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Random Thoughts: Women’s Ashes Test – Day 1

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Gunn Fired

[That’s enough Jenny Gunn puns now Syd – Ed.]

We debated whether Fran Wilson would have to make way for Georgia Elwiss; but in the end it was Jenny Gunn who was left on the sidelines, with Mark Robinson clearly deciding that England needed Elwiss’s batting more than they needed Gunn’s bowling. Was this a good decision? Well… Elwiss didn’t exactly “fail” with the bat but it remains to be seen how we’ll feel if (when?) Australia are 300-3 this time tomorrow and all our front-line bowlers are exhausted!

Winfield Not Winning

Unlike Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Winfield has struggled to build on her 2016 purple patch – her numbers have reverted back to where they were pre-2016; and today she faced over 50 balls for just 4 runs, before getting out to a shot that she shouldn’t have gone near with a barge-pole, let alone her bat!

But… but.. but… who or what is the alternative? Heather Knight doesn’t want to open; Sarah Taylor shouldn’t open; and we’ve just got rid of all the “senior” batsmen in our Academy! If there was an easy answer, believe us, we’d be all over it – we are The Media™ – we love easy answers; but in this case there isn’t one – we just have to trust that Winfield will come good again in time.

A Way Back For England?

England just about edged the first session-and-a-half – Beaumont and Knight both played well for their 50s, but they couldn’t push on and Australia smashed the final session, as England melted in the darkness. 237-7 is not a good place to be, and you have to feel this is Australia’s game to lose now.

If there is a way back for England, it is to bat long enough tomorrow to prevent the Aussies piling on the runs during the day, and then hope that they too struggle under the lights in the evening session. In the last Test at Canterbury in 2015, Anya Shrubsole occupied the crease for over an hour for a 47-ball duck – it was widely derided at the time, but it would actually be quite a useful contribution here – the duck is intact, and she is 15 balls in already – maybe she can push on towards 50 (balls) tomorrow?

PINK BALL PREVIEW: Can England Win The Day-Night Test?

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For England to keep their women’s Ashes hopes alive, they 100% need to win this Test match.* Can they do it? It will all depend on whether they can find an answer to the following questions:

1. What is their best Test XI?

Mark Robinson has several selectorial decisions to weigh up right now. As Syd suggested the other day, the big one is the choice between batting Georgia Elwiss or Fran Wilson at number 6. It’s a tough call – one might argue that Elwiss’s medium-pace could be valuable as a back-up bowling option for Knight to have up her sleeve. Personally I’d probably go with Wilson – she’s showed better form with the bat of late, and England are going to need all the batting they can get over the next 4 days (see below!)

The other tough call is going to be the ever-present Alex Hartley v Sophie Ecclestone dilemma. As Martin points out, playing two left-arm spinners is probably a bit too much of a luxury in a Test situation, plus England might well need Laura “The Wall” Marsh’s runs. Personally I’d keep the faith in World-Cup-winning Hartley (she has 6 wickets so far this series, vs Ecclestone’s 2) – but given that she didn’t play in the warm-up game, I’m not sure Robinson will see eye to eye with me on that one!

2. Can anyone “do a Heather Knight”?

Whoever makes the final team sheet, the key thing that England will need to do is bat long. Easy to say, and not so easy to do. My chief worry for England, in fact, is their batting – recent history does not portend well. Nobody has made a Test century for England since Knight’s famous innings at Wormsley in 2013 – in fact, only one current England player has even made a half-century in a Test since then. (Guess who? – Jenny Gunn of course!) “Starts” are no good in a Test match – at least two England players are going to have to get their heads down and dig in, if England are to have any chance of winning this match.

3. Can they stop Australia batting them out of the game?

If Australia win the toss tomorrow morning, they will bat – that’s certain. The worry is that England will revert to type, not make early breakthroughs, and be left facing an uphill struggle: the suggestion seems to be that the pink ball wears a lot quicker than the red / white ones, and that this Test will end up being a batsman’s game. It’s going to take some skilled captaincy by Knight, and persistence and accuracy by the England bowlers, to stop Australia’s mouth-watering batting line-up in its tracks.

