Author: Syd Egan

NEWS: This Week In Brief

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WNCL

  • The New South Wales Breakers hit the top of the table this weekend, after an Ellyse Perry century (101 off 120 balls) saw them thrash the bottom-placed Western Fury by 107 runs.
  • Tasmania Roar keeper-batsman Georgia Redmayne became the first Tasmanian ever to hit a WNCL century as the Roar pulled off a thrilling last-ball run chase of 246 to beat the ACT Meteors.
  • The following day was somewhat less fun for the Roar however, as they got Lanninged. The Megastar hit 190 off 153 balls – breaking her own WNCL record high score of 175 – whilst Jess Cameron played second-fiddle at the other end with a “mere” 108 off 120, as the Vic Spirit posted 320-3 in Hobart – the Roar were bowled out for 163 in reply.
  • Fast bowler Julie Hunter has announced her retirement from the WNCL after a 13-year career which included 23 ODIs for Australia. She will continue to play in the WBBL.

WBBL

  • Anya Shrubsole will join Katherine Brunt at the Perth Scorchers for this year’s WBBL – this is the first time Shrubsole has ever been persuaded to play domestic cricket other than for her “home” sides – Somerset and Western Storm.
  • Shrubsole effectively replaces Charlotte Edwards at the Scorchers – Edwards confirmed earlier this month that she will play for the Adelaide Strikers, as expected given that she is currently playing WNCL there for the South Australia Scorpions.
  • It’s been announced that Channel Ten will broadcast a standalone women’s cricket weekend in December as part of the WBBL season, with four (F.O.U.R!!!) WBBL games being shown across one weekend.

India

  • India have announced their squad for their Women’s International Championship ODI and T20 series versus West Indies, with Harmanpreet Kaur promoted to the T20 captaincy, but Mithali Raj retaining the role for the ODIs.
  • Meanwhile, there is still no official word on what happens to the points from India’s “missed” series against Pakistan, which the BCCI essentially refused to play. Bizarrely the Indians seem to think they may be entitled to some of the points, and it is apparently going to an ICC committee to decide. (The two teams are also supposed to be competing later this year in the Asia Cup in Thailand, but there are now clouds over that too.)

And Finally…

  • In case you missed it, this is awesome – Eileen Ash (née Whelan) played the last of her 7 Tests in 1949. On the pitch Whelan was a bowler, taking 10 wickets in a career which was curtailed by the war. More than half a century later though, she is still at the crease of life – currently (as of today, Sunday) batting 105 not out and reckoned to be the oldest living Test cricketer of either gender.

OPINION: Camp Selections Point To England Ins And Outs

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The announcement yesterday of an almost completely uncontroversial England squad to tour Sri Lanka next month was accompanied by some rather more intriguing selections for the pre-tour camp in Abu Dhabi.

The 14-man squad to tour Sri Lanka will be accompanied to Abu Dhabi by 9 others – one of whom will also be the 15th player selected for Sri Lanka.

Coach Mark Robinson has hinted in the past at trying to almost ‘blur the line’ between the Academy and Performance (Contracted) squads, perhaps by subsuming the Academy into a larger “combined” squad. So, taking the 14… plus the 9… plus Anya Shrubsole, who is injured… do we have a hint of what a 25-man England squad might look like next summer? And if so… who is in, and who is out?

In addition to Charlotte Edwards and Lydia Greenway, both of whom have retired, 4 members of last summer’s performance squad are not included for the Abu Dhabi camp.

Tash Farrant is playing WNCL in Australia, and (to be frank) probably getting a higher standard of cricket there than she would even if she played in Sri Lanka – she will undoubtedly be back.

Sarah Taylor is still working on her mental health, but given that there are no other wicket keepers in the squad, you have to imagine that England are still hoping she will be back too at some stage.

Jodie Dibble and Becky Grundy however, both look to be heading for the door.

