This week:

• Ellyse Perry signs for Hampshire
• Capsey & Scholfield score 100s for England ‘A’
• Ireland & Scotland fight for World Cup spots

1. Charlotte Edwards will be stepping down from her other coaching roles and focusing solely on England

Hampshire, Sydney and Mumbai’s loss is our gain!

2. Edwards already knows who the next England captain will be – and the rest of us will find out soon

Obviously, she didn’t tell us who she has in mind (partly because it sounds like she hasn’t spoken to the players yet – she’s properly starting off at Loughborough next week). There was maybe a bit of a hint later in the presser when she was assessing England’s current player pool and mentioned 4 senior players by name – Heather Knight (already ruled out!), Amy Jones (doesn’t want the job), Nat Sciver-Brunt, and Tammy Beaumont. We might be reading too much into that though…

Anyway, we’ll find out soon enough – she intends to appoint someone within the next couple of weeks. (It seems that Raf was completely wrong on this week’s episode of The CRICKETher Weekly – on all counts!)

3. Edwards isn’t a continuity candidate

Firstly, she’s about as anti-Jon-Ball as it’s possible to be. “They’ve had this mantra of entertaining and inspiring… [my role] is changing their focus. For me it’s about their game smarts and their game awareness,” she said. “It’s about winning. I just want to create some intelligent players who win games of cricket for England.”

Secondly, Lottie’s input into the Ashes review seems to have been pretty critical in convincing Clare Connor that there WAS an issue with the England team culture – Connor denied that this was a problem in her initial press conference the day after the Ashes whitewash, but now seems to have accepted that she was wrong, saying: “The review told us that we did need a significant reset in terms of… the environment.”

And lastly, while obviously being diplomatic enough not to name any names, Edwards also said that she would be ensuring professional standards around fitness were fully upheld throughout the England squad. “I will make the players more accountable for fitness,” she said.

4. County cricket is really going to matter

All England players will be available for the first seven rounds of the new 50-over One-Day Cup – Edwards has already decreed it, and she made it pretty clear that she will be enforcing this. “I want us to pick on performances,” she said. “You only learn that by playing. We’ve got a lot of young players who haven’t played enough cricket.”

She also effectively said that from now on, selection for England would depend on putting in good performances in county cricket. “I want England players to dominate county cricket,” she said.

5. The England head coach role was not advertised and the Rooney Rule was not adopted

Connor was pretty clear: she and Jonathan Finch did the review and concluded that Edwards was the candidate they wanted, based on 3 set criteria:

• Proven track record as a head coach
• The ability to create a winning culture
• A forensic understanding of the women’s game

If you ask us, the final point is essentially an admission that they got it wrong with Lewis, although when pressed on that (by Raf), Connor refused to concede this.

Anyhow, Connor did also say that the Rooney Rule had been adopted for the two previous appointments – Jon Lewis in 2022 and Lisa Keightley in 2019 – and that she remains committed to using it in future.

6. Some outsiders were involved in the Ashes review, but we may never know who they were

We found out tantalisingly little about the actual process of the review: Connor said that “some notable figures in the world game” had contributed, including several Australians, but apparently all contributions were made on condition of anonymity. So, unless those involved want to out themselves, that seems as close as we’re going to get to knowing who exactly they were.

7. The ECB will be recruiting a new national selector

Other than getting the England players to play more domestic cricket, this seems to be one of the key outcomes of the review. It’s worth remembering that in 2015, the ECB abolished their entire panel of England selectors, concentrating selection entirely in the hands of the head coach and leaving a lot of very unhappy people in their wake. A decade later, we have a mea culpa from Connor & co that this was the wrong thing to do. “We will be going out to recruit in the next couple of days for a national selector,” Connor said. “It’s bringing in some additional outside perspectives – that will be a key role in our leadership team.”

Please note that the opinions of guest contributors to CRICKETher do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor.

By Andy Frombolton

The clamour for Jon Lewis to be sacked as England coach continues – without anyone explaining what he’s done so wrong or, more pertinently, what anyone else could realistically have done differently or better.

Heavily shackled by having to primarily select from a centrally-contracted group whose limits are well evidenced, and additionally limited by the paucity of credible ‘ready-to-go’ alternatives, Lewis has done as well as could be expected with the hand he was dealt.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Edwards is widely heralded as The Answer to the Problem. Whilst there’s no denying that she’s enjoyed significant achievements as a coach, recent results suggest that success doesn’t invariably follow wherever she goes: Vipers finished third in last year’s RHF Trophy and the CEC; Sydney Sixers finished fifth and sixth in the last 2 WBBLs; and MI were third in last years WPL (and hold the same position currently). In her early coaching days she also undoubtedly benefitted from the ‘Lottie Effect’ – attracting good players who wanted to be in her orbit with the resultantly-strong teams routinely crushing their opponents.

