NEWS: Filer & Gibson in England Squad for Ashes Test

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Uncapped Western Storm duo Lauren Filer and Dani Gibson have been included in England’s squad for the Ashes Test at Trent Bridge later this month.

Gibson’s call-up is not massively unexpected – she was an official reserve for the T20 World Cup and as a genuine allrounder offers quality seam bowling and aggressive batting options. If she plays, it would suggest England are planning to continue the aggressive approach which saw them almost win the last Ashes Test on the final day in Canberra last year.

Filer’s selection however is somewhat left-field – much more so than the inclusion of Emily Arlott was for the Test versus India two years ago. Filer has taken just a handful of wickets in regionals this season, and bats in the tail. Arlott of course didn’t end up playing against India, and missed out again a year later after withdrawing due to the effects of long COVID; and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Filer too spends the week in Nottingham carrying drinks.

Issy Wong also makes the squad, despite a run of very poor form in domestic cricket, with England clearly gambling that she will rise to the occasion for England in a way which she hasn’t done for Sparks this season.

Alice Capsey meanwhile is included, giving her the opportunity to complete the set of Test, ODI and T20 caps before the age of 19, which she’ll reach in August.

England Women’s Ashes Test Squad
Heather Knight (Western Storm)
Tammy Beaumont (The Blaze)
Lauren Bell (Southern Vipers)
Alice Capsey (South East Stars)
Kate Cross (Thunder)
Alice Davidson-Richards (South East Stars)
Sophia Dunkley (South East Stars)
Sophie Ecclestone (Thunder)
Lauren Filer (Western Storm)
Danielle Gibson (Western Storm)
Amy Jones (Central Sparks)
Emma Lamb (Thunder)
Nat Sciver-Brunt (The Blaze)
Issy Wong (Central Sparks)
Danielle Wyatt (Southern Brave)

6 thoughts on “NEWS: Filer & Gibson in England Squad for Ashes Test”

  2. So not too many surprises then. Good to have Cross back. With Gibson’s inclusion it seems that T20 skillsets in particular are maybe seen as more advantageous in the Test format than ODI ones, perhaps rather counter-intuitively. The influence of Baz-ball.

    Whilst Gibson undoubtedly deserves a chance and could succeed in any format, the selection of Filer is interesting. Have England identified something in particular about her bowling they like the look of, or could impact against Australia? She gets quite a bit of bounce and movement off the track. like Arlott, and could prove challenging to face.

    Although Filer might only have taken “a handful” of wickets (13 actually) and bats in the tail, she has had no really poor games. She took wickets in every regional – CE Cup and RHF – with some good figures in RHF in particular, and has not been expensive in any match. She has actually been remarkably consistent. She is perfectly capable of hitting a few boundaries as well.

    Again you’re a bit harsh to Wong, Syd. She barely played in the CE Cup (like a few other England players who didn’t produce much in that comp due to lacking opportunities) but her figures in the RHF so far have been respectable – 6 wickets in 4 games.

    It’s hard to get too optimistic about England’s chances but at least we’ve picked a couple of decent new players, although I’d like to have seen Scrivens and/or Heath involved; and quite how Levick continues to evade selection for any England squad is puzzling.

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    • When have you watched Wong bowl this year? Either live or on stream? Just looking at scorecards tells you nothing!
      She is currently struggling to land a ball.

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  3. Not much admittedly. I have mainly watched other games not Sparks, not finding them quite as good fun these days. Although some of Wong’s success at WPL came from not landing the ball, so you’re assuming it’s not at least sometimes intentional. We may be stuck with waiting until she has a few really bad games for England until they get the message though. She wouldn’t be the first going into a series seemingly nowhere form-wise, to then suddenly show up at a vital moment. I’m just amazed CH are so anti-Wong. But I’m shutting up now.

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  4. I’m guessing CH will be pleased that Filer has been chosen over Wong. I’d have stuck with Wong – from the little I’ve seen of Filer, she has pace and bounce but can be very erratic. I hope she does well – an England win would get the series off to a great start!

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