One short day in the Emerald City
One short day to have a lifetime of fun

An evening which began with the Wicked cast performing One Short Day (before segueing into Defying Gravity which will surely be the theme of most of the night’s headlines, but… we’ve done that one!) ended with Danni Wyatt-Hodge having “a lifetime of fun” in front of almost 15,000 spectators on the emerald-green grass of Edgbaston, as England got their World Cup campaign off to a storming start with a huge win over Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka were, it has to be said, woeful. Winning the toss and deciding to put England in must rank up there with Napoleon waking up one June morning in 1815 and thinking: Waterloo looks like a nice place for a battle!

The last two times England played Sri Lanka in T20s, it was England who were on the wrong end of the results – bowled out twice, for 104 at Chelmsford and 116 at Derby. The tables were utterly turned today, with England losing just a single wicket on the way to 219 – their second highest 1st innings total in T20 internationals.

Amy Jones opened the batting, as she had in the warmups, with the out-of-form Sophia Dunkley effectively making way for Nat Sciver-Brunt to come into the XI. Jones on her day displays an effortless eloquence with the blade; but this was not that day. She struggled to find the middle of the bat, to the extent that I wondered if a muddle of meddling Munchkins had stayed behind after the Wicked performance, and were moving the boundary ropes out by 10 metres every time Jones took strike. Nonetheless, Sri Lanka’s total inability to bowl to their fields gifted her run after run and she somehow finished up with 50 to her name before becoming Sri Lanka’s solitary scalp of the evening as yet another mistimed drive actually found a fielder who wanted to catch it.

To be fair, this was not the easiest batting has been at Edgbaston, which has seen a few run-fests in county cricket this season, albeit primarily due to the use of pitches on the edge of the square creating a very short boundary on one side. The pitch today – bang in the centre, as befitting the occasion – seemed a tad stogy, and the outfield was also slow, having taken a lot of rain in the past couple of weeks following a prolonged dry spell.

Consequently even Danni Wyatt-Hodge didn’t look quite as fluent as she had done in making a century here for Surrey in the One-Day Cup  back in April, so of her now-three T20 international hundreds, this was probably the most hard-won; but arguably by that token possibly the most satisfying? Wyatt-Hodge has a point to prove in this tournament, having been sat on the bench when England won the 50-over World Cup in 2017. As part of the squad back then, she got the medal… and the prize money… but she must have been frustrated not to win them on the pitch. Now, with another home World Cup comes another opportunity, and with today’s performance she has already guaranteed that if England make that final at Lord’s, this time her part will be drinking the drinks rather than running them.

Perhaps the scariest England performance though for any future opponents watching-on was that of Nat Sciver-Brunt. Despite having barely played any cricket for months coming into this tournament, she found her groove and hit a devastating 46 off 22 balls which drove the final nails into the Sri Lankan coffin.

With Sri Lanka facing a target of 220, the game was basically over as we were tucking into our curry-supper in the press box. (The food quality always goes up a notch when the ICC are in town!) Even a half-competent performance from England’s bowlers would have been enough, and that’s pretty much what we got. Freya Kemp picked up 4 wickets by deploying the cunning tactic of bowling slowly and methodically at the stumps and waiting for the Sri Lankan batters to miss it, which inevitably they eventually did. I still don’t think she’ll be giving any of the Australians, Indians or South Africans nightmares ahead of a potential knockout game; but it does show that if you are going to bowl slowly and methodically, doing it at the stumps at least means if they miss, you hit.

Dani Gibson was a tad expensive; but I’d be more concerned about Sophie Ecclestone, who looks a bit out of ideas. The fact that England have an oven-ready replacement in Tilly Corteen-Coleman should give them more comfort than it will give Ecclestone herself. England’s next two games, against Ireland in Southampton on Tuesday and Scotland at Headingley next weekend, are the ones where TCC might be expected to play, and a couple of good performance in those matches could actually displace Ecclestone for the remainder of the tournament, which would have seemed unthinkable two summers ago, when Eccles was topping the ICC rankings in both formats.

This was of course just one short game, on one short day; and Sri Lanka were awful. But alongside the win against India at Taunton, England will feel there is a momentum building this summer. The ECB, who have rested so many hopes for the growth of the game on this World Cup, will be feeling it as well. Perhaps more surprisingly, I’m starting to feel it too.

This week:

• Capsey shines for England at Taunton, but can England win the World Cup?
• Are Australia still favourites?
• Our predictions for the semi-finals
• A new combined trophy for the Women’s & Men’s Hundred
• The Women in Whites is out NOW!

