Playing against the best, in a legend's place
Post categories: Cricket
| 19:23 UK time, Saturday, 20 February 2010
How great it is to be back in India. The warm weather is a far cry from the recent snow at home and cricket is absolutely everywhere. From the adverts to the endless cricket channels on TV, it is great to be here with the many great cricketers in and around the stadium.
In particular Michael Vaughan, who was here working with the England Under-18's boys. He was kind enough to give us a team talk before our warm-up match which inspired me greatly. It was interesting to hear a fantastic England captain talking about taking responsibility, looking at yourself in the mirror and the challenges of trying to get to and stay on the top. A challenge which we are fully aware of and at the same time excited about.
Ebony Rainford-Brent will be part of England's tour including five ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals
So, after our inspiring talk before our warm-up match it was nice to get off to a good start, beating a Board President's XI comfortably, by over 100 runs. Our top order scored well, with Squirt (Sarah Taylor) and Lydia (Greenway) both cashing in with healthy half centuries, to get us a total of 273. For me personally it was not the greatest start, getting out by missing a straight one for one run, but to be positive I told myself it's always best to get them out of the way early.
On the morning of our first one-day international I was excited - it's always a great feeling to represent your country. I was given the number three spot of the legendary Claire Taylor, where I rarely bat at, so I was looking forward to the challenge.
I was also excited about facing Jhulan Goswami as I have admired her for many years and was looking forward to seeing how I faced up to her. We bowled first and Nunny (Katherine Brunt) and Anyanka (Anya Shrubsole) got us of to a great start bowling tight and throwing in a few aggressive bouncers. We performed well in the field restricting the Indians to 199, which we would be happy with on most days.
In our batting innings we got off to a slow start and lost Sarah Taylor early, meaning I was in against Goswami. She is one of the best female bowlers I have ever faced, bowling tight lines on off.
After we saw her off I was away. We needed to get on with it and managed to up the rate by hitting 16 off one over. I was gutted to get out to a low full toss lbw in the 60s, as I really needed to have stayed in and finished the job. This became more evident as we lost our last six wickets for 19 runs and fell short by 35 runs.
Although a poor batting performance, we are aware we are a quality squad and still have an opportunity to come back and win the series. Personally, it is always nice to make a few runs at number three and if I get more chances to bat, I will see if I can stick at it to take the game home...so I guess it's watch this space!
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~53~RS~)
Hi I'm Ebony, welcome to my blog. I play cricket for Surrey Women and England, and have represented my country at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, the Women's World Twenty20 and the Ashes. All of which we won. I'm here to give you an insight in to playing women's cricket at the top level. 
Comments
Good to see you're finally getting a chance to bat high up in the order Ebz. Have always rated you!
Great knock! Good luck with the rest of the tour!
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In less than an hour we will be taking the field once again in Bangalore, for the second ODI. I'm nervous. We must not go 2-0 down. Obviously, I'm itching to see the teams, but in the meantime, "Good luck, England. Back here in the freezing wilds of Europe, you've got us sweating on a victory"
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Its nice to see you getting to bat higher!Did you ever play in the london youth games because i play for bromley and we won all three of are qualifiers and now get to go play at lords which is very exciting.
come on girls do it for us
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1-1. Sounds like it was a great game! Good contribution again from Ebony and an allround performance from Jenny Gunn. Great stuff from nunny especially in the conditions which are normally suited to spinners.
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FleetJackHobbs - if you were nervous before the game how were you feeling when India were 173-5 needing a mere 11 off 3.1 overs ? One of more amazing cases of a team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Kamini must be quite badly injured because Raj made it to strikers end during the runout with Sultana so Kamini would have only needed to stand at the non-strikers end and let Raj belt a 4 from the last 3 balls.
Credit to Nunny (5-22), Jen (64, 2-38), Beaumont (standing up and stumping Goswani off Jen, who ain't the slowest bowler in the world - big wicket that one), Boggy (eco rate of 2.9 off 10 overs).
Glad to see Shaggy opening. Couldn't understand why she was at about No6 in 1st ODI. She's not the quickest scorer so she's wasted at No6 and has done pretty well opening in the past and playing anchor.
Still need middle/lower order to contribute a bit more.
Game on.
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Lladarbheinn: The direct answer to your question is that by that time, I was asleep! I tried to stay awake for India's innings, but age and decay is getting to me, I'm afraid! :) - Anyway, it was a wonderful surprise to wake up and find we'd done it. I've added my comments to your excellent 606 article.
