Lightning captain Kathryn Bryce is hopeful that the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy can be the competition to continue driving women’s cricket forward in the absence of The Hundred.

The Scotland international will lead out her side at Trent Bridge for the Lightning’s tournament opener against Thunder.

With the inaugural season of The Hundred postponed, Bryce believes the eight-team tournament is the perfect vehicle for keeping women’s cricket in front of its fans.

“There was a lot of build-up and excitement to The Hundred so it’s really important to still have a competition at the end of the summer for the fans to follow,” she said.

“The 'Lightning' name has been around for a few years now and has had good support, so hopefully those same people will follow our journey.

“It will be an amazing feeling to get back out on the field as at one point we didn’t really know whether we were going to play any cricket this summer.

“Credit to the ECB for getting the competition together and giving the players a chance to get back out on the field.”

The Lightning have named a 15-strong contingent for the tournament, with Nottinghamshire’s Lucy Higham, Shachi Pai, Sophie Munro and Teresa Graves all included.

Higham, alongside Abbey Freeborn, were part of the Lightning squad which turned out in front of a 4,000 strong crowd at Trent Bridge last summer, and captain Bryce is pleased to have their expertise on board.

“Lucy and Abbey have both been part of this setup before and have a lot of experience of high-level cricket, so it’s exciting to have them on board,” she said.

“To have that experience, and to be able to feed that knowledge into the group in his short period can only be a positive thing for us.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for a number of players to turn out in professional cricket and improve the standard of the cricket in this country as a whole.”

With overseas stars unable to join up with their squads this season, each team will be comprised of some of the best talent from across the United Kingdom, including players who are combining their studies with cricket.

Despite the absence of some star names, Bryce believes the standard will be similar to that of the Super League last summer.

“This will give players in England the chance to stand up, move their game up to the next level and take that responsibility,” she said.

“It’ll be similar to the Super League in terms of competitiveness and I think it’ll be good for English cricket.

“It broadens the chance for players to play highly competitive cricket.”

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