.jpg?im=Resize,height=373 "From Smriti Mandhana to Ellyse Perry: The Most Beautiful Women Cricketer Of All Time")
From Smriti Mandhana to Ellyse Perry: The Most Beautiful Women Cricketer Of All Time
#OTD in 2009: England emerged as the winner of the first-ever Women's T20 World Cup
Unmasking the stigma: Sports and mental health
Sarah Taylor set to join Manchester Originals as men's assistant coach
While she admitted to the BBC that she wanted to continue with her on-field career, she also recognised she would be "stupid to turn down" the chance to enhance her coaching skills with another high-profile appointment as well.
From death bed to The Hundred: Nicole Harvey’s awe-inspiring fighting spirit
Nicole Harvey is now playing in The Hundred for Welsh Women and having played in all the five matches of the team till August 06, she has taken three wickets with her leg break. She did brilliant in the domestic T20 competition, the Charlotte Edwards cup for Western Storm to bag a Hundred contract with Fire. But it wasn’t always like that for Harvey. At one time in her life, she actually believed that she could not live anymore. “I honestly thought I was going to die. I’d even written a will because that’s how real it was. I certainly didn’t think that I’d ever play sport again,” Harvey told Storm website in July this year. But this statement was just the tip of the iceberg of what the 28-year-old went through during the second wave of the Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Recounting her experiences, Harvey said, “On the 30th of August last year I became really ill. I was 32 weeks pregnant, and I hadn’t been feeling well for about a week. It got to the point where I couldn’t even lift my legs to get my trousers on.” “Within 40 hours of that, I was diagnosed with sepsis. I had a nephrostomy bag fitted to my right kidney. I was seriously ill in the ICU and they thought that I could die. It was pretty scary,” added the Storm player, who had not represented the team before this season. Harvey further explains that it got so worse that even the doctors lost hope and asked her husband to see her even when she was suffering from Covid-19. “It got so bad that they eventually let my husband in to see me despite the Covid restrictions. I had to have a C-section at 37 weeks due to complications and because I was so weak,” she said. But as the saying goes, it ain’t over till it actually is. So Nicole too refused to give and fought literally till her last breath. “I couldn’t even sit up, let alone walk for a while. Even in January this year, I couldn’t run. It’s been quite a whirlwind, but Jonty and I are here to tell the tale,” said the Cornwall born. But in her fight, she was not alone, there were many that fought alongside her and Nicole doesn’t forget to thank them enough. “My mum lived in my house for three months and slept on the floor because of Covid. She bed bathed me and got me in and out of bed so that my husband could carry on working,’ she said. Now part of the Fire and earlier having represented Somerset Women, Nicole also thanked her teams and support staff who have allowed her to carry her son along in every tournament. “They’ve allowed Jonty to be on the road with us and things like that. Everyone has just gone above and beyond to be supportive,” she said. It wasn’t easy for Nicole to fight back as she said, “When I first tried to run at the end of January, I couldn’t really do it and I just cried.” But instead of giving up, her near-death experience has made her more resilient and she did fight back. Ever since her comeback to cricket in June this year, she has taken 9 wickets in 10 games and wants to keep on contributing to all her teams as much as she can. “I just want to make good contributions to Somerset, Western Storm and Welsh Fire. I want to be someone who is a key part of the team. I want to keep getting fitter and stronger and improving my game. I want to learn from those around me and I’m looking forward to picking the brains of people like Sarah Taylor,” said Nicole. After all that she has been through, if there is anyone that could touch the heights that she/he wants to, it is Nicole Harvey.
The Hundred: Sarah Taylor joins Welsh fire, makes comeback after two-year break
Former England Women’s star cricketer Sarah Taylor has decided to make a comeback to competitive cricket as she joined Welsh Fire one of the eight franchise teams of The Hundred Women’s competition. "There has been a real buzz about The Hundred, and especially the women’s competition. We’ve got the best players from around the world involved and the temptation to be part of it was too great to resist,” Taylor was quoted as saying in Wales Cricket Board’s press release. Taylor, 31 had quit all forms of competitive cricket in 2019 citing that anxiety issues plaguing her personally. Back then she had said, “This has been a tough decision but I know it’s the right one, for me and for my health moving forward. I am extremely proud of my career.” Now, excited to play, Sarah wishes that Welsh Fire which play their first game against Northern Superchargers at Headingley, Leeds on July 24 could have a great first season. Commenting on the two times World Cup winner’s comeback to cricket, Beth Barrett-Wild, head of The Hundred Women’s competition said, "Sarah Taylor is a truly extraordinary cricketer, who has made a habit of breaking new ground in the game throughout her career.” “It’s highly appropriate therefore that she will feature in The Hundred this summer – a competition which has the potential to transform women’s cricket,” she added. The London born Taylor is one of the finest wicket-keeper batters to have ever graced women’s cricket. She has the second-highest number of dismissals in both ODIs and T20Is with the joint highest number of stumpings in both formats. In ODIs, she has 51 stumpings, equal to India’s Anju Jain while in T20Is too she has 51 stumpings, equal to Australia’s Alyssa Healy. Overall she has the most number stumpings for any women’s cricketer, all formats combined. The tally sits at 104, way ahead of Healy’s 74. Sarah also has to her kitty, 6533 runs, once again the most for any wicket-keeper batter in women’s game.
Sarah Taylor back on cricket field; joins Sussex' coaching staff
Sarah Taylor, the former English wicket-keeper-batswoman has joined Sussex as a member of the coaching staff for the upcoming season. She would work with the professional squad and the Sussex Cricket Pathway on a part-time basis. “I’m really pleased about working with the club’s wicketkeepers. From Ben Brown and Phil Salt in the professional squad and down through the pathway, we have a really talented group of keepers at Sussex who I am looking forward to working with immensely, ‘ said the dashing right-hander. Sarah, 31, had quit all forms of cricket in Septemeber 2019 after suffering from anxiety issues. The Whitechapel born wicketkeeper played 126 ODIs, 10 Tess and 90 T20Is for the English women’s team in her 13-year long career, scoring over 7000 international runs. “I want to share my experience and expertise to help them get the most out of their game. I’m a big believer in keeping things simple and perfecting the basics so that players can enjoy and express themselves with the gloves,” added the most successful wicketkeeper in the women’s game with 231 scalps in 226 games in all formats. Along with Taylor, Ashley Wright a professional coach who has coached in County, BPL and has a four-year experience of coaching the Gurnsey national team has also joined the Sussex support staff. Sarah after retiring in September 2019, became a sport and life coach at Bede's School in Eastbourne. Also before her move to Sussex as a coaching staff, she helped in the launch of the Sussex Cricket Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub, an online resource set up by the club. Ian Salisbury, Sussex’s joint men’s head coach welcomed Taylor and Wright saying, “As with everything we do, the decision to add Sarah and Ash to our coaching staff is based on our strategic aim to produce homegrown or ‘Sussex-fied’ players who will ensure the club is competing in all formats and providing as many players for England as possible in the future.”