Pakistan

The visitors weren’t awful – they weren’t overawed, but ultimately they were overwhelmed. With the bat they preserved their wickets at the expense of scoring runs; and they lacked that little bit of professional sharpness in the field, as witnessed by the massive let-off for Tammy Beaumont when she really ought to have been run out after a horrible mix-up with her skipper when she was on 49. Are Pakistan anywhere near up there with England? No! But do they belong at this level? On the evidence of today, absolutely; and playing in these kinds of conditions now sets them up to be ready for the World Cup next year, for which they will still hope to qualify via the Qualifying Tournament.

England

England’s “Brave New World” didn’t look that brave or that new today – no new cap for Alex Hartley… and not even a game for Fran “Like A New Cap” Wilson. It is to be hoped that we see the two of them later in the ODI series, especially as ODIs rather than T20s would (you’d think) be their preferred environment. But the really important thing is that they got the victory – they aren’t 100% happy with their bowling or their fielding, and rightly so, but a win is a win!

Heather Knight

Those who know Knight won’t be surprised to find that the “burden” of captaincy has quickly affected her form in the most positive of ways. She might not be “flashy”, either as a player or an individual, but as captain at Berkshire, Hobart Hurricanes, and now England, she has stood up and taken responsibility. Bowling-wise, she might not turn it much at all, but she lands it on a spot, and when you build pressure like that, the bad shots will come and the catches will follow. With the bat, she played quite conservatively, a lot off the back foot; but if her role going forward is to anchor the team coming in at 4, that is the game she needs to play in this kind of situation. (But in another situation, she can (and would) play differently.)

Tammy Beaumont

This was TB’s best performance in an England shirt, and it really does start to look as if Robinson might have had a transformative effect on someone who has always been able to do it at county, but has consistently struggled for England. She moved her feet like Ginger Rogers and punched like Nicola Adams; but she does need to remember to play to her strengths, driving in front of the wicket – the only times she looked shaky today were when she became a bit too expansive, not least the terrible shot she got out to.

Katherine Brunt

Brunt finally got her 100th ODI wicket, something which has been weighing a little on her, because it has taken some time to move past 99; but that’s what happens when you are the best – people play you differently, and the wickets are genuinely harder to come by. So don’t panic – she isn’t struggling or losing her form – and she remains key to England’s World Cup prospects next year.

Syd Egan & Raf Nicholson look at some of the selection dilemmas facing England coach Mark Robinson as he considers his side for the ODIs against Pakistan next week.

Dilemma 1: Lauren Winfield v Tammy Beaumont

In the post-dystopian wasteland that is English cricket without Charlotte Edwards, the first question Mark Robinson has to answer is: who will open with Heather Knight? Robinson obviously thinks highly of Beaumont – saying recently he was “excited” to see if she could build on her World T20 performances – and she is the highest run scorer in this season’s County Championship; but Winfield opened in the ODIs in South Africa, albeit not terribly successfully, scoring just 22 runs in the 3-match series. SE

Dilemma 2: Amy Jones v Fran Wilson

With Sarah Taylor currently out of the equation, another difficult call for Robinson is going to be: who should bat at number 3? While Jones will no doubt be an automatic selection as Taylor’s former under-glove butler, it remains to be seen whether she can step up and anchor an innings in the way that the no. 3 position requires. Wilson, on the other hand, is not only back to full fitness but appears to have made a good case for herself batting at 3 for the Academy, fresh from making 88 against Ireland A at Loughborough last week. RN

Dilemma 3: Georgia Elwiss v Jenny Gunn

It’s the Battle Of The All-Rounders. In the Blue Corner, we have Jenny Gunn: for so long England’s Heavyweight Champion. In the Red Corner, we have Georgia Elwiss: the young(ish!) upstart who alone of England’s batsmen came out of the Canterbury Test last summer with her head held high. Gunn may have played 232 internationals for England to date, but if the last month is anything to go by, Robinson seems quite prepared – indeed almost eager – to discard experience in favour of potential. Is Gunn’s time as England’s front-line all-rounder at a close? RN

