‘Cramp was a nightmare so I just went for the boundaries’
Georgia Adams found unlikely inspiration to make an unbeaten 154 to help her Southern Vipers side reach the RHF Trophy final
Georgia Adams was opening the batting for the Southern Vipers last weekend when a calf cramp struck. She had narrowly missed out on a century two days prior, scoring 89. Now on 93, she made sure she hobbled her way over the 100-mark this time. After that, she avoided running so “just went for the boundaries”.
The Vipers captain finished unbeaten with a remarkable 154 – the highest score of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy – to help the team to earn a spot in the Edgbaston final with a game in hand. Adams also became the highest scorer of the tournament.
“Sunday was a roller coaster,” Adams, 26, says, as if still in shock. “I felt on top of the world and then with cramp we were having to be so careful with the running, it was a bit of a nightmare. Then I just kept finding the gaps and the middle of the bat. It was one of those days.”
Just a couple of months ago, a day like Sunday seemed highly unlikely. The Hundred was cancelled and the chance of becoming one of 40 recipients of new full-time domestic contracts seemed to be evaporating.
But the England and Wales Cricket Board managed to salvage the women’s domestic season, hosting the one-off 50-over RHF Trophy. And, though it had to delay handing out full-time contracts until next month, in June Adams was offered one of 25 stand-in retainer agreements, understood to be £1,000 a month. “Things went from a bit doom and gloom to you’re now a professional cricketer and we’re looking to give you some cricket,” Adams says. “I was really shocked.” Her results since suggest it is well deserved. Adams has been in and around the national team, but never centrally contracted – so never consistently paid to play. It has meant working full-time as a coach, while using every free moment to practise.
Her superb innings on Sunday was behind closed doors, so her family were not there, including father Chris Adams, the former England and Sussex player – though not through lack of trying. “The squad were staying in the Hilton, which overlooks the Ageas. I had a pitch-view room, so I said to my parents do you want to come and watch the game from the hotel, but they already had plans … I bet they’re a bit gutted now,” she laughs.
Adams grew up at Sussex, running around the boundary at Hove and practising in the nets with Pakistan bowler Mushtaq Ahmed.
Former Sussex player Billy Taylor even recognised her as “Chris’s daughter” while umpiring her match last Friday. Bizarrely though, she was relatively late to represent Sussex, only officially doing so aged 12 – and only thanks to the nowECB director of women’s cricket: “I didn’t realise girls cricket was a thing – I was so used to playing with the boys. Clare Connor got in touch with my dad and said you need to send Georgia to trials.”
Lucky for Sussex and the Southern Vipers he did. Today’s last group match of the RHF Trophy against South East Stars, ahead of the final a week tomorrow, potentially marks the start of a whole new chapter in the cricketer’s career and for that of other domestic players.
“If I played for England then that would be a dream,” Adams says. “But saying I captained five years for the Vipers and played at that pro level, that’s also a great achievement and a brilliant goal for girls coming up. That’s the importance of this new set-up the ECB have pushed through, there’s a real career ladder.”