And what would her conditions be for taking the role? The right to ditch established players (however embarrassing for the ECB – and financially wasteful – this might be if they hold long contracts)? To prioritise trialling players during the upcoming summer series over results? For the ECB to publicly acknowledge that re-building will take a few years and may entail some low ‘lows’ en route? If those freedoms are what’s needed, why not just give Lewis the same?

It’s my strong view that Lewis is a good coach and that he should remain, perhaps with Edwards appointed as an advisor or deputy.

My earlier use of the term ‘rebuilding’ was deliberate because, for all the investment in the England team and for all the record-breaking crowds, the simple fact is that the current England squad’s collective zenith isn’t high enough to beat Australia or India in 50 over cricket.

Defenders of individual incumbents might seek to cite ICC rankings or statistics to justify their continued selection – but this ignores the fact that the majority of their performances are against international teams which are weaker than the better Tier 1 counties. The true test of an international cricketer is how they perform against the strongest opponents and, as illustrated in my last article, the performances of most of the current England squad crumble when playing Australia.

In which case, what possible purpose is served by continuing to pick this same group of players? Sometimes you need to accept that no amount of coaching or training or additional match experience is going to transform a player into a world beater. Business people refer to the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ to describe a cognitive bias that causes people to keep investing in something even when it’s no longer beneficial. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the original decision was wrong – just that it didn’t work out as hoped.

With the freedoms referred to earlier, whoever’s head coach this summer should therefore announce a series of England vs England A games to be played across the summer pitching incumbents (desperate to prove they still warrant their place) against challengers (eager to show that they don’t).

These games shouldn’t be hidden away, played behind closed gates as if they’re some sort of shameful talent slugfest, but promoted to encourage crowds and media scrutiny; with the best performers selected for the summer international series. (If some centrally-contracted players subsequently lose their places, the message can be all about the opening-up of the selection process to hitherto-overlooked talent rather than the ousted. That’s what PR people are for!)

The best performers should then play in a series of England A games versus the touring teams. (No touring team should turn down the chance for more match practice.)

The sooner the rebuilding starts, the sooner we’ll have an international team capable of matching Australia and India.

Here’s the 3 steps needed:

1. The ECB clarifies the head coach situation and announces a series of England vs England A matches; explaining that the purpose is to identify the group of players capable of (A) winning the 2026 World Cup (to be held in England), or (B) the Ashes in 2027.

Players should be given a proper ‘run’ to prove themselves at the highest level. Remember, Knight didn’t score a 50 until her 10th ODI innings and her second in her 33rd whilst Wyatt took 48 innings to score her maiden ODI 50. We cannot go back to the days of e.g. Gordon, Lamb and the two Smiths being discarded after a few games.

2. To commence the reset, start with the only truly world-class player we have – Nat Sciver-Brunt – who needs to be asked to take the ODI captaincy until after the October World Cup. A separate T20 captain should be appointed.

2. There needs to be a volte face in selection criteria. Chris Guest, head coach of the Under-19s, recently observed in a Cricketer article that “if you’ve got someone who is outstanding within their skill and can’t field as well as someone who is less good within their skill but can field brilliantly, the skill still takes precedent at the moment.”

Numerous games turn on moments of fielding brilliance but England have only one exceptional fielder – Wyatt-Hodge – whilst most of the other centrally-contracted players are not international-standard fielders; several to the point where it could be posited that their mistakes and lapses in the field outweigh any ‘delta’ skill in their principal discipline over their nearest rival.

A stunning catch or a sharp run-out is more likely to impact a result than having a fractionally-worse ER or a slightly-lower batting average/ Strike Rate. Hence this prevailing attitude needs to be reversed.

Going forward players need to know that they won’t be selected unless they are (or have the potential to rapidly become) world-class fielders.

In the last article, I proposed a new-look T20 squad and promised my ODI squad would follow. Given the short timeframe I’ve proposed a transitional squad to participate in the October World Cup plus possible contenders for each slot. For ease of reference, I’ve also included my (slightly modified) T20 squad for next summer’s World Cup.

Note: Ecclestone’s omission was explained in my previous article.

