Paige Scholfield is enjoying her second year at the Oval Invincibles as she carries forward her blistering form in short-form cricket, storming into the Hundred with two player-of-the-match performances.
Pushed to the top of the order in the absence of Chamari Athapaththu at the start of the tournament, Scholfield answered the call by smashing a 40-ball 71 at the Kia Oval and leading her side to a 45-run victory.
The right-hander was the Match Hero again, this time batting at five, when she aced a tricky chase against Manchester Originals without breaking a sweat. Her clutch knock of 48 not out from 27 balls at Old Trafford took the Invincibles back to winning ways.
Scholfield confesses that opening the batting was “exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time” but having the clarity of “how I approach the game” and the backing of the coaching staff has helped her move up and down the order, seamlessly slotting in the roles assigned to the South East Stars allrounder.
“JB [Jonathan Batty] backs me in the way I play regardless of where I bat,” shares Scholfield. “For me, it’s sticking to how I play and still playing my game regardless of whether I’m opening or batting five.”
“I’m always looking for the boundary option but if it’s not there then my next option would be looking for pockets, so running those twos hard. That’s a key point in the short format because obviously boundaries aren’t always gonna come but you’ve got a minimal amount of balls to get as many runs as possible, so those twos actually become quite important,” the 28-year-old offers an insight into the skills of short-form batting.
Scholfield’s words are backed up by her performances in the ongoing competition. In the season-opener against Birmingham Phoenix, she showed her ability to find the rope at will, with 48 of her 71 runs coming in boundaries. The game against Manchester Originals was another example of how she has found success with her gameplan, knocking off 12 runs in doubles and smashing seven fours whilst striking at a rate of over 177.
Oval Invincibles are on the attack 👊💥 #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/FaQMz3NGFI
— The Hundred (@thehundred) August 6, 2024
The allrounder’s attacking intent at the crease has also been unmistakable throughout her two years at the Stars. In this season’s Charlotte Edwards Cup, where the regional side finished as runners-up, Scholfield was in fiery form. Her 259 runs – the fifth highest in the competition – were scored at an average of 43.16 and a strike rate of 140. No other batter, who passed 125 runs in the tournament, went at a faster scoring rate.
Scholfield believes that, at the Stars, her batting has evolved following the hard work she has put in to tweak her strengths into becoming “super strengths”. She adds: “The help I’ve got from Johann Myburgh and Darren Stevens has been a massive help in the shift in my batting. I’ve been here for two years now and we’ve worked really hard on not straying away from my strengths, but just tweaking them to become super strengths and learning that ability to know when to use them.”
With the upcoming restructuring of domestic cricket in the country, Scholfield put pen to paper and signed to play for Surrey’s Tier 1 professional team in 2025. No stranger to the Kia Oval, she is “thoroughly looking forward” to don the Three Feathers and is “super excited” to call the iconic ground her permanent home.
“I love the facilities at the Oval. I love the pitches as a batter obviously and it’s an amazing field to play,” she adds. “Everyone’s very welcoming. We always have amazing support from the fans, but also just having the backing of Surrey and integrating us into [the Club] has been amazing, even now behind closed doors.”