Dilemma 4: Kate Cross v Tash Farrant

There is a good chance England will go into the series with just the two seamers (Shrubsole and Brunt) but if either of them gets injured, or they decided to try to take advantage of English conditions while they can, then it comes down to a shoot-out between Kent’s Farrant and Lancashire’s Cross. Farrant has impressed this year in domestic cricket – she is the leading wicket-taker in Division 1 of the County Championship – but Cross is the more likely candidate to eventually take over opening the bowling from Brunt when she retires, so if Robinson is building for the future, he might well be looking to give her a chance against Pakistan. SE

Dilemma 5: Becky Grundy v Alex Hartley

The battle of the left-armers is probably the most interesting of Robinson’s dilemmas, because the way it falls will be quite telling of the direction Robinson intends to take. Hartley is without a shadow of a doubt the better bowler, but she is also what they call a Genuine No. 11™ while Grundy had a good game with both bat and ball for the Academy last week against Ireland. Then again, Robinson could pass them both by and pick Lancashire’s Sophie Ecclestone, who at just 17 really is “the future”. SE

Simon Pearson writes…

This seems like an odd question given the constant mantra from the ECB and England players extolling the continued growth in the sport (1.3 million girls through Chance to Shine for example) but, in my experience at least, the competitive club side of the sport is dying, and that is before any impact from the KSL which, I fear, is likely to hit hard once the 50 over competition starts, presumably next year.

I say this because the number of teams is falling. A few seasons ago our County used to have nine teams in the leagues; they now have four. One of the local leagues has lost a substantial proportion of its members. Our team has only played one game so far this season due to other teams being unable to field a side, and we have just heard that another club has withdrawn from the league due to lack of availability of players. Ironically this is one of the clubs which has been featured on CRICKETher.

Lack of cricket at an appropriate level is a constant theme, and it’s interesting that the England coach has raised the same point because it is, of course, one of the aims behind the KSL. Generally women’s teams seem to play less than half the fixtures of the equivalent men’s teams, even before the concessions start. Recent surveys have confirmed the desire for more cricket but the changes brought in have resulted in even less.

It seems to me that the club scene has no role in the ECB/County pathway and so is largely ignored. Although there are very few clubs playing competitive league cricket in our County, our club has never been visited to see what players we have. It is also of note that the ECB have given up their role in the Premier Divisions and, I was told, will no longer protect club days.

The main emphasis seems to be on Chance to Shine. This was clearly demonstrated during a meeting called by my County several seasons ago to discuss Women’s and Girls’ Cricket. A question was asked about what the plan was for the girls as they got older, and there was no answer. We later heard that a club had lost all their older girls to another sport – not, as is often said, due to other interests but simply because there was nowhere for them to play. Most of our County girls who are at clubs at all are where there is no women’s team. When I was involved (some years back), very few played any cricket other than County and were not encouraged to do so.

One issue seems to be that Chance to Shine feeds few, if any, girls into the clubs – we have never seen one and, in fact, currently have no juniors at all.

The pathway seems to be Chance to Shine -> County Age Groups -> County -> KSL -> England.

My fear is that the game is on the edge and the KSL will push it over. Am I being overly pessimistic?

Some seasons ago I recall there was a rule that to field a County side you had to have a minimum number of league teams – maybe this should be brought back. Maybe to qualify to play at County at U15 and above you should be required to be playing in an approved competitive league.

Or maybe we should simply give up on women’s club cricket and feed the ladies into men’s teams at an appropriate level; at least they would get to play more. Unfortunately many do not want to do this, and many club facilities are not suitable.

Another issue is the verbal abuse they suffer. Contrary to what the ECB etc seem to think, a number of women I have spoken to have left clubs due to what they have been subjected to, often by their own teams.

The question of how we move forward is rather difficult to answer since there seems to be little reliable information as to where we are – the figures put forward by the ECB are regarded with considerable scepticism by those on the ground. But it is clear that the women’s game is very different from the men’s and we need to think outside the box.

While in a men’s club you can bring in new players who will find a place in whatever XI is appropriate for their standard, very few women’s clubs now have even a 2nd XI – further evidence of the decline. This means that it is very hard for players to join a club whose team is playing in an upper division. Maybe clubs should be more open to loaning players so they get the cricket they need, and it might help to keep struggling teams going. I raised this at a County area meeting a few years ago but it met with a hostile reception. Another possibility is a group of clubs getting together and co-operating.

Maybe I am exaggerating things, but I am more pessimistic than ever about the future. In my view the next couple of seasons are crucial if we are not to lose this level of cricket altogether.