Amy Jones’ recent ODI batting form has been good. However, a keeper’s role goes beyond catching and stumping; a great keeper additionally covers a huge area behind the stumps, intercepts all incoming throws to make them look good, manages fielding angles for their captain and acts as the vocal drumbeat of the team. Jones doesn’t do any of these things well and hence October’s World Cup should be her swansong.

I’m assuming that Bryce, like Gordon before her, can be persuaded to swap allegiances if adequately incentivised. If not, Heath has just a few months to seize her chance. (If she doesn’t, Smale is breathing down her neck.)

In the last 18 months, Knight has turned herself into a versatile and creative T20 batter. (In the last 2 years her T20 average is 33.6 SR 129, before that her figures were average 28.3 SR 116.) This evolution warrants her inclusion as a specialist batter notwithstanding her decreasing agility in the field.

Capsey might need to replace Scrivens to provide a sixth bowling option. (N.B. Wyatt could extend her career if she returned to bowling. Admittedly, she hasn’t bowled in internationals since 2020 but her stats are decent and even a couple of overs per game would give a captain more options.) Regardless of when she enters the senior team, Perrin’s bowling needs to be encouraged. Australia’s men’s and women’s teams demonstrate the advantages of having lots of batters who can bowl a few overs.

This week:

• Connor’s Ashes Inquest
• Are the Ashes issues systemic?
• Does the sale of The Hundred mean the end of double-headers?
• Will women’s cricket benefit from The Hundred windfall?

Australia completed their 16-0 Ashes whitewash, wrapping up an innings victory inside 3 days in the Test at the MCG.

England (170 & 148) v Australia (440) #Ashes 🏏

— CRICKETher (@crickether.com) 2025-02-01T09:44:36.404Z

After piling on 350 on Day 2, Australia had said last night that they were going to try to get on with it this morning; but after Tahlia McGrath got out playing a “we need to get on with it” shot, their scoring rate ground to a halt as England ran through the tail. Australia did have one more ace up their sleeves – sending Ellyse Perry (who the Australian camp had hinted would likely play no further part in the match) in at 10, with just the two Test centuries (including a double) to her name. But she ended up making a small dent in her shiny Test average, which fell from just over 60 to just under, as a consequence of being dismissed for 2 – caught and bowled by Sophie Ecclestone.

Perry’s dismissal completed Ecclestone’s 5fer, becoming the 3rd player in the match to get her name onto the honours board after Annabel Sutherland and Beth Mooney.

Darcie Brown got Maia Bouchier early – hitting top of middle, no doubt to the consternation of her bowling coaches who would have been drilling her all series to hit the top of off! (Kids eh? Never do what you tell ’em!)

But Knight and Beaumont looked pretty comfortable against the seamers. However, things inevitably got dicier the moment the spinners entered the fray. King’s first over was a maiden bowled to Knight that contained more appeals than an ad break on Homes Under the Hammer.

Beaumont tried to take the fight to King, and was dropped twice in the first over she faced from the leggie. Between King and Ash Gardner, the spinners created so many chances that eventually something had to give, and it was Knight – caught at short leg by Phoebe Litchfield.

Once England had lost a couple of wickets the likelihood was always that the dam would burst, as it has done so often on this tour, and it was Alana King who laid the depth charges. King has been unplayable at times in this series – you can’t attack her obviously – that’s madness – but you can’t defend against her either. Sciver-Brunt, Dunkley and eventually Beaumont were all dismissed defending, and within a few overs a promising start had disintegrated.

Raf mentioned on Bluesky that England are so steeped in Jon-Ball it was going to be difficult to adjust mentally, and Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s dismissal to Gardner was a classic example: like the scorpion upon the back of the frog, she just couldn’t resist playing that shot – it was in her nature, and she perished in similar fashion.

With England’s last recognised batter, Amy Jones, dismissed on the dinner bell, Sophie Ecclestone and Ryana MacDonald-Gay must have felt like the condemned walking out to the gallows when they came out to face the Lord High Executioners King and Gardner in the evening session. There was no chance of saving the game, so with the crowd gasping at every play and every miss all England could do was stave-off the inevitable for a few moments more.

The one remaining question to be answered: would it be King or Gardner who got on the honours board? Each had 3 wickets going into the final session, and with Brown having taken that solitary wicket earlier, it couldn’t be both!

Having survived 22 balls of quality pressure bowling for a single run, MacDonald-Gay finally got a loose delivery from King… and planted a full toss straight into the hands of Darcie Brown at deep midwicket.

Advantage King, with 4 wickets to Gardner’s 3.

Then in quite similar circumstances, Ecclestone pounced on a too-short delivery from Gardner and sent it straight up in the air, where it was pouched by none other than King herself.