(With one eye on the Caribbean in April/May, I hope it is not irrelevant to note that Australia flattened NZ 5-0 in the recent Rose Bowl series. However, the Ferns pulled one back in Hobart last night and lead the 3-match T20 series 1-0)
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I do worry slightly about the team, especially in light of recent results. They've had a fabulous couple of years but the weak links in the side are being highlighted not least in terms of some of the players coming through.
Australia have rebuilt (much as they have done in the men's game) and will be very strong. England at full strength can match them but you have to wonder how long Taylor/Colvin will need to find top form.
Interesting times ahead - a few younger players coming in as well.
http://crictips.com
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It might not be as bad as you say, Scimk. We've been well prepared for mishaps on this tour in that we have a group of young players at the Academy in India, which is why we've been able to draft Knight into the English squad so smoothly, following the hip injury to SJ Taylor.
Our full Academy group in India is as follows:
England Academy squad
Lauren Griffiths (Cheshire)
Susie Rowe (Kent)
Lauren Onojaife (Essex)
Beth Macgregor (Essex)
Heather Knight (Devon).......... (now drafted into touring squad)
Kate Cross (Lancashire)
Jasmine Titmuss (Nottinghamshire)
Rochelle Petty (Yorkshire)
Jenny Halstead (Middlesex)
Charlie Russell (Sussex)
Izzy Westbury (Somerset)
Karen Baker (Kent)
Fran Wilson (Somerset)
Reserves:
Jo Cook (Essex)
Georgia Elwiss (Staffordshire)
They're all youngsters and they all want to move up a notch.
However, I take your point in general. A team that does not plan for the future is a team about to become dead wood. With the likes of Clare Connor, Mark Lane and Edwards herself at the helm of women's cricket in England there's not much chance of that happening to us.
HOWEVER! The two young players to watch out for in the Caribbean this year are both Caribbean themselves. I'd say every competing team will need to take stock of Taylor and Dottin.
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Ebs,
Your cricket career only lasts for the time you play cricket, whereas your memories last a lifetime. Having spent/played a year and half in Pakistan & India I realise that that most of my memories bring back golden times, meeting so many fantastic people. Just ENJOY & REMEMBER because there will be times that a warm glow will come over you when remembering your games and tribulations within that region. Even when I watch Slumdog Millionair brings back great memories. My last England tour was in '84 - '85 and yet I still have contact with lovely people from that time. Remember to do your arm strengthening execises I told you about
Good luck and keep concentrating.
Love Pat(Percy)Pocock
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Thanks for all your comments and it's particularly good news to have Pat Pocock on board.
Just to let you know - we are expecting to hear from Ebs twice more before she flies home from India.
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Welcome Ebony! I've read about you for a while, and it's nice to actually read you now. (In print, anyway!)
I have a question about women's cricket, though not a specific one about the tour. It's about women playing for men's teams. This happens at high school level - I believe at least a few of your teammates were in the Boys First XI while at high school, yes?
Anyway, has there been an instance of a female cricketer to play for a men's county side? (Is it even allowed by the ICC?) Could there be? If, hypothetically, a girl suddenly turned up who could spin better than Shane Warne and then wanted to enter the men's game, what obstacles would she face off-pitch and on-pitch? Could she be a contender? Could cricket ever have the equivalent (or more) of a Hayley Wickenheiser?
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Interesting set of questions buymespresso (to which I don't know the answer I'm afraid).
The scenario that occurred to me a few months ago was that of the England men's team being on tour in India at the same time the England Women's team is either on tour or over there for a training tour. The morning of the men's test match both keepers do down with a stomach upset (not exactly impossible) and the pitch is due to turn square by the 4th day. The men's team need an experienced keeper not least because of the number of overs predicted to be bowled by spinners. In such a situation could they call in the England's women's keeper ?
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@ 11 & 12:
There is probably a rule or regulation to do with the issues raised, but I don't know it. I can confirm that Colvin and SJ Taylor played in the School First XI at Brighton College; and in university cricket SC Taylor has two Oxford half-blues for cricket (playing in predominently male teams, obviously!). Among the current squad in India, many profiles indicate that at some point the player has turned out for a largely male team.
I'd like to think that if a woman were good enough and strong enough to play (male) County Cricket, and preferred to do so, then any rule preventing her ought to be changed.
It will no doubt happen one day that a woman is picked to play for England (men). In living memory we've had any number of "first women to..." 'to fly in space,' 'to sail round the world,' 'to ride in the Grand National...' take your pick. And why not? They play mixed doubles at Wimbledon, don't they? My own daughter climbs up volcanoes for fun, for heaven's sake! To me, the only real criterion is whether the player is "good enough," whether they're the best at what they do.
