Phoebe Graham's The Hundred blog: Who were this season's standout performers and where can women's game grow?

Phoebe Graham reflects on a "fabulous" second season of The Hundred, picking out some of the standout performers and identifying a few key areas which could help the women's competition grow even stronger still...

What a fabulous end to the tournament.

Two phenomenal games of cricket; Oval Invincibles are reigning women's champions and Trent Rockets take the trophy home for the men.

There were blue skies at Lord's, the wicket deceivingly looked like a belter and yet we were set for a day of grit, determination and four teams battling for every run on the field. Two low-scoring, nail-biting, excellent games of cricket.

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• WOMEN'S FINAL: Invincibles retain Hundred title after beating Brave
• MEN'S FINAL: Rockets beat Originals in low-scoring thriller
• Live cricket on Sky | Get Sky Sports | Latest cricket news

Not the wicket that batters would have dreamt of but, with a full house at Lord's, it was a momentous day, one that will be remembered for years to come.

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Both champions were well-deserving winners. They had some of the strongest, standout players throughout the tournament and played consistently fantastic cricket. There were many similarities in the winning bowling attacks but both teams' biggest weapon was their outrageous pace and swing up front with the ball, complimented by their power and flair hitters with the bat. Shabnim Ismail (Invincibles) and Luke Wood (Rockets) delivered a masterclass on how to hit dramatic speeds and still swing the new ball. Then Suzie Bates, Lauren Winfield-Hill (both Invincibles), Alex Hales and Dawid Malan (both Rockets) each deserve standing ovations for their run-scoring efforts across the tournament.

What I loved about The Hundred this year was the breakthrough talent in the reigning champions' attack. Sophia Smale and Eva Gray came in from nowhere and absolutely owned the tournament.

To give some context, when I say 'nowhere', Smale is 17 years old, has only played three games of domestic cricket for Western Storm, having prior to that only played academy cricket. She is not a professional cricketer and has taken to this tournament like a duck to water, taking eight wickets in seven games. This tournament continues to show how integral it is for the future of women's cricket.

The Hundred is creating future stars of the game, but what does the women's game need to focus on next year to once again push it forward?

• Power and speed - When pace bowlers hit 70-75mph+ and have a bouncer in their armoury, batters have been left shell-shocked at the crease. Deandra Dottin, Emily Arlott and Ismail used such deliveries effectively throughout the tournament - wicket-taking balls. This is something that will continue to develop in the game and we will see pace bowlers get more and more savvy with their variations.

• Countering the spin - How will teams train so they counter-attack talented spinners such as Alana King and Sophie Ecclestone? These players continue to dominate the tournament. Soph said to Alice Capsey as she took her leg-stump at Emirates Old Trafford, 'don't sweep to me'. Is she right?

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• Play the full eight games - Having three teams finish on the same number of points in the group stage shows the importance of playing all eight games. Due to the Commonwealth Games overlapping with the start of the tournament, teams would have been missing a lot of international players for their first two group games. But as the women's game continues to develop, we need to trust that the group stages will hold up on their own two feet with or without international players. In the men's tournament, the Rockets coped okay without Joe Root!

• More game time domestically - There is a big difference in the amount of cricket played in the men's versus the women's game. Therefore, players are stepping up to the big stage with limited exposure to pressure situations and close games of cricket. Currently we play seven one-day games in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint tournament and six games in the Charlotte Edwards Cup. That's only 13 games of competitive domestic cricket. We need more women's cricket, both domestically and internationally.

• Increased fan engagement - We continued to see record-breaking attendances throughout the women's competition. 270,000 fans attended the games, over 10,000 fans per game in the domestic tournament. This is over 3,000 more on average than last year, with fewer matches. This for me would have been unthinkable years ago, but now, we hear the roar at Emirates Old Trafford - it's an extra fielder for the home team. How can we get the players interacting even more with the fans?

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• U19 'wild card' picks - Capsey, Smale and Gray have all broken through in this competition from 'nowhere'. How can we encourage more teams to pick a younger player and give them experience and exposure to these environments? We had Mahika Gaur with the Originals at 17 years old. She is a talented player and it was amazing for her to be exposed to this environment for her development.

• Equality in pay - There is still a big discrepancy in pay. With the top women players getting paid less than the bottom tier players in the men's competition. I'm not stating they need to be equal yet, but I do believe this year's tournament has once again proved the dial needs to turn.

I'm sad to say it's all over. It has been an amazing tournament, that gets better and better each year. I can't wait to see what next year brings.

My team of the tournament: Smriti Mandhana, Laura Wolvaardt, Alice Capsey, Deandra Dottin, Nat Sciver, Eleanor Threlkeld (wkt), Sophie Ecclestone, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Alana King, Emily Arlott, Lauren Bell.