By Jack Oastler

I came to Loughborough for the first time two years ago, and fell in love for a very specific reason. The mound in front of Haslegrave cricket pitch. That day, my local team Sunrisers were playing a friendly against The Blaze, and I saw my future – sat underneath the flag poles, with a picnic and friends, watching professional sport like I belonged.

About six months ago, they put a picket fence at the bottom of that mound. Hardly insurmountable – I think I could jump over it, and I’ve seen several people do exactly that this year – but it seemed to send a message. For whatever reason, somebody didn’t want us to sit and watch.

Still, when the ICC announced Loughborough would be hosting four warm-up matches for the Women’s T20 World Cup, I was excited. The tournament was in danger of overlooking the East Midlands, with Nottingham, Derby and Leicester all ignored in the main schedule, so this was much needed exposure for a region normally full of cricket.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere, well over an hour from my closest first-class county. I once got excited when Chris Woakes went to a pub 45 minutes from my house. So the idea of Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail limbering up for a World Cup, a three minute walk from my University flat? Awesome.

Unfortunately, my flat was practically as close as I’d get. The weather was hardly great, but after Ireland did an admirable job of restricting the South Africans to 135-8, I decided to pop over to watch the chase. But when I eventually arrived at Haslegrave, I saw a line of people standing behind purple barriers. Behind the fence. Security guards dotted around. You could see the middle, but there was a mound-shaped blockage covering about a third of the outfield.

“No worries,” I thought. “I know my way around.” I confidently set off down the hill, only to see the road entrance to the pitch was also barricaded off. Back up the hill a bit, I found what seemed like a perfect spot, round the back of the computer science building which overlooks Haslegrave from one end.

For one glorious ball, everything was perfect – I had the best seat in the house as Ismail bowled Gaby Lewis. Immediately, though, a security guard – who sounded equally as confused as apologetic – told me he’d been asked to direct people back up to the hill. Where I was standing was practically a balcony – I don’t think I could have made it to the pitch if I’d tried. I’d like the job of the guy who gets to stand there, with a pretty perfect view, and tell people to move away.

My favourite spot to watch cricket on Haslegrave is a little mound outside the athletics centre, which lets you see over the hedge, just to the left of the wicket at the other end. That had been covered, too – by a sightscreen, but what I’d consider a comically large one.

Last week, I stood on top of that hill and watched from nearly behind the arm as Ben Stokes ran in to bowl. Maybe he thought I was an Australian spy. If I was a clever spy, though, I would have watched Ireland vs South Africa on Youtube with a cup of tea.

So it was back to the hill. Even right up against the barrier, as close as I could get, it was difficult to pick out who was who. And the obstructions directly impacted our experience of the game. Rebecca Stokell had made a promising start, and I was ready to cheer as she launched one out to the deep midwicket boundary. Tazmin Brits caught it. I couldn’t tell you how she caught it – maybe she juggled it three times, did ten keepy-uppies and did a somersault – because I didn’t even know she was there until she emerged from the shadow of the ECB Performance Centre.

Later on, Nadine de Klerk ended the game as a contest with a fantastic catch, diving forward at long-off, to see off Arlene Kelly for 15. I was on my tiptoes to see that, and had to describe what was happening to the family next to me. I would guess maybe seven or eight external supporters saw that – not only a piece of world-class cricket from a world-class player, but a pivotal moment in the match. Seven or eight. Women’s cricket deserves better than that, warm-up or not.

Dotted around the pitch were a few deckchairs. We had three on the mound in front of us; at no point were all three full. A bit annoying when your only option is to stand. The chairs seemed to be for the few who could mill around inside the ground – most of whom were wearing Loughborough Sport uniform, or ECB kit. I’m sure they all had a valid reason to be there, but these are not the people you need to get to watch the games. They already know about this. And as a fan, it felt a little frustrating to see that a uniform could get you inside, but a replica shirt wasn’t enough.

What strikes me about this situation is what a perfect opportunity these fixtures were to ramp up interest in this tournament. Four of the world’s best teams, right in the heart of Loughborough University campus. That’s a ready-made audience of thousands of young people – thousands of sporty young people, no less – who walk past this pitch every single day. They’ve seen the branding going up. Who else is that for? Of course there are students who saw the massive signs saying “World Cup” and found that intriguing. So why are you not enticing them to watch? Why are you hardly letting them watch?

