Big hitter Paige Scholfield credited recent form to her mentality as she continues to bang down England’s international door.
The 28-year-old Oval Invincibles all-rounder bolted to make a quickfire 71 off 41 balls in her side’s opening fixture against Birmingham Phoenix.
She was promoted to open the batting for the Invincibles in the absence of Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu and made no mistake at the crease.
It was another statement innings for the 2023 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy’s fourth-highest run-scorer, who played for England As in March’s white-ball tour of New Zealand.
But Scholfield insists she is still learning from the best as she continues to assume a senior role in the South East Stars and Invincibles set-up.
“It’s learning about myself as a player and constantly looking for ways to improve,” she said.
“With the game moving forward and people getting better and better, you’re constantly fighting for a place.
“For me, as a cricketer, it’s constantly trying to improve myself and tweak those one per centers that help give me that extra edge.
“With franchise cricket you get to integrate with professional players from across the world.
“You learn a lot from these people who have been around a while and play a lot of games so it’s really good for us to be exposed to that and play on.”
Scholfield played for Southern Brave in the first two years of The Hundred but switched to Invincibles last time out, where is looking to help them recapture their crown from 2022.
It was another switch from Southern Vipers to South East Stars last year and the South African-born ace is making the most of her move with the assistance of coaches Darren Stevens and Johann Myburgh.
“I’m feeling pretty good within my game at the moment, I owe a lot of that credit to Stevo and Myburgh, who have worked with me through the winter.
“I made the move from Vipers to Stars and I’ve been working on myself as a batter and I’m hoping it will keep showing and we can get a couple more wins under our belts.
“For me, I want to live in the moment, I focus on wanting to win games for my team and improving myself in and around the team.
“I’m hoping we can do the double – the men and the women this year are very well-rounded teams and we’ve got a really food chance this year of doing it.”
KP Snacks is the Official Team Partner of The Hundred. Through their Everyone In campaign, they are on a mission to inspire and enable more families & communities to get more active through cricket and create more opportunities for people to get involved and have a healthier lifestyle through the sport. To find your nearest pitch, head to www.everyonein.co.uk
