NEWS: England Squad For Pakistan ODIs

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England have announced a 15-player squad for the first two ODIs against Pakistan next week.

  • Heather Knight
  • Anya Shrubsole
  • Tammy Beaumont
  • Katherine Brunt
  • Kate Cross
  • Georgia Elwiss
  • Jenny Gunn
  • Alex Hartley
  • Danielle Hazell
  • Amy Jones (wkt)
  • Laura Marsh
  • Natalie Sciver
  • Fran Wilson
  • Lauren Winfield
  • Danielle Wyatt

For the first time in quite a while, the squad contains an uncapped player – Middlesex’s orthodox left-armer, Alex Hartley – who modestly told CRICKETher less than a month ago that she had “no chance” of being picked. (We always thought otherwise… sorry to prove you wrong Alex!!)

Fran Wilson is also included, as very much expected – she has played for England before, but not in the “professional” era – her last cap was in 2011.

Fast bowler Beth Langston is explicitly listed as injured, whereas Becky Grundy and Tash Farrant (the only other Performance Squad players not included) are just not mentioned at all – perhaps a bit of a surprise, particularly in the latter case, as Farrant has had a very good county season thus far as the highest wicket-taker in the County Championship.

Meanwhile behind the stumps,. Lauren Winfield is officially appointed “Under-Glove-Butler” to Amy Jones, which probably makes sense – there are definitely better wicket keepers in county cricket, not least Berkshire’s Carla Rudd, but Winfield is a much better batsman than Rudd, and Winfield doesn’t let much through, even if she isn’t as “clean” a keeper as some.

11 thoughts on “NEWS: England Squad For Pakistan ODIs”

  1. Oh dear oh dear – for all the talk of a brand new dawn this looks depressingly like same old, same old. After the ultra depressing semi final loss I suggested Wyatt, Greenway, Knight and Sciver should all be very vulnerable. Apart from the one that’s retired, they all return here! The only total newcomer is someone who is definitely a spin bowler only and who does nothing to help our major issues of middle order batting. Winfield, Jones and Wilson get another go of course but their international records are very modest to say the least. As for Wyatt, she doesn’t bowl any more so I guess is being picked as a bat. We are still picking people as batters who haven’t passed 41 in 106 appearances! Of course no sign of Luff, Lamb, E. Jones …

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    • I’d have liked to have seen Luff too, but if we are going to call for people to be selected on county form, then we can’t ignore the fact that she has had a pretty indifferent county season thus far – ditto Eve Jones 😦 (Lamb averaging over 40 tho… albeit in Div 2.)

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    • Greenway has scored 18 50’s as well as one century 125not out for England against South Africa.As well as taking the most International catches and making the most run outs in Womens International Cricket ever.In fact her batting averages in both ODI and 20/20 cricket are better than most of the players selected in the squad.

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  2. This seems to reaffirm our fears that the academy has fostered mediocrity rather than hold back talent.

    International cricket is a test of technique and character. I would suggest that County ‘form’ as an indicator is limited.

    I woi l d rather have seen CE & LG be given a last hurrah with young untested players rather than the selection of players in the last chance saloon Again!

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    • How did you get from the announcement of the selected squad to the the conclusion that the Academy is mediocre? Assuming that none of the Academy players are good enough, based on them not being picked to show they are good enough? Need to consider the load of injuries, plus the fact that MR could just be wrong.

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  3. Lots of criticism and negativity going around from the CH regulars I see! I’d like to be a bit more upbeat. There’s not much point dwelling on T20 now, ODIs should be the focus for the next year and a bit at least. I’m looking forward to heading up there on Monday and the opportunity to support England.

    It’s all very well pointing out the problems England have, and they’ve been well documented on these pages. But what we really need is solutions…and from this slightly disappointingly conservative squad, it’s not clear if MR is able to offer many. The available batting has next to no backup, with the top 5 pretty much set in stone as the only specialist batsmen. The one new player brought in is a bowler. MR’s selection was limited a bit by a few untimely injuries, but even so, he could have plumped for an Evelyn Jones or Emma Lamb, instead of anyone who he doesn’t think will play. Maybe this is the old “whatever you can bowl us out for, we can bowl you out for less” approach?

    What I think we’ll see from Pakistan is some clever bowling, and plenty of application with the bat. I don’t think they will score runs at too much of a rate but they might well be able to last out the 50 overs to post a score, which England will find challenging if they lose early wickets. The weather looks a bit dodgy for the upcoming week so we may get a reduced game or two. This, and the cold, damp conditions should play into England’s favour.

    MR’s big hope appears to be that the likely top five of Knight, Jones, Beaumont, Winfield and Wilson can get us at least 150-200 runs per game. This is a risk, as a few of these players all too often give their wickets away cheaply. We may be relying on the likes of Sciver, Elwiss and Brunt to score 50+ runs and rescue us, which of course they won’t always do. And we know what happens then.

    In the words of David Tossell: “If it all goes wrong, then England may simply be left looking at a big Charlotte Edwards-shaped hole where a lot of runs used to be”.

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  4. BOYCS–Which playground was that in!! You’ve still got 35 Centuries to catch up with me in proper cricket!!!

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  5. Has Grundy been treated differently to other players in being dropped with her ODI bowling record ?

    Grundy has bowled 68 overs in ODIs and taken 9 wickets for 281 runs.

    Below is listed comparable figures for other players when they had reached the same stage (or to be precise their career figures at the end of the ODI nearest to 68 overs) in their bowling career with England (overs – runs – wickets):-

    Brindle 75.2 – 314 – 13 Played in next ODI
    Brunt 69.5 – 251 – 5 Played in next ODI
    Colvin 69.5 – 275 – 6 Played in next ODI
    Cross 69 – 301 – 13 Played in next ODI
    Elwiss 67 – 221 – 6 Played in next ODI
    Gunn 70 – 180 – 7 Played in next ODI
    Hazell 73.1 – 277 – 8 Played in next ODI
    Knight 67 – 267 – 14 Played in next ODI
    Marsh 70.2 – 319 – 12 Played in next ODI
    Shrubsole 72.3 – 316 – 7 Played in next ODI

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  6. I would say that apart from his assistant coach MR has few resources with a huge bank of experience and knowledge of women’s cricket and even less of international cricket.

    So rather than give the Lottie and Lydia supporting roles that help the next generation of players, instead the ECB have allowed them to move into the TMS commentary box for the summer.

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