In the lead-up to this game, all the talk was of a new era under Charlotte Edwards: England (Lottie’s Version)!
But of course the thing with Taylor Swift’s “Taylor’s Version” albums is that they aren’t new “eras” at all – they are note-for-note facsimiles (mostly*) of her previous recordings. Which brings us back to England (Lottie’s Version), in which it turns out, not a lot has really changed.
England’s XI contained 8 of their preferred T20 lineup from the Ashes, including an identical top 6. There were three changes to the bowling, but two of those were mandated by injuries to Sophie Ecclestone and Freya Kemp.
Linsey Smith coming in for Ecclestone was a no-brainer – Smith has been in fantastic form in the One Day Cup, bowling the tough overs, taking 14 wickets and going for under 4 an over. She replicated that form for England today – whilst Hayley Matthews was taking the rest of England’s attack to pieces, Smith conceded just 18 runs in 4 overs. England’s next-best was Em Arlott, who went for 28.
Arlott will probably be written-up as the “Big Call” in selection, making her debut aged 27 off the back of some strong performances for Warwickshire and a general reputation for dependability, which probably gave her the edge over Phoebe Turner who has been the other pacer doing numbers in county cricket. (Scoring a hundred against Essex probably didn’t harm her cause either, and she was carded to bat at 7 above Charlie Dean; but she really isn’t an allrounder even at domestic level, so expectations need to be tempered in that department.)
The actual “Big Call” however was Issy Wong, who looked pretty unthreatening on England’s “A” tour to Australia back in April, and whose returns for Warwickshire back home have been woeful – just 6 wickets at an Economy Rate of over 5.3. It is fair to say that she isn’t bowling as many bad balls as she used to, but the real problem is that she isn’t bowling very many good ones either. The slower ball that got her one wicket today was a genuine change of pace, but it was otherwise a pretty rank delivery well down the leg side, and a smarter cricketer than Shabika Gajnabi would have just left it alone and taken the wide, rather than pumping it to Nat Sciver-Brunt on the ring. Overall, it is fair to say that Lauren Filer doesn’t have too much to worry about when she comes back from injury.
England’s other Lauren – Bell – found a bit of swing early-on, and deserved two wickets she didn’t get, while getting two wickets she didn’t deserve – Qiana Joseph and Zaida James giving themselves away with shocking shots. But she also struggled for consistency and gifted Matthews her century in the final over with some poor deliveries, not to mention a brainless bouncer which was going to be called a wide 8 days a week – the extra run didn’t matter of course, but that’s still no excuse.
Matthews of course was immense – 100 runs off 67 balls at a Strike Rate of 149, whilst the rest of her team scored 40 off 53 at a Strike Rate of 75. Her performance today was the third time she has hit an international white-ball century in a losing cause, bringing her level at the top of that list alongside England’s new captain – Nat Sciver-Brunt.
NSB’s first game as England’s “official” captain obviously ended with a win; but after being much-touted as a skipper who would “lead from the front” she didn’t bowl (she’s still coming back from injury) and served-up a two-ball duck. There was also one slightly worrying moment in the field, where she switched-off after the batters ran through for a single, before suddenly remembering she was supposed to move in from the ring where she’d been fielding at midwicket (Heather Knight continuing to field in the traditional captain’s position at mid off) and shaking her head in an “aren’t I a ditz” sort of a way as she moved to short midwicket.
But England came out on top in the end, thanks to the bats of Sophia Dunkley and Heather Knight; after Danni Wyatt-Hodge had hacked her way to a scratchy 17, before being bowled in about the most ignominious way as possible – padding an awful wide delivery into her own stumps. Dunkley took a lot of risks, and seemed to score most of her runs hacking across the line outside off stump; but it got the job done and she finished not out on 81 – her highest international T20 score.
Meanwhile Knight, as she did in the Ashes, just played smartly, manipulating the field for boundaries and running hard between the wickets to make every ball count. I wouldn’t have kept her in the team; but you can see why Lottie did.
A win is a win is a win, as they say. It’s not the worst start for the new regime; even if it was against a West Indies side that look worse and worse every time we see them. I’m not convinced it was a performance that would have beaten Australia though; and ultimately that’s what matters if this is really going to be a new era rather than a remake of the previous one.
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* Yes – I’m still cross about Better Than Revenge!
CRICKETher 