Author: Syd Egan

OPINION: Please Stop Retweeting THAT Pic

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We’ve seen several versions of this pic doing the rounds over the past couple of days:

Unfortunately, there is a problem!

The cricket bit (top left) is a photo of England women with the (50 over) World Cup… but it is from 2009 which (if my maths is correct…) is 6 years ago.

This year (2015) England men won their Ashes; whilst we lost ours. Admittedly, the men were humiliated in their World Cup; but we didn’t exactly set things on fire in our last one of those either – it was back in 2013 and we came 3rd.

So please, step away from the green button – there are lots of ways for support our team… but retweeting this factually misleading pic isn’t one of them!

OPINION: We Need To Talk About… Football! (Yes, Really!)

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The BBC report that crowds at this year’s Women’s (Football) Super League are way up. The average attendance at a Division 1 WSL game is now over 1,000, spiking considerably following England’s successful World Cup run.

What does this mean for women’s cricket? That’s not an easy question to answer. On the one hand it validates women’s sport in general; but on the other, women’s football (taking place over the summer) much more directly competes with women’s cricket, for bums on seats, for sponsorship and for players, with the most talented sportswomen often finding themselves with options in both games, not to mention hockey as well.

The post World Cup attendance spike is interesting too. It is probably to be expected – nothing breeds success like success; but would it have happened if the games had not been on live, free-to-air TV?

The likes of Eniola Aluko, Casey Stoney, Steph Houghton and Fran Kirby are household and (don’t underestimate the importance of this…) schoolyard “names” now, starring in inspiring Virgin Media ads which make the cardboard cutouts of Sarah Taylor and Lottie in Waitrose look a bit… how can we put this… lame?

One thing is clear – we have to pay attention to what football is doing with their women’s game. Like it or not, the scheduling of our Super League needs to not clash too much with theirs, because if the two go up against each other, there will only be one winner, and sadly it won’t be cricket!

At the Cricket Super League launch, Clare Connor talked (tongue in cheek, I think) about Arsenal hosting a franchise. I dismissed it at the time, but some kind of partnership might not be a terrible idea, if only at local level.

It might not be common here, but in Spain all the top football clubs are actually “sports” clubs, with even the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona also hosting basketball and other sports teams, so it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.

Finally, Super League manager Jo Kirk definitely needs to have lunch with her counterpart at Lancaster Gate. Domestic women’s football also underwent a controversial restructuring recently, which was violently opposed by many within the game… but it doesn’t seem to be working out too badly for them now!

 

OPINION: The New Coach Must Be An Outside Shot

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England Coach is one of the biggest jobs in women’s cricket; but it is also one of the toughest. Indeed, it is probably the only coaching job in the global women’s game which comes with a genuine weight of public expectation – England are certainly the only women’s team on the planet who can attract crowds numbering in the several-thousands to their matches.

So with the pressure of a home World Cup in 2017 likely to raise the temperature in the spotlight to unprecedented levels, mental strength is a must-have on Clare Connor’s shopping-list.

The new coach also needs to be someone who is happy to deal with the media and answer questions from the press… though we would beg the ECB not to choose someone just because they deliver a good press conference!

One interesting question is how much of a “coach” the new coach needs to be, at least in the short term? With the contracts for 2016 being signed-off almost literally “as we write”, the broad backbone of the World Cup squad will already be set in stone by the time the new coach arrives at their desk in Loughborough; and these players know how to play cricket.

Lauren Winfield is a classic example: she has taken a lot of flack because she hasn’t performed at the international level, as she would be the first to admit; but we’ve seen her at county, we’ve seen her coaching and we’ve heard her talk about the game, and she knows her cricket. She doesn’t need someone telling her how to play this or that stroke; but she does need “something”… and it is that “something”… that je ne sais quoi… which the new coach has to bring.