Dibble was one of those in the unfortunate position of being expected to be part of the “contracted” performance squad, whilst not actually being “contracted” – i.e. paid – and unsurprisingly has not found it easy recently, and her exit was expected.

Grundy on the other hand, just seems to have slipped quietly out of form and favour – she’s 26, and has been overtaken by younger, “spinnie”r options in the tweak department – it will be a surprise if her central contract is renewed in January.

Also perhaps on the way out are several “older” batsmen the Academy squad – Eve Jones (24), Alex MacDonald (25), Steph Butler (22) and Sophie Luff (22). Of these perhaps Eve Jones can consider herself unlucky having had quite a good season in 2016, and all 4 might still make it; but the hint (based not just on these selections, but also on other conversations we’ve had) is that Robinson feels that this cohort overall just aren’t ever going to good enough, and he plans to almost ‘skip a generation’ over them.

In their place, a new gang of teenagers are knocking at the door, and the opportunity for them to come in and seize their chances has been presented to the likes of Surrey pair Bryony Smith (18) and Hannah Jones (17), Lancashire’s Emma Lamb (18) and Middlesex’s Sophia Dunkley (18). Alongside them, one “older” Academy batsman has retained her place – Sussex’s Georgia Adams, after a very good summer for Sussex and the Southern Vipers.

Finally, two big surprise selections – all-rounders Georgia Hennessy and Alice Davidson-Richards have both previously been part of the Academy, had subsequently dropped-off the program, but are now back! What have they done right?

Both had solid domestic seasons – the combative Hennessy was a key part of Warwickshire’s successful (albeit ultimately trophyless) season; whilst “ADR” (as she is known) is a new player recently – one look at her confirms that she has transformed herself fitness-wise over the past year. Both will have to continue to work hard if they are to progress; but Robinson has thrown them the big ball to run with – now it is up to them!

Professional sport is a tough old business – for every winner, there is a loser; and for every player selected, there is one who is dropped, not to mention countless others who never quite make the grade. There are always tough calls to be made, and it will be especially hard on those who go from contracted status to essentially “unemployed” at the stroke of a selector’s pen.

But like the Circle of Life, the game goes on, and Robinson’s determination to forge a long-term dynasty, by investing in new talent not just for next summer but for summers well beyond, is exciting and promising for the future of the women’s game in England.

NEWS: England Squad For Sri Lanka – Shrubsole Out; Wilson In

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England have named 14 of the 15-strong squad who will travel to Sri Lanka next month for 4 ODIs. 

Fran Wilson has recovered from a broken finger and is back in to bolster the batting; but Anya Shrubsole is ruled out. With Sophie Ecclestone unavailable due to school, England have left one spot free in what is otherwise an unchanged squad from the recent West Indies tour. 

  • Heather Knight
  • Tammy Beaumont
  • Katherine Brunt
  • Georgi Elwiss
  • Jenny Gunn
  • Alex Harley
  • Dani Hazell
  • Amy Jones
  • Beth Langston 
  • Laura Marah
  • Nat Sciver
  • Lauren Winfield
  • Fran Wilson
  • Danni Wyatt

The 15th spot is likely to be taken by one of the players additionally selected for a pre-tour camp in Abu Dhabi:

  • Georgia Adams
  • Kate Cross
  • Alice Davidson-Richards
  • Sophia Dunkley
  • Sophie Ecclestone 
  • Georgia Hennessy
  • Hannah Jones
  • Emma Lamb
  • Bryony Smith

STATS: New Zealand v South Africa Player Rankings – The Amy Satterthwaite Show!

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New Zealand’s 7-match ODI series in South Africa ended this week with the visitors sealing a 5-2 victory, with Amy Satterthwaite scoring her 3rd 50 of the series in the final match, as the White Ferns posted 273 – South Africa slumping to 147 all out in reply.

The numbers below show this was very-much Satterthwaite’s series – she topped the batting rankings with 344 runs at an average of 69 and the bowling rankings with 11 wickets going at under 3 an over.