4. Can they avoid a draw?

If Australia race away, bat for the first day and a half and England are left playing catch-up, there might well be a temptation to revert to defensive cricket – batten down the hatches and avoid defeat. In this instance, that would be tantamount to accepting defeat in the series.* England have to attack, attack, attack, from the start of day 1 to the end of day 4. Hopefully that’s exactly what Robinson is currently telling his players!

*NB: A draw would still keep England in the series (just), but they’d then have to win all 3 T20s – a format which hasn’t been their forte of late.

NEWS: Taylor Hits 85 & Wilson Makes Her Case As Test Warm-Up Drawn

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An unbeaten innings of 85 from Sarah Taylor put England in a position to claim a “points victory” in their day-night Test warm-up against a young Australia XI in Sydney.

Having come in with England in slightly dicey water at 91-4, Taylor built partnerships with Nat Sciver (42), Fran Wilson (45) and Katherine Brunt (43*) allowing the tourists to declare on 305-7 – an unassailable lead of 265, with 40-odd overs remaining in the day.

With Katherine Brunt rested from the attack, Kate Cross opened the bowling with Anya Shrubsole; but the target – in excess of 6-an-over – was just too big to tempt the Australians into a real chase, and they played instead for the draw – eventually closing on 182-7, after a late 3-fer for Heather Knight had made things a little bit interesting in the last couple of overs.

In terms of positives from the match as a whole, England avoided defeat (which looked a possibility at one stage) and there were runs for Winfield, who has struggled of late, and Taylor of course.

Whether anyone’s performances will have changed anything in terms of selection is an open question – Winfield was never likely to be dropped even if she hadn’t made a score here; but perhaps Fran Wilson, with her 45, has pushed the case that her runs might be worth more than Georgia Elwiss’s handful of medium-pace overs? (Elwiss didn’t take a wicket, and made 13 and 8 with the bat.)

Given that Sophie Ecclestone did not bowl at all in the 2nd innings (after bowling a lot of overs in the 1st), we’d guess that she was being rested and therefore will play in the Test, probably alongside Laura Marsh.

Probable England Test Team:

  1. Winfield
  2. Beaumont
  3. Knight
  4. Sciver
  5. Taylor
  6. Wilson
  7. Brunt
  8. Gunn
  9. Marsh
  10. Shrubsole
  11. Ecclestone

 

NEWS: Stalenburg Frustrates England In Warm-Up As Aussies Post 1st Innings Lead

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Sydney Thunder’s Naomi Stalenberg frustrated England on day 2 of their day-night Test warm-up against a young Australia XI in Sydney.

Stalenburg, looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2016/17 season which saw her average just 10 in WBBL, made 114 off 165 balls before finally being caught by Nat Sciver off Anya Shrubsole, as the Aussies battled their way past England’s 1st innings score of 231, to a final total of 271 all out.

Although none of the other Australians were able to surpass the 36 Georgia Redmayne made yesterday, they nonetheless hung around, with Molly Strano making the most significant contribution, lasting 66 balls for her 14, partnering Stalenburg through her 80s and 90s at the other end.

England used 8 bowlers, with Katherine Brunt adding 2 more wickets to the 2 she took last night, to finish with 4-37; and Sophie Ecclestone taking 2-58 off a marathon 22 overs. Kate Cross also got in on the action late-on with the tail-end wickets of Piepa Cleary (LBW) and Lauren Smith (bowled) as she finished with 2-36 off 9 overs.

Embarking on their second innings in the evening session, England lost Lauren Winfield early for 7; reaching 87-3 at stumps, having also lost Tammy Beaumont and Georgia Elwiss. Going into the final day England lead by 47 runs, with Heather Knight 34* and Nat Sciver 9* – a draw looking probably the most likely “positive” outcome for the tourists.

NEWS: Winfield In The Runs But England Bowled Out Cheaply In Warm-Up

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Lauren Winfield found some much-needed form ahead of the Women’s Ashes Test, as she made 82 off 161 balls on the first day of England’s 3-day Day-Night warm-up in Sydney.

However, wider questions about England’s batting fragility raised themselves once again, as they were bowled out for 231 by a young Australia XI – the next highest score after Winfield was Tammy Beaumont’s 28 off 74 balls, with Sophie Molineux and Lauren Smith taking 3 wickets apiece, as the Aussies took advantage of the “flexible” warm-up playing conditions to use 11 bowlers in the 71 overs England faced!