What is it? We don’t know, obviously; but there is one thing we do know – England don’t currently have it! So it is something that needs to be brought in from the outside; and this means the new coach has to come from the outside. The current setup has taken England as far as it can – the time has come to lance the “Loughborough Bubble” and bring in an outside shot to take us on to Lords in 2017.

NEWS: Australia Push On Towards Fully Professional Domestic Women’s Cricket

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The Australian domestic calendar gets started next week, with a very different look to the new season. In fact, there are really two seasons: the 50-over, state-based Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) takes place in October/ November; and is then followed by the city-franchised T20 competition – the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) – in December/ January.

The WNCL begins on October 9th and it is a much shorter competition than in previous years, with each of the 7 sides playing each other just once, with the top two teams qualifying for the final on November 28th.

There is then a very short break before the WBBL gets underway on December 5th. The 8 franchises will play each other twice, with the top four qualifying for semi-finals (January 20th/ 21st) and then the grand final on January 24th.

Both seasons are pretty intense – particularly the WBBL, with 59 matches taking place over just 51 days – it demands a fully-professional commitment from the players; and in recognition of this, Cricket Australia continue to push towards a fully-professional compensation package in return.

A player who competes in both seasons will earn a minimum of $10,000 (about £4,600) and many will earn considerably more. With Cricket Australia having established a total player payment fund of over $2 million, that’s an average of around-about $24,000 (£11,000) per player for a 4-month season, albeit one with considerable “off season” demands.

Will this have the Porsche-dealers of Melbourne and Sydney cracking-open the champagne? Probably not! But on the road to a fully professional domestic game, it is a start, and a very good one too!

NEWS: ICC Rankings Announced – Diverge Significantly From Championship Placings

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To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the new official ICC Women’s Team Rankings announced today are headed by Australia – current leaders of the Women’s International Championship and holders of the World Cup, the T20 World Cup and the Women’s Ashes.

Interestingly however, beyond the top spot the rankings differ significantly from the Women’s International Championship table. For example, South Africa are 2nd in the Championship, but 6th in the rankings; whilst England are ranked 2nd, but sit 4th in the Championship.

Of course, the rankings are cross-format; but the time-period is similar – taking into account the past 2 years of matches – so it is a little incongruous perhaps?

ICC Rankings (+ Championship Position)

  1. Australia (1)
  2. England (4)
  3. New Zealand (6)
  4. India (8)
  5. West Indies (3)
  6. South Africa (2)
  7. Pakistan (5)
  8. Sri Lanka (7)
  9. Bangladesh (N/A)
  10. Ireland (N/A)

 

NEWS: Shrubsole Wins PCA Award

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England and Somerset fast bowler Anya Shrubsole has been named the Professional Cricketer’s Association Player of the Summer 2015.

Shrubsole was England’s leading wicket-taker in this year’s Women’s Ashes with 13 wickets; and was the only bowler on either side to record a series economy rate of under 3*.

Anya was also a key player for Somerset in winning Division 2 of the Women’s County Championship, taking 14 wickets and additionally chipping-in with the bat, averaging 29 including one fifty.

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* Minimum 10 overs bowled in the series.

NEWS: Shaw To Continue Through December But Academy Coach On Hold

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With yesterday’s departure of England Women’s Performance Director Paul Shaw, following so soon after the resignation of Academy coach Lisa Keightley, both of the two most important coaching roles in English women’s cricket are now in-play, raising the question of just exactly who is in charge now? And with England central contracts due to be renewed over the next 3 months, this is a bit more than an academic issue!

Sources at the ECB have told CRICKETher that Paul Shaw will continue to play an in-post active role through December, and is very-much involved in the ongoing process of contract renewals.

Meanwhile, the ECB’s priority is to name his successor by January, prior to the South Africa tour in February; and with the calibre of candidate they are seeking this is likely to take some time, so for the moment we are told that the Academy role is basically on hold and the ECB will not be seeking candidates until after the new Head Coach is appointed – i.e. early next year.