For New Zealand, Katey Martin and Rachel Priest (with the bat) and Erin Bermingham and Morna Nielsen (with the ball) also put in their shifts, as Suzie Bates was eclipsed for once – coming in at 6th in the batting rankings, and at 13th in the bowling, having not bowled a huge amount of overs. The selectors will probably not be worried by Bates’ personal form – there is a positive to be taken out of it in terms of their strengths elsewhere; but they will want to be sure that Bates does get an opportunity to rest properly at some stage before the World Cup, after basically playing non-stop for the past year or so.

For South Africa, Mignon du Preez emphasised her continued importance to the team after relinquishing the captaincy with 232 runs; whist Ayabonga Khaka had a bit of a breakthrough with 11 wickets – she’d taken just 6 wickets in 14 ODIs prior to this series.

Batting Rankings

Player Runs Strike Rate
1. Amy Satterthwaite (NZ) 344 85.57
2. Mignon du Preez (SA) 232 66.09
3. Katey Martin (NZ) 170 83.33
4. Dane van Niekerk (SA) 222 60.98
5. Rachel Priest (NZ) 152 88.88
6. Suzie Bates (NZ) 182 68.93
7. Lizelle Lee (SA) 136 80.47
8. Sam Curtis (NZ) 107 66.04
9. Sune Luus (SA) 89 60.13
10. Maddie Green (NZ) 48 84.21

Bowling Rankings

Player Wickets Economy
1. Amy Satterthwaite (NZ) 11 2.94
2. Erin Bermingham (NZ) 9 2.73
3. Morna Nielsen (NZ) 8 2.86
4. Ayabonga Khaka (SA) 11 4.2
5. Holly Huddleston (NZ) 10 4
6. Marizanne Kapp (SA) 7 3.29
7. Lea Tahuhu (NZ) 8 4.34
8. Masabata Klaas (SA) 6 4.61
9. Moseline Daniels (SA) 6 4.64
10. Hannah Rowe (NZ) 3 3.47

Batting Ranking = Runs * Strike Rate
Bowling Ranking = Wickets / Economy

OPINION: The Winner Takes It All?

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The winner takes it all, so they say, and there is no doubt that England were the winners in the Caribbean this month, taking the series 3-2 and moving up to 2nd place in the Women’s International Championship, with a 4-2 points victory.

Meanwhile, Head Coach Mark Robinson was reportedly spotted at a flea-market in Kingston, selling his entire wardrobe to make space in his suitcase for all the “massive positives” he will be bringing home – two half-centuries apiece for Nat Sciver and Lauren Winfield, and one for Tammy Beaumont, in conditions that could hardly have been more unfriendly to the batsmen.

Then of course there were those 13 wickets at an Strike Economy Rate of 3.4 for Alex Hartley – a record for England in a bilateral series; plus also not to mention, 10 wickets for 31-year-old Katherine Brunt, proving that if age is a barrier, it is one she is determined to meet with a short pitched delivery and a long, lacerating stare!

Nevertheless, any impression that England “triumphed” has to be counterbalanced by a reading of the facts. They lost two matches, and lost them badly – collapsing to 110 all out in the 2nd ODI, having lost 7 wickets for 17 runs; and to 181 all out in the 4th ODI, having lost 6 wickets for 20 runs.

Even in the final ODI, with the West Indies visibly slumping in the field, they managed to make it look like hard work as they lost the late wickets of Wyatt and Elwiss – watch the reactions of Amy Jones and Nat Sciver in this clip as they win the series:

There are cheers from the boundary, sure; but out in the middle there are no arms aloft in celebration, nor bats raised in triumph – just a fist-bump and a sense of exhausted relief – Sciver and Jones were only too well aware of just how narrowly it felt like they’d squeaked it!

ABBA were right – in sport, the winner really does take it all, as they will in next year’s World Cup; but England will know that if that winner is going to be them, they are going to need to be more consistent than they have been here, because lose two games there, and you’re not going to win the World Cup.

