Cricket Notebook: England women are primed for Hundred presentation

Consultation for the Hundred is beginning.

On Wednesday, the England women’s team will receive a presentation from the competition’s organisers to explain why it is happening and what it means for their game. By the end of June, the organisers are set to hold major regional meetings with men’s players, too.

The Hundred has been a controversial topic for women’s cricket because, as Surrey director of women’s cricket Ebony Rainford-Brent told Standard Sport last week: “T20 is the product for the women’s game.”

Besides the World T20, the format features in the Ashes, so England’s women need to play it, though the Kia Super League is set to be scrapped.

Rainford-Brent likes the Hundred but hopes an appropriate T20 competition will replace the KSL. Surrey Stars will continue to exist to ensure a pathway.

“We don’t exactly know what any competition will look like, but the gap needs to be filled and players need to get opportunity to prepare themselves for international cricket,” she said.

There is an acknowledgement among ECB administrators that, in terms of the sport’s reach, they are making up for the mistakes of the mid-noughties. Their research, they say, required an innovative response: the Hundred.

Fine, but publish some of that research, otherwise the only access cricket lovers have to it is ECB chairman Colin Graves’ ham-fisted public interpretations of it, as delivered last week.

Seconds out for Morkel recovery

Morne Morkel will bowl for Surrey for the first time this afternoon as he turns out for the second team against Middlesex at Sunbury.

The former South Africa paceman is recovering from a groin strain and will also bowl a few overs against Sussex on Thursday.

If that goes to plan, he could play some Royal London Cup next week, which is when Virat Kohli is due to arrive.

With Royal Challengers Bangalore out of the IPL, it remains a possibility — albeit remote — that Kohli could arrive earlier than the game against Kent on June 1.

Surrey have lost their first two games in the competition.

Meanwhile, Surrey have sold out their new family zone for the opening game of the Vitality Blast, seven weeks in advance.