Deuce – 4 wickets apiece.

With England’s two number 11s – the Laurens – at the crease, the scoreboard in the stadium cheekily announced the “final” cumulative attendance figure for this game (a massively impressive 35,365) even though it remained technically possible for the match to still go to a 4th day.

Gardner went upstairs after a huge appeal against Filer, but it was doing too much; a leading edge from Filer off King fell a yard short of Darcie Brown; Filer again pulled King into the solar plexus of Georgia Voll at short leg, but Voll couldn’t hold on. Lauren Bell meanwhile was just blocking everything, eventually reaching 30 balls without scoring.

And then finally… it was Filer who pushed Alana King into the hands of Annabel Sutherland. Sutherland held on, and it was over. After she was denied a 5fer in the 1st innings, poetic justice was served.

Game, set and match King.

Game, set and match Australia.

Yesterday during the dinner interval at the MCG we were entertained by Melburnian pop sensation G Flip. Today it was the turn of Loughborough-based English rap collective “O Flip”, who made multiple appearances throughout Day 2 of this Test match.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge drops a catch, and… O Flip!

Maia Bouchier drops a catch, and… O Flip!

Sophie Ecclestone drops a catch, and… O Flip!

Sophie Ecclestone drops another catch, and… would you believe it… it’s Deja O Flip all over again!

At one stage in the afternoon, after yet another fielding mishap, the TV cameras caught Heather Knight just shaking her head in disbelief and muttering to herself. I’m not sure exactly what she was muttering, but “O Flip” probably wasn’t too far from it.

England (170) v Australia (422-5) #Ashes 🏏

— CRICKETher (@crickether.com) 2025-01-31T11:01:46.245Z

Two dropped catches in particular cost England. Danni Wyatt-Hodge dropped Annabel Sutherland on 29, diving to her right. It was not an easy chance, but was one of those chances that you’ve got to take to compete at this level, and the kind of chance Australia have been holding on to all tour. Sutherland went on to score 163, with the cost to England 134 runs.

Then Sophie Ecclestone dropped Beth Mooney at slip on 11. Mooney finished the day on 98 not out, with the cost to England 87 runs… and counting! Ecclestone’s hopelessness at slip has been noted before – last summer TV replays showed that she appeared to close her eyes whilst shelling a pretty straightforward chance against Pakistan at Taunton. I don’t blame her for being ball-scared – I’d be absolutely terrified if that thing was coming at me at the better part of 70mph! But if you are going to field at slip in international cricket, that’s not acceptable; as even Heather Knight has now realised – moving Ecclestone away from slip after the second dolly-drop of the day.

It wasn’t just the dropped catches. Off the final ball of the 41st over, Annabel Sutherland pulled Sophie Ecclestone towards the deep midwicket boundary. Lauren Filer chased diligently after it, but everyone else just stood and watched, so when Filer pulled it back with a dive just inside the rope, there was no one to clean-up, and the Aussies were able to run a 3rd, turning two runs into three. Lazy was the only word for it – these players are paid hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to play for England. They can’t win every game or every series; but can they please at least try to look like they are trying?

The one exception was Tammy Beaumont, who gave it everything. She’s not a natural outfielder – she was originally a wicket-keeper, playing her first games for England behind the stumps – but she has worked incredibly hard to excel at this part of her game and I think genuinely acted as a bit of an inspiration, as England did improve later in the day by following her example. If England are going to seek a new captain from within the group, perhaps Beaumont has given them the answer here today?

But I digress…

The fact that England made enough fielding errors to fill a Sears Catalog shouldn’t detract from some wonderful performances by the Australians, in particular Annabel Sutherland, who played with class and confidence, becoming just the 3rd woman ever to score 150+ runs on two occasions, following her 210 against South Africa last summer. She looked nailed-on to go one further and become the first to score two double-hundreds, but tiredness got to her and she let one from Ryana MacDonald-Gay slide through her defences in the final session.

Sutherland played assertively but nonetheless patiently to take Australia past England’s total, in partnership with Alyssa Healy. Once Healy was dismissed, freeing Sutherland up to run the singles she clearly wanted to run but couldn’t risk with her one-legged captain at the other end, and Australia passed England’s 170, she began to open up and play some shots, allowing Australia to notch up over 350 runs in the day.

The only disappointment for the 11,000-strong crowd at the MCG was that they didn’t get to see Beth Mooney join Sutherland on the honours board this evening, as she finished unbeaten on 98. An extra incentive for them perhaps to come back tomorrow and in all likelihood see Australia put this game… and this series… out of its misery for England.