By Josh Richards
MODEST coach Nick Bier masterminded Kent Women’s double-winning season, but insists he is merely the “lighthouse steering the ships away from the rocks”.
A Kent team brimming with England stars beat Berkshire by 26 runs at the weekend to seal the County Championship title, following on from their NatWest T20 triumph in June.
But with players of the quality and experience of Charlotte Edwards and Wisden Woman Cricketer of the Year Suzie Bates at his disposal, Bier is keen to play down his role.
“I’m a facilitator,” he said. “The team runs itself, which is a nice thing. I’m just the lighthouse steering them away from the rocks.
“We have players like Lottie [Edwards] who helps the less experienced players, but this isn’t down to one individual, it’s a team effort.
“It’s been nice to see the ladies enjoy the moment, they haven’t stopped all year.
“Winning was never the key priority for me. We wanted to give them a platform to play as well as they can.
“I don’t believe there is any harm in feeling we could win them both, but that’s not a target I set for the ladies. I didn’t want to put that pressure on them.
“They knew what they were capable of, it didn’t need to be said.
“The way we responded to set-backs was perhaps most pleasing. We lost our first County Championship match, but got the maximum points we could in defeat and then didn’t look back.
“In the T20 we lost our first two games but the ladies responded to that, because we have a great spirit here.”
Kent’s seventh County Championship title makes them the most successful since the competition’s inception.
They have moved one clear of both Sussex and Yorkshire. But it’s the manner of their recent dominance of the scene that has been most impressive.
All of their title wins have come in the last 11 years, and their only season outside of the top two came in 2013.
In that period they have added three T20 titles, too, producing the spine of the England team in the process with the emergence of stars such as Tammy Beaumont alongside Edwards and vice-skipper Lydia Greenway.
Those star names had a few nervous moments at Beckenham on Sunday, though.
Greenway won the toss and elected to bat, but partnerships were broken almost as soon as they were established and Kent were bowled out for 165 inside 43 overs.
Opener Sherisa Gumbs (33) got Berkshire off to a solid start and, they need 56 more runs to win when the fifth wicket fell – Alice MacLeod (24) hitting a Bates (3-25) delivery into the grateful hands of Beaumont.
The manner in which off-spinner Laura Marsh and Alice Davidson-Richards tore through the tail though, was a fitting procession to take them home to the title.
Bier acknowledges Kent cannot hope to continue their dominance by resting on their laurels.
But he believes there is plenty to keep his team motivated for the challenges that lie ahead.
“The challenge is to be as good, if not better, next year,” Bier added.
“We have promising players in the U17s and U15s teams coming through. We have put them on the talent ID pathway. We’re always striving for improvement, you can’t sit still.
“We won’t know the fixtures for next season for a while.
“The England players may or may not be around as much and then there is a possibility that the Super League could be expanded, so that would make more players unavailable, so there are always new challenges.”