Katherine Brunt soon got stuck into the Australia XI’s reply – taking two wickets in two balls in her second over. By the close, the Aussies had recovered to 82-4, with Sophie Ecclestone and Laura Marsh taking the other wickets to fall.

England made one change to their batting order – bringing in Georgia Elwiss for Fran Wilson; and one change to the bowling – Laura Marsh replacing Alex Hartley. In terms of final Test selection, both are potentially “safety-first” all-rounder choices – with Elwiss bolstering the bowling with a few overs of medium pace, and Marsh offering a bit more batting at the tail of the innings.

However, it is quite possible that Hartley in particular could still play in the Test, in place of Ecclestone – it would be a big ask of either left-armer to play 7 days of cricket in 10 (this 3-day warm-up and the 4-day Test) so maybe England are just resting Hartley and the two will swap-out for the Test?

Kate Cross, meanwhile, was also named on England’s team-sheet, but did not bat or bowl on Day 1, reinforcing the impression that she is likely to play only if injuries intervene in England’s plans.

NEWS: Cross, Jones & Farrant Training With England Ahead Of Women’s Ashes Test

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Kate Cross, Amy Jones and Tash Farrant will all train with England ahead of the Women’s Ashes Test, which begins at the North Sydney Oval next Thursday.

Cross and Jones are in Australia playing WNCL state cricket for the Western Fury, who have won both their opening matches – Cross taking 3-26 against the Tasmania Roar; with Jones also making 48* in the same match – whilst Farrant is playing club cricket.

Although all 3 will play some part in this week’s Test preparations, with Cross likely to feature in England’s official warm-up in some capacity, reports that they have been “called-up” seem possibly a little wide of the mark – CRICKETher understands that they will be “considered for selection if required” – i.e. presumably if there are injury worries, which doesn’t appear to be the case at this stage.

With England having fought back in the 3rd ODI, changes to England’s settled batting line-up for the Test look unlikely; and (barring injuries) we’d expect at most one change in the bowling set-up; but it is more likely to be Hazell or Marsh coming in, rather than Cross, especially given that we now know that England’s other right-arm spin option – Heather Knight – has been nursing a foot injury, which would explain why she did not bowl at all during the ODIs.

England play a 3-day warm-up match, starting tomorrow at Bankstown, against a young Australia XI; with the Day-Night Test beginning at 3:30am UK time next Thursday morning.

Random Thoughts: Women’s Ashes 3rd ODI

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Never Say Die

With England already 4-0 down on points in this series, today’s game really was do or die – fortunately one thing we know about Mark Robinson’s England is that they never say die! With Australia 159-2 after 30 overs, chasing 278 with 8 wickets in hand, it really seemed (to us at least!) like the end might be nigh; but a combination of economical bowling and, eventually, some key wickets paid dividends. If England can win the Test they are right back in this series.

England’s Batting

This was, overall, a much improved performance with the bat from England, helped by the fact that they reverted to playing to their strengths, and choosing to bat when they won the toss. With 3 players – Taylor, Beaumont and Knight – all making 50, England’s best batsmen are at last showing some form.

Of the 3, Heather Knight’s innings was probably the most important. Having lost 3 wickets for 9 runs in the middle overs, England really needed her both to weather the storm and remain in until the end, AND to ensure that she kept the strike rate up above 100, so that they had time to set a competitive total – she managed both, finishing 88 not out from 80 balls.

One concern for England is their incomprehensible zeal for the ramp shot. Taylor whipped it out when still on 0* and was lucky not to be dismissed – Beaumont later followed suit, missed it completely and promptly found herself stumped on 74. Either the England coaches are giving some quite unhelpful advice, or the England batsmen are ignoring the advice they’re getting – either way, it’s a shot that doesn’t come off nearly enough for it to be worth the risk!

Wickets Early Doors

Robinson’s England are not known for their ability to build early foundations. In 2017 they’ve had only one 1st wicket partnership of over 50, largely because Lauren Winfield hasn’t backed up her excellent 2016 summer with subsequent consistent performances. In the 3 ODIs this series England’s first wicket has fallen with 47, 2 and 2 runs on the board, respectively.

