By Tom Prosser
“We are not stupid, we look at the lineups of other teams and we may not be the best team on paper but the togetherness we have will make us thrive and come out on top.”
Those are the motivational words of Welsh Fire all-rounder Georgia Hennessy who is hoping her side can continue their winning run as they aim to win three matches on the bounce when they take on the Trent Rockets at Sophia Gardens on Friday.
“It’s been nice to get a couple of wins considering the start we had, we left to go to London almost straight away after our first win so we were all celebrating when travelling down so we had lots of momentum going into our last game,” said Hennessy who plays her domestic cricket for Western Storm.
“We are right in the mix, I don’t think anyone’s running away with it.
“I think we faced the two hardest teams at the start so it’s been great to bounce back.”
The 24-year-old bowled well in the Welsh Fire’s last game and finished with figures of under a run a ball.
“I was really pleased, that’s my plan as I’m not really a natural wicket-taker,” explained Hennessy.
“Most of my wickets come from building pressure so I’m happy even if they come from the other end as it shows we are executing our plans as a team, it’s particularly important to keep things tight in those middle overs.”
Hennessy has also enjoyed picking the brains of England legend Sarah Taylor and Australian duo Piepa Cleary and Georgia Redmayne.
“Having Sarah Taylor in the team is mad, she’s so good around the camp,” said the Worcestershire born all-rounder.
“She’s great in suggesting angles of fielders and stuff like that which takes the pressure of our captain Sophie Luff, it works really well.
“Piepa has helped me massively with my bowling, she’s experienced having played in the Big Bash, she’s helped me a huge amount with my short format bowling plans.
“Georgia actually played for my county Worcestershire when I was 15 so I know her quite well, she’s been really supportive.”
The former England U19 international believes this tournament has already shown the depth of women’s cricket and hopes it can put many of the players in contention for international honours.
“If we perform well here, then what more can we do-that’s how most of the players see it,” said Hennessy.
“We’ve got so much strength in depth, for example Alex Griffiths is batting at number nine but I think she could easily open the batting and perform even at this standard of cricket.
“The depth is very very good and I see it improving year on year.”