However! Suppose we turn the question round and ask if there are rules governing a state of affairs in which a man wants to play for a women's team. What then? Women's cricket is very well organised. With the likes of Clare Connor (Eng.) and Belinda Clark (Aus.)in senior positions it's small wonder. There may well be many women who enjoy playing women's cricket and have no wish to play alongside men.
Knowing my countrymen, my forecast is that on the day a woman is picked to play for England (men), the entire press will be rattling on about shared or mixed changing rooms. Questions in Parliament! Mark my words!
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......... shared or SEPARATE changing rooms .... Doh!
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As a coach and father of a daughter who plays cricket (with the boys and girls) I find this is an interesting topic but maybe one worth discussing at length elsewhere. I would suggest that all the England women's team have definitely played mixed cricket and played against men's teams. Ebony?
It will be an indicator of how how far women's cricket has come when they no longer have to cross over and develop purely through the existing women's county set-up. When the girls start off playing there are those that just play (usually though family links dads/brothers) and those that want to play cricket as a girls only activity. How they develop is down to coaching and opportunities.
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hainba (#15) - it might be a good idea to discuss this topic at length right now because there is not a lot to talk about after the 3rd ODI !! Maybe the Indian conditions are just too difficult for our batters to adjust to ?
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A comprehensive victory to India last night and due congratulations to Goswami's team. I followed the game on cricinfo for as long as I could and there seemed no doubt that India meant business. Within 7 balls. Rainford-Brent was back in the hutch, joined there in what seemed like no time by Atkins and Gunn. After that bad start (27/3) the rest seemed like an inevitable consequence. Where, one pined, were the days when Atkins and SJ Taylor seemed to lay a solid foundation virtually every time they walked out to bat?
So! What now? We're 2-1 down in the series, with two matches to play. From what I've seen so far, we can stay in against India's varied attack, but there's also the little matter of scoring runs. Every time we try to get them away, we fall. Maybe it's worth mentioning that Edwards herself has been stumped twice running, presumably trying to beef up the run tally.
It was always going to be a tough tour. Right now, our task is tougher.
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In answer to FJH's question "So! What now?", and based on
(a) the individual scores during the 3 ODIs:-
0;0;0;0;0;0;2;2;2;4;4;4;4;4*;6*;7*;8;9;12;15;18;21;21;22;22;22;24;24;27;35;61;64
(b) only 4 innings over 25
(c) the fact no individual has agreggated 100 runs yet
I think the answer (tongue in cheek) is spend some time in the nets !
It must be gutting to spend all that time preparing and practicing and then most of batters can't quite 'step up to the plate'. As stated earlier, maybe the Indian conditions are just too difficult for our batters to adjust to.
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As both the main team and A team are spending time on the sub-continent one would hope this experience will hold them in good stead.
I'm sure Ebony will rise to the challenge as opener but to lose two openers would affect any international team. Hopefully some time in the nets and a good long talk from Mark Lane with stir performances from the team to take the series 3-2!
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Attaboy, Hainba! That's the spirit. The sober part of me says we have only today for adjustments. 4th ODI on Friday!
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The girls do play mens cricket. Squirt and Colvin have played Brighton college.Squirt was the first woman player ever to play in the Darton first XI along with nunny. Wyatt is at Derbyshire Academy. Hazell is on the Durham lads Academy.Ebony is at Surrey Academy with the lads.
Others play for mens teams around the country either at 1st team level or 2nd team. Its not always beneficial for the girls to be playing mens cricket as when they play in the womens form its a totally different game however it does toughen them up and gets them used to facing quicker balls, bowling against stronger (physically) batsman and fielding to harder hit balls.
Players are often busy at the weekends with womens matches or spending time with family on a Saturday before playing womens on a sunday.
England will come back strong on Friday!! Its a must win game... and theyll be well up for it!! What a great series! Shame its not on television!
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Regarding mixed sex cricket. Yes it happens right up to club level I believe, however I can't see it ever happenning in the pro ranks. Firstly like it or not there won't be very many women who could manage at that level, some yes undoubtedly but not many. Those not many would then be taken away for extended periods just like the best male players are for the international game. The most likely scenario of a mixed game would be that very few women would ever actually play at that level other than for the odd month or two where internationals are not scheduled. As for international play, with all the best will in the world 99% of male players can not cope with an international quality pace attack bearing down on them, never mind the generally smaller women. A specialist spinner is probably the only role that would make sense physically unless the women in question is particularly strong.
It would be interesting to see how things could work out, perhaps having a match of some sort pitching members of the mens and womens team against each other (5/6 of each) might not be a bad idea, it would be a bit of fun on one hand and raise the profile of the Women's game on another.