Whether it likes it or not, the ECB’s mission statement with this tournament should be to transform the UK’s perspective on women’s cricket. Nat Sciver-Brunt has outwardly spoken about the hope that the England team can have its “Euros moment” – referencing the explosion of women’s football since the Lionesses won Euro 2022 on home soil – and parallels have also been drawn to the England women’s rugby team which won the World Cup here last year. But I don’t get the impression that the ECB are doing everything they can to engage people with this tournament. A Hello Kitty promotion campaign is all well and good, but why not try actually exposing people to cricket?

I have friends who are Irish, who are Bangladeshi, who are Kiwis – and who doesn’t love South Africa? There are three high-level women’s cricket squads in Loughborough, and five men’s. So many people who, if given the chance, would surely bring their friends along for a nice day watching world-class cricket up close.

I don’t think any of them were there this morning – no surprise, as no effort has been made to make people aware that these games are happening. Even if they had been, their friends were more likely to leave with severe neckache than a new love for the sport.

Here’s hoping the actual tournament does better.

The performance that JonBall promised, LottieBall finally delivered. Alice Capsey put in a truly world-class shift, whilst Heather Knight poked all ten fingers and thumbs in the eyes of her critics, as England completed their highest successful chase since 2018.

The magnitude of England’s achievement becomes clear when you realise it was only the 6th time that any team has scored more than 180 in a successful run chase; although ominously two of those were by by South Africa this year, against Pakistan and India.

India began their innings in typically frenetic fashion, losing both openers cheaply before Yastika and Jemimah shifted down the gears slightly. After stalling in both her previous innings in this series, and consequently finding herself retired out in the last match, Yastika had more difficulties today – appearing to be struggling between the wickets, she looked like she was running through treacle when she was run out by a direct hit from Sophie Ecclestone.

When Lauren Bell ghosted a slower ball through Jemimah’s defences in the 11th over, India found themselves at a crossroads, with the option to send in big-hitting Richa ahead of the more accumulative Deepti. That they went with Deepti was probably the right decision – it was too early to send in the “finisher” and Harmanpreet needed the indefatigability of Deepti at the other end to work her way into her innings, which proved crucial. Harmanpreet didn’t quite produce the big finish that she threatened; and India never found that “One Big Over” they could have done with; but 180 looked like a decent total, and at the halfway mark there were more sheep in the press box than journalists who were giving England a prayer. (And rest assured… there were no sheep!)

With England 3 into the red by the end of the powerplay, a home win was looking even less on the cards, but that reckoned without Capsey and Knight. Capsey came into this England team 4 years ago having earned a reputation in The Hundred as an exciting hitter; but time has shown that she actually has a lot more in common with Heather Knight at her best – a player who will marry the occasional, carefully measured “Big Shot” with a lot of hard work between the wickets. That was the hand she largely played today, not going wild and trying to smash everything out of the ground, but waiting for the bad balls, whilst still finding ways to score off the good ones. Perhaps most importantly, she didn’t panic the couple of times things drifted ever so slightly; and the 82 runs she scored today will hopefully be a model for so many more to come.

At the 15th over England were well on track, with India having played the “Shafali Card” not once but twice – a card Harmanpreet generally only plays if she’s feeling out of options. But to take the pressure off, what England needed was a little bit of a boost, and Capsey found it – hitting Shree Charani for 19, including consecutive 6s down the ground. It was the “One Big Over” India had failed to find, and it gave them the breathing space they needed going into the death phase – reducing the ask to under a run a ball, and ensuring that if Capsey got out (which she eventually did) the incoming batter wasn’t left having to hit boundaries from ball one.

Meanwhile Knight, at the opposite end of her career from Capsey, seemed delighted to play the supporting role, finding the gaps and the spaces to get her strike rate to the dizzy heights of 150+ where it has rarely been of late. If there were any doubts about whether Knight could still cut it at this level, Charlotte Edwards clearly didn’t share them, and she was right on the night. If she’s right on a few more nights in the coming weeks, England will be a lot more competitive for it; especially with Nat Sciver-Brunt looking less and less likely to play a full part in the World Cup. (Charlotte Edwards admitted post-match that at best she will play as a pure batter.)

England haven’t suddenly made themselves favourites for the World Cup; but beating India in this series was one milestone; and doing it by completing a genuinely “Big” chase was another. There are now just 10 days to go until England open the tournament at Edgbaston – it might just be that they have peaked at the perfect time.