Reading between the tea-leaves, another reason may be that this will also potentially allow the incoming Head Coach to have some input into who is appointed to the Academy, because although the jobs are not formally linked, in practice they will need to work very closely together at Loughborough, where the Academy share the facilities with the top-tier “Performance” squad.

OPINION: New Coach Will Have The Talent; But Will They Have The Time?

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In a move that we’ll admit perhaps surprised CRICKETher more than it should have done, Clare Connor reached for the shotgun yesterday; and with it despatched England “Performance Director” and Chief Selector Paul Shaw back to the obscurity from which he came.

CRICKETher has had little real interaction with Shaw over the years, but the customary nod and a smile with which he always greeted us around the circuit bear witness to something which we’ve heard time and again: he was (is!) a thoroughly bloody nice bloke.

But we can not allow this to distract ourselves from the fact that under his leadership, the England team have gone backwards – falling into the pack while the Australians hurtle ahead.

The twin Ashes triumphs of 2013/14 were the highlights of his reign; but even as giant strides towards professionalism were being made off the field, victories on the pitch merely papered over cracks that were in retrospect already all too apparent by the 2013 World Cup in India – brittle batting; over-reliance on the Brunt/ Shrubsole bowling axis; and a chaotic selection process on the fringes of the team that quite literally drove players away from the game.

The current England squad is very-much of Shaw’s making, bearing in mind that his previous role was heading-up the Academy. There’s a lot of potential, but there are too many players that England struggle to get the best out of – the Danni Wyatts… the Amy Joneses… even the Heather Knights and the Sarah Taylors.

That’s the challenge for the new coach, whoever he (or, sadly less likely, she) is – they will come into the role knowing they have some serious talent at their disposal, but they will nevertheless have their work cut out to turn things around in time for the World Cup, which in sporting terms really is just around the corner in 2017.

BREAKING: Shaw Resigns – England To Appoint Head Coach Instead

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The ECB have announced that England Women’s Head of Performance and Chief Selector Paul Shaw is stepping down from his post and that his role will be replaced by a more traditional “Head Coach”.

Shaw will remain in-place for the remainder of this year, but England are hoping to have made a new appointment by the time they head to South Africa in February.

In her official statement Clare Connor paid tribute Shaw’s contribution; but reading between the lines, she basically acknowledges that with his age-group/ academy background he didn’t have the necessary experience to continue to take the team forward, suggesting that a key criteria for his replacement is someone who has already actually played and/ or coached the game at the very highest levels:

“The decision to move back to a more traditional coaching structure, led by one overarching head coach, ideally with first class or international playing or coaching experience, is what we believe is now needed to take the players to the next level in their development as professional cricketers.”

NEWS: Aussies Frustrated As ECB Stand Firm On WBBL Finals

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As CRICKETher reported back in July, England stars travelling to Australia for the winter have been warned by the ECB that they are expected to be back in Blighty by mid-January to prepare for their international tour to South Africa, meaning that they will miss the semi-finals and final of the WBBL, which is set to be the biggest domestic event ever in the history of women’s cricket.

Word is that Cricket Australia were bitterly disappointed by this – the finals are set to be broadcast on national TV, so they are a massive showcase at a critical juncture in the development of the women’s game and they desperately need all the star-power they can get. Hence the past couple of months have seen intense lobbying from Cricket Australia for a change of heart at the ECB, pointing out that there are two whole weeks between the WBBL final and England’s first match in South Africa.

But with several of the England players due to fly out this week, whispers now reach us from Australia that despite everything the ECB have refused to back down: the players are primarily contracted to them and that’s that – the closest Charlotte Edwards and Co. will come to the WBBL final is watching it on TV back in Loughborough.

Of course, the ECB are quite within their rights; but one day they’ll want a favour from Cricket Australia… perhaps as soon as next summer’s Super League… and one wonders quite how cooperative the Aussies will then feel like being?