real effort.”
So which teams set the pace on the opening weekend?
The ‘end of innings’ total achieved by the 15 Middlesex runners was 78.29km, which equates to 1.4 trips between Lord’s and Chelmsford, giving them victory by 0.92km over Essex, who ran a combined 77.37km.
The other ‘match’ was a high-scoring affair, but it ended in a clear-cut 2.21km win for Surrey after their squad covered 88.49km, compared to 86.28 by the 2019 county champions.
Next weekend, Kent face Essex and there is a London derby between Middlesex and neighbours Surrey, which may perhaps give the event an extra edge.
“We’ve been playing an annual London Cup T20 match against Surrey for the last five years and the record is 5-0 to Middlesex,” said Warren.
“It’s a friendly rivalry, but there’s always a little bit more on it when we’re playing Surrey.”
The London Championship ends with the final ‘fixtures’ on 2-3 May.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
Source link
