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Georgia Adams on Southern Vipers, turning pro and former Sussex captain and father Chris missing her record innings

Georgia Adams is the current top scorer after five rounds of the RHF Trophy - SHUTTERSTOCK
Georgia Adams is the current top scorer after five rounds of the RHF Trophy - SHUTTERSTOCK
Women's Sport Social Embed
Women's Sport Social Embed

Georgia Adams was opening the batting for the Southern Vipers last weekend when cramp struck in her calf. She had narrowly missed out on a century two days prior, scoring 89. Now at 93, she made sure she hobbled her way to her century. After that, she avoided running and "just went for the boundaries".

The Vipers' captain finished with a remarkable 154 not out - the highest score of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy to help the team earn a spot in the Edgbaston final with a game in hand. Adams also became the highest scorer of the tournament so far.

"Sunday was a rollercoaster," 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 just one of those days."

Just a couple of months ago though, 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 one-off 50-over competition the RHF Trophy. And, though they had to delay handing out full-time contracts until October, in June Adams was offered one of 25 stand-in retainer agreements, understood to be worth £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. Formerly part of the ECB's England academy squad, 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 at an academy local to her, while using every possible free moment to practice. If no cricket had happened this summer, the long winter training block for her and others in the game would have been wasted and spirits undoubtedly lower than ever.

Her superb innings on Sunday was behind-closed-doors, like the rest of the tournament has been, so her family, including her father Chris Adams, the former England and Sussex player, was not there to witness it.  It was not, however, through lack of trying from Adams junior: "The squad were staying in the Hilton, which overlooks the Ageas Bowl. I managed to get a pitch view room, so I said to my parents, 'do you want to come 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 Cricket, running around the boundary at Hove and practicing in the nets with Pakistan international bowler Mushtaq Ahmed. Former Sussex player Billy Taylor even recognised her as 'Chris's daughter' while umpiring her match last Friday. She was 12 when she first officially represented Sussex - and only thanks to the now ECB 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. This weekend's final group match of the RHF Trophy, ahead of the September 27 final, potentially marks the start of a whole new chapter in the cricketer's career and for that of other domestic players. Last weekend her batting partner, teenager Ella McCaughan, also drew attention for hitting her own commendable 63. McCaughan turns 18 on the eve of the final, and Adams says players like her now have aspirational pathways to aim for.

"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."