Random Thoughts: West Indies v England 4th ODI

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England’s Bowling

  • Although Beth Langston was apparently fit and available, England chose not to change a winning team, meaning they went in with only one “strike” bowler, and Nat Sciver again opening the bowling. Although Sciver did get the early wicket of Hayley Matthews – a fantastic catch by Lauren Winfield – England just didn’t have any penetration, and it wasn’t until the 24th over that the next wicket fell, as Shaquana Quintyne went to an even better catch by Danni Wyatt.
  • It has to be said that England didn’t let the West Indies “get away” either – they kept them pegged-back to around 4/ over, and at the 40-over mark it could have gone either way for the hosts from 162-4; but in the end with wickets in hand, they knew they could start to push, and push they did – scoring at over 6/ over in the last 10, to finish on 223, leaving England facing the highest run-chase ever for victory in a women’s ODI in the Caribbean*.

* Thanks to @_hypocaust on Twitter for the tip!

England’s Batting

  • England’s reply began in fantastic fashion – this was arguably Tammy Beaumont’s best innings in an England shirt – 57 runs in a pressure-cooker situation (both literally and metaphorically) away from home, against a top, top team – she played positively, striking the ball with power and timing, and together with Lauren Winfield (51) drove England into a match-winning position.
  • At 90-odd for no wicket, we were waiting for the West Indies to mentally disintegrate, as they had in the 3rd ODI last week – Deandra Dottin bowled a ridiculous wide bouncer – a sure sign of frustration about to boil-over…
  • But… but…
  • West Indies are a “confidence” team – when they are down, they are very, very down; but when they are up, they can be very, very up, very, very quickly, and that is just what started to happen. England mentally disintegrated and the West Indies ran them through with a broadsword – Sciver 3; Wyatt 0; Elwiss 9; Jones 0; Brunt 1; Gunn 0; and Alex Hartley 0 Not Out at the end – only Heather Knight (36) and Laura Marsh (13) made it into double-figures after the openers.

Overall, this certainly feels like the worst performance of the Robinson era – worse than the loss to South Africa, where the Proteas chased down 262; worse than the World T20 semi-final defeat, where they collapsed, but not quite like this.

On the other hand, the West Indies are a smashing team on their day – Stafanie Taylor is a “Big Game” player, as anyone who saw her in the Super League will testify, and she was fantastic today – top-scoring with 85 and taking a brilliant caught & bowled to dismiss Knight… all despite clearly playing through an injury.

England can still go on to win this series on Wednesday – it is a new day and a new game of cricket – and one thing is for sure – Mark Robinson will have them up for it!

NEWS: This Week In Brief

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Women’s International Championship

  • New Zealand took another step towards England 2017 with a 2-1 Championship series win over South Africa, with Lancashire Thunder’s Amy Satterthwaite the star of both the White Ferns’ two victories, taking 4-13 in the 1st ODI and scoring 89* in the 3rd.
  • In the 2nd ODI, Mignon du Preez scored 80 as South Africa chased-down 222 with just 5 balls to spare, to record their 1st ever one-day victory against the Kiwis.
  • Meanwhile, England and the West Indies resume battle this afternoon, with England looking to seal the series with a victory today, after Friday’s win in Jamaica. (Should England win all 3 Championship matches, they are guaranteed automatic World Cup qualification; though even if they don’t, they should still easily qualify, with their remaining 3 games being against bottom-placed Sri Lanka later this year.)

