Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sterre Kalis at the crease for Yorkshire against Surrey at Headingley on Sunday.
Sterre Kalis is set for the biggest month of her career so far, but the Dutch international insists Yorkshire remains at the forefront of her mind for the next few days.
Top-order batter Kalis, 26-years-old, will next month represent the Netherlands at the T20 World Cup, including a clash with powerhouses India at Headingley on June 17.
She describes that prospect as “really cool”, and preparations ramp up later this week when she links up with her country in Edinburgh for a warm-up tri-series against Scotland and Bangladesh.
However, first she will play in Yorkshire’s two Vitality Blast games over the next four days; against Somerset at Taunton tomorrow afternoon and then Essex Eagles at Headingley on Friday night.
“I’m here until the 29th, then I go to Edinburgh for a few games up there, then I come back for a game before going again to the World Cup,” Kalis confirmed.
“It’s going to be really exciting, but it’s also a shame that I’m going to have to miss some time with Yorkshire in the Blast. That’s disappointing.
“But, at the same time, representing your country at a World Cup in a country where I now live and play most of my cricket, it’s really cool as well.
Picture by Thananuwat Srirasant/Getty Images. Sterre Kalis, World Cup bound.
“Hopefully I can contribute a little bit more before I go and leave the girls in as good a place as possible.
“Being with Yorkshire is what I’m focusing on for now. I don’t want to look too far ahead just yet.
“It’s a really important two games for us, because we want to get that first win in the T20s.”
While Yorkshire haven’t claimed the number of wins they would have hoped for this season – just the two – they have been competitive in the vast majority of them and Kalis has been a key part of that.
In 10 matches across all competitions, she has scored 406 runs at an average of 45.11 with three fifties, including a best of 79. Only Jess Jonassen has scored more runs than the right-hander.
Yorkshire head to the Cooper Associates County Ground bid to arrest a two-game losing start to their Vitality Blast campaign; against The Blaze at Trent Bridge on Friday and then defending champions Surrey at Headingley on Sunday.
Surrey won the latter by four wickets chasing 134. Yorkshire were bowled out for 133 having been 60-0 and 73-1. After openers Lauren Winfield-Hill and Erin Thomas contributed 23 and 42 respectively, Kalis was the only other batter who made it into the teens with 18.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Erin Thomas en-route to her 42 against Surrey on Sunday.
Yorkshire started their Tier 1 journey last month with a one-wicket Metro Bank One-Day Cup defeat to Somerset, a county who have gone on to win one and tie one at the start of the Blast.
On Sunday, they beat Warwickshire by seven wickets at Edgbaston as they comfortably chased a 167-target. Captain Sophie Luff (58) and Australian overseas Anika Learoyd (60) both scored half-centuries after 20-year-old new-ball seamer Erin Vukusic led the way with three wickets.
For Kalis, meanwhile, she is only going to play in two of the tri-series matches in Edinburgh, missing the other four. That has been worked out so that she doesn’t miss any Yorkshire Cricket until the start of the World Cup.
With that competition running from June 10 to July 5, she could miss as many as five of the White Rose’s Blast matches and two of their One-Day Cup fixtures.