Meanwhile Australia have racked up opening stands of 14, 98 and 118. In fact during today’s game Channel 9 brought up the following stat, which is rather concerning for a side who have generally been stronger with the ball than the bat:

It’s a stat backed up by the fact that today, of the five 10-over periods in the game, Australia were ahead in only the first 10:

Fighting back is a hallmark of this England side – but perhaps some early consistency might negate some of that need to always be playing catch up.

It should certainly provide food for thought going into the Test match, which England need to win to ensure the series is kept alive.

Random Thoughts: Women’s Ashes 2nd ODI

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Game Set & Match?

With two games played, the Australians are already 4-0 up in this Women’s Ashes series, so (assuming all matches are completed) England now need to win the Test and three of the four remaining limited overs games to bring home the trophy which started life in a wok at Lords, back in 1998.

Can they do it? Yes, of course they can – England haven’t become a bad team overnight!

Will they? Um… let’s just say it doesn’t look as easy as it did this time last week!

England: Taking The Positives

  1. England didn’t bowl too badly; and Sophie Ecclestone looked “born to run”, bowling 10 overs and going at under 5 runs per over, the only England bowler to do so.
  2. Katherine Brunt passed 50 for only the second time in her long international career – fully 12 years after the first – an Ashes Test at Worcester, way back in 2005, when she came in at 10 and batted for over two hours, putting on 85 for England’s final 1st innings wicket in partnership with Isa Guha.
  3. Alex Hartley still hasn’t been dismissed in international cricket. And she took a very good catch to dismiss Tahlia McGrath, proving that she really isn’t a complete numpty! (Not pointing fingers, but it is telling that when Katherine Brunt dropped a pretty straightforward Caught & Bowled, it was all “There are no easy catches!” and “It happens – move on!”; whereas when Alex Hartley did it, it was more like “That was easy!” and “She’s rubbish – drop her!”)

England: Taking The … Not Quite So Positives

  1. If Hartley’s catch was good, Knight’s to dismiss Villani was even better, but Villani and McGrath were both dismissed on 1; and when it really mattered (Perry, on 41; and Haynes on 60) England dropped two relatively unexacting chances. Perry went on to make 67, and Haynes 89 – that’s 55 runs gone begging, which wouldn’t quite have won the game, but would have made it a damn sight closer!
  2. Brunt’s dismissal – That’s a paddlin’! Gunn’s dismissal – That’s a paddlin’! Wrap us up in woolly socks and call us Granddad, but sometimes the paddle-sweep isn’t the right shot to play… and those sometimes are ALL THE TIME when you are trying to save the game with only the tail still to come.
  3. Last time out, none of England’s batsmen exactly “failed” – they just didn’t “succeed” by going big or long. This time around, several of them failed, whilst none of them (the “recognised” batsmen) went big or long. We’re not calling for anyone to be dropped or anything at this stage in the series; but even with the best bowling in the world, if we don’t make the runs we won’t win too many matches.

Australia

Australia definitely “won” this game more than England “lost” it – 4 of their top 5 batsmen made 50s, and their innings was perfectly paced – building and building towards a total which was probably always going to be a bit too much for England, even without the dropped catches.

And then they finished England off with the ball, without Ellyse Perry, who it looks like didn’t deserve to be taken off – though she didn’t appear to realise this, as she didn’t even wait for the umpire’s say-so before reaching for her cap. But it seems that the playing conditions override the laws – so although the laws have changed to say that a delivery only has to be “high” for the bowler to be warned and then subsequently taken off; the playing conditions say that it also has to be “dangerous”, which the second of Perry’s deliveries really wasn’t.

NEWS: England Set For 2018 Tri-Series v South Africa & New Zealand

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England are looking set to host South Africa and New Zealand in a packed summer of international cricket in 2018.

England’s season will begin with the 3 ICC Women’s Championship ODIs against South Africa in June, before New Zealand come to the party for a 6-match round-robin T20 Tri-Series, culminating in a final on 1st July, at the County Ground in Chelmsford.

New Zealand will then play their 3 Championship ODIs versus England in mid-July, prior to the Kia Super League, which all of the top players are of course expected to stay on for.