World Cup 2017

  • Talking of 2017… tickets go on sale later this week, and here is a sneak preview of the “Who Runs The World?” promo campaign which is set to launch the tournament:

WNCL

  • The opening weekend of Australia’s 50-over WNCL saw the Queensland Fire make the early running, with victories over the Tasmania Roar and the New South Wales Breakers, and a dramatic tie with the South Australia Scorpions – they head the table from the New South Wales Breakers and the Vic Spirit, the latter with a game in hand.
  • There were centuries for Alyssa Healy (159 v Tasmania Roar), Charlotte Edwards (100 v Queensland Fire), Sarah Elliot (100* v ACT Meteors), Meg Lanning (107* v ACT Meteors) and Alex Blackwell (113* v Queensland Fire) – with more than twice as many centuries scored already as in the entire Women’s County Championship Div 1 season, the WNCL’s reputation as a batsman’s paradise rolls on!

And Finally…

  • Ex Southern Star Jess Cameron has been drafted by Melbourne’s Collingwood to play in the new Women’s Australian Football League – she’ll take the field next winter (i.e. UK summer) in the inaugural 8-team semi-professional competition, for which players will be paid up to a salary-capped $25,000!

Random Thoughts: West Indies v England 3rd ODI

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England’s Batting

  • It was a battling batting performance from Lauren Winfield (79) and Nat Sciver (58) which set England up for the win – it wasn’t easy out there, but they fought hard for their runs and England reaped the reward.
  • Having said that… from where England were at the 40-over mark, they should really have been looking at a score closer to 240. But once again they lost their last few wickets rapidly – going from 208-6 to 220 all out. While this wasn’t a disaster, it does reinforce our point from the other day that the fragility of England’s tail is being exposed for the first time under the Nouveau Régime.

West Indies’ Fielding

  • Dire!
  • (Enough said!)

England’s Bowling

  • It was confirmed today that Anya Shrubsole will be out for the rest of the tour. Are England missing her? Yes. There’s a reason why Nat Sciver (despite being originally selected by England as a bowler back in 2013) is these days a batsman-who-bowls rather than a bowler-who-bats – she looks a bit out of her depth opening the bowling at this level and England will be really hoping Beth Langston will be fit for the remaining ODIs.
  • Someone else England have been missing is Jenny Gunn. Just when her critics write her off… back she bounces, showing you exactly why she’s England’s leading wicket-taker in ODIs, finishing here with 2 wickets for just 8 runs off only 5 overs.

England’s Fielding

  • England were very professional in the field – the run out of Merissa Aguilleira by Danni Wyatt was a case in point – get to the ball… get it in… and you never know! Aguilleira was thinking about a second run, assuming she had plenty of time to change her mind, but Wyatt pushed and Aguilleira found herself well out of her ground when the throw whizzed in.

The Live-Stream

  • Awesome!
  • (Enough said!)

Random Thoughts: West Indies v England 1st ODI

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Selection

England went in with 7 batsmen, including Amy Jones – who got her first opportunity out in the middle in an ODI since South Africa last winter – and only 4 bowlers. They can get away with this because they know that between Nat Sciver, Heather Knight and Georgia Elwiss, they have plenty of options for the other 10 overs they need to find.

But where England are gambling a little bit though is in picking both Elwiss and Danni Wyatt – not because this doesn’t work on a game-by-game basis, but because if this is the strategy, it means that they don’t have any backup batsmen on this tour – if the plan is to play 7 batsmen, and someone gets injured, there is no cover and you’re bust! Fingers crossed then! (Especially as the really crucial “Championship” matches are at the end of the tour!)

Batting

Given that the pitch was clearly made of plasticine… and not new plasticine either, but plasticine that has been in the playbox for a year so all the colors have gotten mixed-up into a hazy shade of purply-brown… batting was never going to be easy. It was interesting that the one player that mastered it was Danni “Bish Bash Bosh” Wyatt, who neither bished, nor bashed, nor boshed; but played relatively patiently, hitting just one boundary in her 44. It goes without saying that if she had not knuckled-down as she did, England would not have won this game, and Wyatt was deservedly Man of the Match.

Bowling

It was definitely a “team performance” with the ball – 2 wickets each for Ecclestone and Marsh; and 3 each for Brunt and Hartley.

