Kent Women have finished second in the Vitality Blast League Two table and will play at Finals Day at Sophia Gardens on Sunday with Sydney Gorham hoping for Horses success.
Gorham spoke to Ben Holliday about the Horses’ successes on the field this year as they prepare to challenge for silverware for the first time since 2023.
Last season, the first since the introduction of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 system, Kent finished fourth in their Blast group with two wins from eight, but performances have improved significantly in 2026.
Sydney Gorham believes the improvement is due to hard work over the winter. “We had a tough year last year and knew there were certain areas that we needed to improve on. Over the winter, we really applied ourselves to fix those issues.”
“We did a lot more scenario-based stuff just to apply a bit more pressure in training because last year we found that some of our batters were under a lot of pressure, so training in pressurized situations really helped us when it comes to games because then it’s a lot less pressure when you actually get out there.”
A good example of the Horses coping better under pressure is Zeena Bilal’s last-ball four to win a low-scoring thriller against Northamptonshire on 28th June.
Gorham said “There’s a little clip on the live stream of me just holding my hands over my face because I genuinely just could not believe it. That was a spectacular moment for us, and it just showed that even against the odds that we can apply pressure and we can win in those situations, which I think is going to put us in very good stead for Finals Day.”
Kent’s Blast season had a poor start with a chastening loss against Middlesex and then two further losses over the next three games before four consecutive wins secured their place in the top two.
Gorham reflected on the shift in fortunes: “Obviously we lost against Middlesex in quite a tough game. I think the occasion was quite big for us, and it was quite a lot of the girls’ first time playing at Lord’s. Then we came back and beat Middlesex, so we knew that we had the character to fight back. Gloucester at home and Worcester at home were two tough games.”
“One had a very short boundary, and one had a tough deck to bat on, but we knew that we always had the character to bounce back. Then we went and played Glamorgan, knowing they’d been unbeaten the whole year, and we thought, “If we’re going to do it, let’s do it this game,” and we just pulled it out of the hat. Ever since then, we’ve shown real character to fight our way back into Finals Day.”
As the team’s top wicket-taker in the Blast with 9 wickets at an average of 19.7, Gorham reflected on what has helped her be successful.
“Last year, I was just coming back from injury. I’d torn my meniscus and I was out for a season, and last year was my first season back, so I didn’t really have any rhythm. I was still a bit wary of my knee, and I was quite disappointed with how that season went for me.”
“I worked quite closely with Andrew Tutt, our bowling coach this year, and we ironed out a few technical things in the first half of the winter. Then we worked specifically on how are we’re going to get batters out, what are our plans, and a lot of scenario-based stuff in the second half.”
She added: “I think our spin and our seam partnerships with bowling have been really effective. My variations are something that we worked on. I think sometimes as a seam bowler you can almost bowl wonder balls and not get any luck for it.”
“I think that, if you bowl three dot balls with the seam up and then take the pace off, their eyes light up and then that’s when it comes. So sometimes it’s almost doing them with the pace and dotting them up and then putting the pressure on with the variations.”
Speaking about Finals Day, Gorham said “We’re all very excited, and for us it’s a real opportunity to put our squad’s name out there.”
Gorham spoke about semi-final opponents, Gloucestershire. “We know they’re quite powerful up top. They took us when we played them at home. They went very hard early on, so we know they’re going to do that, and they’ll run hard. So, we’re doing our fielding work, we’re setting our plans for our batters, and we know what we’re going to do.”
Should they reach the final, Kent will face Glamorgan, who will become a Tier One team next year. Gorham reflected on Kent’s perspective on Glamorgan and the Tier system.
“It’s a tough situation. Obviously, we were gutted when we didn’t get Tier 1 just because of the pure history at our club. Weirdly, our stats against Glamorgan in T20s are really good. We’ve played them three times, had one rained off, and we’ve won twice, so that speaks for itself.”
“The Tier 1 status is something that we want to prove. If we can go out and beat them, obviously after we beat Gloucester, it can show we’re good enough to compete with Tier One teams and that the level is not that far apart.”
Gorham reflected on the future of the Kent women’s team.
“We’ve got a couple of youngsters in the pathway coming through that are really testing us. So, hopefully we can add a couple of them to the squad, get some experience in them and kick on forward. As we’ve reached finals day this year – that’s going to be the target again.”
“The weekend’s going to be fantastic, and we’re just going to go out and enjoy it. We’re going to give it our all and obviously try to win. But next year, there’s no Tier 1 teams in it or going up, so we’ll go for it again. And obviously, we’ve still got the 50-over stuff, so after this we’ll probably be pushing to try and get into at least one of the semis there as well.”
Following the news of Tammy Beaumont’s retirement from international cricket, Gorham paid tribute to the Kent legend.
“Tammy has been a real inspiration for girls at Kent Cricket. I remember playing in my first Kent women’s pre-season game when I was 13, and I bowled maybe three overs and ran the water on for most of it.”
“But just watching her go about her game and the skills that she had, it was a real, real inspiration. Honestly, it was amazing to just get to be around her and just learn from her. She’s welcome back whenever she wants to come. She’s really paved the way for cricket in Kent for girls.”
Picture supplied by Kent Cricket.