With the World T20 coming up in the Caribbean that autumn, the T20 Tri-Series will act as both an early warm-up and an important yardstick of the teams’ progress in the game’s shortest format. South Africa and New Zealand will both be among the leading teams challenging for the World T20 trophy, so next summer will represent a stern test for England as they look to add a second world crown to the World Cup they won last summer!

ICC Women’s Championship ODIs v South Africa

9 June – First ODI v South Africa – New Road, Worcester, 11am

12 June – Second ODI v South Africa – The 1st Central County Ground, Hove (D/N), 1pm

15 June – Third ODI v South Africa – Canterbury (D/N), 2pm

T20 Tri-Series – England, South Africa & New Zealand

20 June – The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, South Africa v New Zealand, 1pm start; England v South Africa, 5:40pm

23 June – The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, England v South Africa, 1pm start; England v New Zealand, 5:40pm

28 June – The Brightside Ground, Bristol, South Africa v New Zealand, 1pm start; England v New Zealand, 5:40pm

1 July – Final – The Cloudfm County Ground, Chelmsford, 3pm

ICC Women’s Championship ODIs v New Zealand

7 July – First ODI v New Zealand – Emerald Headingley, 11am

10 July – Second ODI v New Zealand – The 3aaa County Ground, Derby (D/N), 1pm

13 July – Third ODI v New Zealand – The Fischer County Ground, Grace Road (D/N), 2pm

Kia Super League Finals Day

27 August – The 1st Central County Ground, Hove

Random Thoughts: Women’s Ashes 1st ODI

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A Close Game?

The scoreboard will tell you this was a close match, won with just 5 balls to spare; but on the pitch Australia’s margin of victory felt a lot more convincing than that – more like 5 overs than 5 balls! This is partly down to the completely unflappable nature of Alex Blackwell – most players would have pressed the panic button watching Tahlia McGrath make 7 off 26 balls at the other end; but Blackwell just kept playing like it was never in doubt… and in the end she was right – it wasn’t!

A Low Scoring Game?

On what all the experts reckoned was a good pitch, England’s 228 – a run rate of 4.6 – felt a little short; and indeed it was well short of the 5.7 an over England averaged at the World Cup. But Australia also fell well short of the 5.4 per over they averaged at WWC17, chasing England’s total at 4.7 an over, so by recent standards it was a fairly low-scoring game. Was this to do with all the rain they’ve had in Brisbane? Perhaps – both teams had their warm-up preparations severely disrupted; but the field of play itself looked okay – remarkably, given the pictures we saw of the rain falling and the super-soppers at work yesterday – so was there something else at work?

Two Balls Better?

This was the first time these teams have played an ODI under the new playing conditions, with two balls – one at either end – and you can tell the players aren’t used to it: more than once the bowler went to return the ball to the captain at the end of the over, only to be reminded by the umpire that he (as it was in both cases here) holds on to it now!

The men have been playing with two balls for a while now – since 2011 – and there is still debate about the effect, made all the more hazy by the pull-through of T20-style power-hitting into the 50-over game. But the change was designed to benefit the bowlers, and in the immediate short term, it does seem to have caused run-rates to fall a bit – from 5.23 an over in the year before the change, to 5.18 in the year after*.

Is that what we are seeing here? Certainly when you talk to the bowlers, the ball getting old quickly has been a constant complaint, so you’d guess they feel like it should benefit them; but obviously this is just one game, so who knows? But it is definitely something to add to the list of things to investigate in a year or so’s time!

Call The Plod!

From an England fan’s perspective, if you want to Take the Positives™ then they didn’t collapse – the top 6 all got starts, and all looked reasonably comfortable; but the problem was than none of them pushed on and they all plodded… with big, ploddy boots on!

Ideally you want players to score big runs, and if they can’t do that then you want them to score quick runs; but nobody quite did either – nobody got past 50, and the highest strike rate (of the batsmen) was Fran Wilson’s 84. Contrast Heather Knight’s innings with Alyssa Healy’s: they made similar runs (15 vs 18) but Healy made her 18 in 15 balls at a strike rate of 120; Knight made her 15 in 33 balls at a strike rate of 45 – that is a big, big difference at this (or I guess any other) level of cricket; and that’s where England really must do better.

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* Top 8 teams in men’s ODIs, the years before & after October 2011.