Kia Super League - Team of the Tournament

It isn’t the easiest thing to decide, it is, after all, a matter of opinion, but that is what makes the game of cricket the exciting game.

The Kia Super League is no different. There are of course individual moments of brilliance that can set a game on fire, but who are the 11 most consistent players over the course of the last 6 weeks?

Smriti Mandhana – Western Storm

The player of the tournament by a long distance. Her attacking stroke play found the boundary with such regularity that it was a surprise when she was ever dismissed.

421 runs at an average of just over 60 and a strike-rate of 174.68 shows just how important she was in getting Western Storm to finals day. Had she been available for the big day, who knows if the outcome may have been different.

Racheal Haynes – Loughborough Lightning

A player that goes quietly about her business. This time last year she was not a regular in the Australia side but went on to captain her national side in retaining their Ashes crown.

She was a calm presence at the top of the Loughborough Lightning order and she even scored at a better strike-rate than opener Sophie Devine.

She has the second-best average, only fractionally ahead of the next player in the line-up.

Heather Knight (captain) – Western Storm

The second-highest scorer in the competition, Knight led from the front. She scored three fifties. She really should have converted one of them into a hundred and was only three runs away from doing so as well.

Natalie Sciver – Surrey Stars

Her two innings on finals day were pivotal in helping her side win this year. 72 not out in the semi-final and 40 in the final show what a great batter she is on her day.

Like Knight, her highest score in the tournament was in the nineties, with 95 not out. It is a good sign that the England middle-order is in form going into the World T20 in November.

Amy Satterthwaite – Lancashire Thunder

It would have been too easy to include Lizelle Lee in the final XI, but with that score in the final out of the equation she was not consistent enough. Satterthwaite was a model of consistency on the other hand.

At times not flashy but she was the glue that held her team together. It was also a reminder that Satterthwaite is a world-class performer.

Had Lancashire Thunder not had an abundance of spin options she may well have bowled more often as well.

Amy Jones – Loughborough Lightning

Along with Rachel Priest, Jones was the joint leading wicketkeeper in terms of dismissals. Nine stumpings and two catches show why Jones is the backup keeper for England.

This year she has been consistent with the bat. Mark Robinson wanted to see her open but with Sophie Devine and Haynes filling that role she had to settle for No.3.

There were a number of times when she was in early and showed her worth to the side. Her strike-rate in the middle overs were better than her teammates.

Marizanne Kapp – Surrey Stars

The South African international showed just why she is one of the best in the world. She very rarely goes for runs and takes wickets. She is a captain’s dream and the 11 wickets she took would have pleased Sciver greatly.

Added to that some useful knocks late in the innings, Kapp would always be one of the first names on the team-sheet.

Sophie Devine – Loughborough Lightning

While she doesn’t get into the team for her batting, she went into the final as joint leading wicket-taker with her teammate Kirstie Gordon.

Bowling in the powerplay is never easy, but she took wickets that helped her side get the upper hand. Not afraid to pitch it short, it got her wickets other wouldn’t have got.

Add to her bowling were some destructive innings up top, if not always for very long.

Kirstie Gordon – Loughborough Lightning

It was a busy wicket-taking summer for Gordon. She finished as the leading wicket-taker in the county championship with Nottinghamshire. She was then the leading wicket-taker in the Kia Super League.

A left-arm spinner who does not give anything away, and it is pressure and skill that gets her wickets without going for runs.

Sophie Ecclestone – Lancashire Thunder

Another left-arm spinner in the side. Ecclestone had another good KSL summer. Having impressed last year, she continued to bowl her spin with a calmness well beyond her years.

In a much improved Lancashire Thunder side, she was their leading wicket-taker with 15 wickets and only two behind Gordon.

Katherine Brunt – Yorkshire Diamonds

Half of her 10 wickets came in one game, but she was consistently one of the most economical bowlers around.

A batting average of 27.5 also shows how many dimensions that Brunt brings to any team, There is no way she would bat at No. 11 in this side, for a start she wouldn’t let you.