This was actually a huge game for Alex Hartley – she is six years older than Ecclestone (23 to 17) and had a couple of wobbles over the summer – the pressure was really on to show she could mix it with the big girls out there – and she did – the wicket of Taylor was obviously huge, but to stay focussed and pick up another next ball was just fantastic.

As for Brunt, Heather Knight really threw the dice bringing her back when she did – pace back on the ball could have been just what the doctor ordered for the West Indies, and even if she hadn’t gone for runs, she would have been bowled out with still LOTS of time for the Windies to nurdle their way to victory, which was all they needed to do. But the gamble paid off with the final two wickets; and for the second time in a day, after New Zealand v South Africa earlier, a team had successfully defended a tiny total with the main damage we suspect being to the coach’s fingernails!!

Stream If You Wanna Go Faster

Okay, so the stream was only one (fixed) camera, and the quality was so poor that it was often difficult to see the ball. A second (non-fixed) camera, as Ireland used in the summer, would have made a big difference; but this means having to pay two more people – a cameraman and a producer to flick between them – and here’s the thing: it was still sooooo much better than no stream at all, and together with the TMS commentary, it sure beats refreshing a scorecard on Cricinfo!

There is a lesson for the ECB to learn here – you sometimes get the impression that in terms of coverage it is all or nothing for them – if they can’t afford seventeen cameras, and a production booth the size of a battleship, they would rather not do it. And it is true that a stream like that probably won’t win any new fans; but for the fans you have it is a life-saver in terms of cementing their engagement!

NEWS: This Week In Brief

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Hurricanes In The West Indies

  • England breathed a sigh of relief at their training camp in the West Indies, as the tropical storm dubbed “Hurricane Matthew”, which caused death and destruction elsewhere in the Caribbean, largely passed Jamaica by. The players spent a bit of time on “lock down” at their hotel; but damage locally was fortunately minimal, and the grounds have been inspected by the WICB and passed fit for play… unlike England’s Anya Shrubsole, who is ruled-out of the first 2 ODIs with a side-strain.
  • Now the only Hurricane Matthew England have to worry about now is Hobart Hurricane Hayley Matthew(s), who is set to take on her WBBL skipper, Heather Knight, today at Trelawny Stadium, with business getting underway this afternoon at 3:30pm UK time in the 5-match ODI series – look out for a live stream and commentary on TMS.

Hotting Up Down Under

  • As dawn breaks on another antipodean summer, the Australians continue to push towards full professionalisation of their domestic game, with the announcement that the New South Wales Breakers, who compete in the 50-over WNCL, have secured a new deal from their sponsor – property conglomerate Lendlease – which will allow them to go fully professional, with all 14 squad players set to take home at least the national minimum wage of $35,000. (And a lot more for those who play WBBL and international cricket on top.)
  • Meanwhile in the T20 WBBL, last year’s “Wooden Spoon” winners the Melbourne Renegades have strengthened their squad with the addition of Australian international, and professional novelty sock-wearer, Grace Harris. Harris represented the Brisbane Heat last season, and is the only player in the WBBL’s brief history to have scored a century – clubbing 103 off 55 balls against the Sydney Sixers.

New Zealand Face New South Africa

  • New Zealand looked in ominous form as they smashed an “Emerging” South African XI in their warm-up prior to the 7-match ODI series, which also begins today.
  • There was some bad news for the White Ferns however, as spinner Leigh Kasperek was ruled out for two months with a broken finger – she’ll miss this tour and the up-coming series v Pakistan.
  • Meanwhile South Africa have named their squad for new captain Dane van Niekerk’s first series at the helm, including teenage batting prodigy Laura Wolvaardt, who made her debut against England less than a year ago, progressing to her first international century back in August against Ireland. Wolvaardt is now looking set to be a fixture of the team for years to come; but we also hear that she might soon be spending a lot of time in hospital… a teaching hospital that is, as she concurrently pursues her ambition to qualify as a doctor when she graduates from high school!