As the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy enters its final week, Northern Diamonds' Phoebe Graham blogs on the top-of-the-table clash against Southern Vipers and how awesome it is to be back with her team-mates after The Hundred...
Picture the scene…
It's Friday and we're en route to the Ageas Bowl for our final group match in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint competition, against Southern Vipers on Saturday.
With six hours of the journey left to go, Hoppo [Rachel Hopkins] is firing out question after question: 'Name your favourite three artists of all time', which leads into: 'Can you be in love with more than one person?' 'Define love.' Etc, etc.
And so it goes on! Fair play to them - Slats [Rachel Slater] and Langers [Beth Langston] are ready and raring to take on the first round of questions.
It's non-stop - a description which sums up the cricket schedule since The Hundred.
This has actually been refreshing for the women's game because in previous years the domestic season was short and sweet, meaning that opportunities to improve your game were limited.
You can see the strength that it has brought to the England team, enabling debutants and returning stars to make the starting XI off the back of performances in the domestic game.
Hopefully next year with more big performances from the Diamonds, we will see some of our very own diamonds also break through.
It's been a brilliant year so for us, winning silverware in the Charlotte Edwards Cup and now we're in a fantastic position leading into finals week of the Racheal Heyhoe Flint competition.
It's nice moving back into 50-over cricket. I definitely miss the noise, fans and the buzz of The Hundred and T20, but this format gives you an opportunity to work on your game in a very different way.
You go back to the basics of cricket, really focus on your strengths and more importantly indulge in a lovely tea if you bowl first!
Last weekend, after back-to-back wins, it was so good to see some of our younger guns firing, in particular our batters with Hollie Armitage, Bess Heath, Beth Langston and Sterre Kalis all scoring half-centuries.
The best part about being back post The Hundred is the togetherness of the Diamonds and how much we enjoy each other's company on and off the pitch.
It's been the first full year of professionalism. We've learnt so much and are keen to put everything in practice this weekend. We're ready to take our game that one step further and hopefully bring home some more trophy-ware!