On Friday, Middlesex won their first County Championship title in 23 years.

As a Middlesex girl, I’d seen my fair share of county championship games but this decider-game at the Home of Cricket between Yorkshire and Middlesex was one that excited me almost as much as watching India does. The title was still up for grabs, a three-way contest between Yorkshire (who needed 350 in the first innings and a win), Middlesex (who needed a win) and Somerset (who needed them to draw).

Middlesex had set Yorkshire a first innings target of 270 but to stay in the county race, they needed to get to 350 runs within 110 overs. It was in true dramatic style that a 10^th wicket partnership between Tim Bresnan and Ryan Sidebottom saw Yorkshire over the 350 mark (with an hours break at 349) and gave the defending champions a 120 run lead.

A 200 run partnership between Nick Gubbins and Dawid Malan meant the game was looking more like a draw and more like a win for Somerset who had beaten Nottinghamshire by a resounding 325 runs. The two well-matched teams were still neck and neck battling it out by lunch on day four to no avail.

So they decided to get a result. Neither team benefitted from a draw so the two teams agreed to intervene. Both sides agreed on an equation. One that would allow Middlesex to set a target for Yorkshire to chase – almost nullifying the first two innings to set up a sort of one-day decider.

240 in 40. That was the agreed target between captains James Franklin and Andrew Gale. The target that Yorkshire needed to chase down for the title. They had agreed to speed up the game for half an hour and allow Middlesex to reach a lead of 240.

To achieve this situation however, Yorkshire had to serve up balls on a silver platter. Their opening batsmen Adam Lyth and Alex Lees came on to bowl and were dispatched for 128 runs in 11.5 overs at an RR of 10.82. Boundary after boundary came with the odd wicket inexplicably falling here and there. Brooks standing at square-leg held a catch of Lees’ bowling that he appeared to really not want to take and Lyth held a caught and bowled. The players were smiling unsure about how to react to such a debacle.

The teams were artificially creating a result, not to specifically benefit/sabotage each other but to push the game along. They did not together decide on who would win but they did ensure someone would win. Was it legitimate and in the spirit of the game? Would a draw have been the right thing to do? To have the game wane and taper off (in favour of Somerset) with the knowledge and ability to do something about it? Both teams were prepared to lay it all out there for the chance to win so they took the game into their own hands.

Middlesex declared on 239. With 40 overs to go it seemed like a very generous target especially in modern day cricket but it appeared all too much for Yorkshire. A small enough target to entice but a long enough game for the batsmen to think twice.

The equation moved to 153 off 20, then 87 off 10 and Toby Roland-Jones took the game home for Middlesex with a hat-trick to remove Yorkshire’s lower order and win them the County Championship title after 23 years, dashing the dreams of two other counties in the last and final over of the 2016 season. Any other game and the teams might have blocked it out for a draw but this was an all or nothing situation. Both teams had done their part and a game that was at an impasse was brought back to life.

However with the county championship decider being manipulated into a result are we likely to see more controlled target setting and match handling? Will it change the four-day game in the future? For the better?

The end of play on day 3 and Yorkshire had kept hopes of winning their third consecutive county championship title alive. Having played only 4 specialist batsmen and collapsing to 4-53 with three ducks, the visitors still needed 297 runs to stay in the race.

Middlesex had set a target of 270 thanks to Nick Gubbins’ 125. However he had very little support as the next highest score of the innings was a 48 from captain James Franklin. They scored very slowly and on the second morning, Jack Brooks cleaned up to take six-for after Tim Bresnan broke Middlesex’s main partnership.

It was a hard-earned century from Bresnan and half-century contributions from Andy Hodd and Azeem Rafiq that got Yorkshire close to the line. Middlesex dropped too many chances and allowed the game to be taken away from them.

Rafiq fell when Yorkshire were on 318 (32 runs short of their bonus points). Steven Patterson made a handy 11 to bring them up to 333 but five balls later Yorkshire were 9 down.

Then came in 11^th man Ryan Sidebottom in the 95^th over to bat with Bresnan as they were 16 runs short of their batting bonus point. The man who had grittily batted out top stop Somerset winning the title once before and he was about to dampen their dreams once again.

Sidebottom got off the mark on his second ball only to find he would be facing Steven Finn at the other end. He blocked out ball after ball after ball to keep Yorkshire in the race. He kept out Yorkers from Tim Murtagh and survived LBW appeals from Roland-Jones. Single by single the final pair fought their way to 349 with Sidebottom 2 from 38.

It was then the umpires took out their light meter as Yorkshire were just one run short of their bonus point and took the players off the pitch. As if the last 10 overs had not been dramatic enough, the crowd were kept waiting for over an hour before play resumed.

As fate would have it, it was Sidebottom who clipped a 4 off his legs from Roland-Jones to get them over the line. His reaction as he ran between the wickets was that of a man who had just won his team the championship. As he punched the air a loud roar emanated from the crowd. He had given them a chance.

While the 2016 was a breakthrough season for women’s cricket, in many ways it was a missed opportunity.

The first ever women’s cricket week began on Saturday 2^nd July as Sky partnered up with the ECB to encourage females of all ages and from all walks of life to get involved in cricket.

The initiative was created to boost coverage and participation in the sport. It was centered around the England v Pakistan Ladies T20 series that was broadcasted live on Sky Sports. Ladies clubs from all around London were covered including Harrow Town Ladies in an attempt to promote club cricket. The initiative was a big success as more people got the opportunity to watch women play on the international stage, but one week is not about to change the face of women’s cricket.

Women still do not receive the same coverage as men. International men’s series’ both home and away are given full exposure. Not only that but men’s domestic cricket is given more exposure than women’s international cricket. It’s no secret that men’s sports are, on the whole, more popular than women’s but how is that supposed to change if games are not covered and priority is given based on current viewership? How are young girls supposed to develop a deep interest in sports without role models to aspire to on TV.

The last time the England women played a fixture at the Lord’s cricket ground was in 2013. Should their games not take priority over T20 Blast games or other county games? During the Kia Super League only one of the Surrey Stars home games was played at the Kia Oval whilst the other was played in Guildford. More than 2,000 people attended the Surrey Stars v Yorkshire Diamonds game at The Oval and it was a great opportunity for young players to play on the big stage. The final was held at the Essex County cricket ground and attracted a much smaller crowd than that at The Oval. There was no fixture set to be played at Lord’s within five days of the final either side and it would have been a great opportunity to showcase women’s cricket at ‘the home of cricket’..

The Kia Super League (coming straight after Women’s Cricket Week) was the perfect platform to build from but the ladies received no live coverage from Sky throughout the tournament neither was there anywhere else to stream live games. Much more could have been done for the ladies to increase support and awareness of the league online and via social media. The KSL final came the day after the T20 Blast final; it was the perfect time to promote the women’s game but very little was done.

And now? There may be a little more awareness of the England ladies whereabouts but as they begin their tours in the West Indies and Sri Lanka, without any real coverage or highlights for the home crowd all the momentum built up over the summer will surely die down. We can only hope that as support for the KSL grows, the ladies will be given a lot more attention and support and women’s cricket week will no longer be needed.