Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Rachel Slater is looking forward to Saturday’s Finals Day at Northampton.
We can’t wait for Vitality Blast Finals Day at Northampton on Saturday.
It will be a special moment for us as a group of players and staff, and the club as well. To be representing Yorkshire on a day such as this is really, really exciting.
It definitely means a lot to me, growing up always wanting to play for this county.
There’s been a real buzz around over the last few days.
We’re desperate to win this trophy, and the Metro Bank One-Day Cup later in the summer as well.
No matter if it’s Tier 2 or Tier 1, you’ll always remember your first trophy.
You hear a lot of teams say that winning’s a habit, and it will be good to have the momentum behind us if we can get past Glamorgan in the semi-final and then either Middlesex or Leicestershire in the final.
We then go back into the 50-over stuff, and we’re not yet qualified for the semi-finals by any stretch. So, hopefully, if we can this, it will give us that bit extra for that and going into next year in Tier 1 as well.
Picture by Alex Davidson/Getty Images. Scotland international Slater has played in finals for her country and finals for the Northern Diamonds.
I think it was nice to have a double weekend of matches leading up to Finals Day, and to win both of them was perfect (Leicestershire and Worcestershire).
It can be quite difficult to get into a good rhythm when you’re playing not as frequently, as has been the case with the Tier 2 schedule.
With eight wins from eight in the group stage, I think it’s natural that we will be the team to beat on Saturday.
We’ve not been at our best throughout the group stage, but we’ve always stayed in games and come through at the end.
We’re taking wickets consistently and are bowling teams out or having them eight or nine down. Batting wise, we’re consistently putting partnerships on and not losing wickets in clusters.
We have set a lot of platforms to go hard at the end. It hasn’t always happened that we’ve gone on and got the total we aimed for, but when you have set things up for the likes of Ami (Campbell), Liv (Thomas) and Ria (Fackrell) to go hard, it generally puts you in a good place.
We’ve done a lot well, but there’s definitely a lot to improve on as well.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill will be back in Yorkshire colours this weekend following a loan spell at Essex.
We have spoken about playing against some different teams, which will be nice.
We haven’t come up against Glamorgan or Middlesex yet. So that’s going to be a different test for us.
We have Sterre (Kalis) and Lauren (Winfield-Hill) back with us on Saturday, and that’s a big boost.
They’re both high-quality players who have been playing well in Tier 1, and in some high-pressure games.
At the same time, them being away has given plenty of other players opportunities to perform and put their names in the hat going forward to the rest of the season and next year.
We would be very confident of winning without them, but it’s great to have them.
I played in a couple of finals with the Northern Diamonds, but I missed the one we won in 2022, the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final at Lord’s against the Vipers.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sterre Kalis is playing in two Finals Days this weekend. On-loan at the Bears, they have also qualified for the Tier 1 equivalent on Sunday.
I had been on Scotland duty and just got back. It was a weird situation.
I’m not thinking too much about it from my own perspective, but the chance to play in any final is a massive thing.
And, as I said earlier, it means a lot to be doing it in a Yorkshire shirt.