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At junior level it is still fun to watch mixed games as the boys do not like getting out to the girls.
Having seen England play Australia last year scheduling more same day 20/20 matches seems the way forward to increase exposure and attendances. There is still a certain technical quality and semi-pro enthusiasm in the way the team go about the game that is a joy to watch.
Bizarrely all the women's tour games this summer are mid week so I would have to take my daughter out of school to see them play unless we can organise a 'school trip'.
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C'mon England....
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@ 22:
That's a sane and rationally argued post, hackerjack, if I may say so. I agree on the specialist spinner role and in that connection I'll be curious to see if Colvin makes it into Durham University's first XI this season.
@ 23. "...... (the) boys do not like getting out to (the) girls..." - Hope it's in order to sew a little light relief at this tense hour - and I've told this story once before (on 606) - but when Colvin (sla) and SJ Taylor (wkt) played together for Brighton College they were well known for winding up opposing batsmen (adolescent boys!) with the sledge, "We got you in a girlie samndwich!"
Apropos women's cricket elsewhere, what does anyone make of the fact that Australia have just caned NZ 5-0 in their ODI series, and NZ have caned Australie 3-0 in the subsequent T20 series? Ferns putting all their eggs into the Caribbean basket?
Returning to the matter in hand, tomorrow in Visakhapatnam, there was an interesting cricinfo report on the last game in which it was pointed out that despite their handsome victory, India's fielding was lamentable. Can't we exploit that? As EnglandWomensFan points out (@ 21), this is a must-win game. If we lose the match, we lose the series....
... so (@ 24) Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah!!!!!
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FJH - If Indian's fielding was lamentable and we scored only 130 then the 130 represents England exploting that lamentable fielding - the scary question thus becomes how much less would we have scored if Indian fielding had been good !!
Taking the players from the 3rd ODI, the total of England's player averages is 208 compared to India's 212. This suggests that the games should be much closer than the 1st and 3rd were. That 208 represents the average so England batters only have to exceed their individual averages for England to get a total of well over 200.
Also, perhaps if we didn't send down so many wides we'ld improve our chances. So far we've sent down 29 in 3 games (28 if one ignores the one that Trigger sent down to get Goswami stumped).
In truth we were well beaten in the 1st and 3rd and only just won the 2nd which suggests the Indian's are playing better and we'll have to really up our game to beat them on Friday. Hope springs eternal.
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Hi Ebony, I met you at a coaching course in Hereford last summer where you taught me some batting skills. Great to see you're doing so well in India. Hope to see you again. Good luck from Hannah.
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Captain's knock from Edwards, but India require only 153 to take the match and the series. Come on Brunt!
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Oh dear not enough, a morale boosting win is needed before the T20 stuff.
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Series Summary
[1] Our batting simply was not good enough
[2] Tails and Raj are in a different league to all other batters and India had Raj (and she showed why she is No1 ranked) and England didn't have Tails.
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I'm choked. I had high hopes that we could pull this series victory off - and maybe, if SJ Taylor had not been forced out by injury, we'd still be in it. From all I've gleaned, Rainford-Brent was all set to bat at 3, when suddenly she had to re-adjust and open; she never seemed at home against Goswami and the new ball. Goswami bowls tightly, giving nothing away; she pins the batter down till impatience forces one into having a go just for the sake of getting a run on the board: and of course, in that moment, they are done for. - When you consider that 173* and 145 are the top ODI scores of Edwards and Atkins respectively, then add in that Rainford-Brent, Gunn, Greenway and Morgan have each recorded scores of 60/70 in the past, it gives an idea of how our batters have under-performed on this tour (v. LahderBheinn's analysis, above).
Having said that, we should pay tribute to India's bowlers and the way Goswami has handled them. Last night, she rang the changes astutely, subjecting our batters to the almost "infinite variety" of their attacking options. They have f/m, m/f, sla, sra - accurate pace and spin in good measure. Now add in the wonderfully economical Dimri, bowling left arm chinaman, and you have an attack to bamboozle the best.
I thought Edwards was admirable last night. She came in with the score at 26/2 (as the result of a disastrously unlucky run-out) and was there unbeaten at the death. It was a responsible and courageous innings, but even she was becalmed for long periods, unable to do much more than pick off singles, knowing that if she went, there wasn't much to come.
Oh well. No good rattling on. Whatever the analysis, we lost and must now do our very best to make our series loss 3-2 rather than 4-1.
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(ref #30) Sad to relate I missed of a third point from the Series Summary so ........
[3] Two of our bowlers have combined figures of 14-251 from the 4 ODIs, the other six have combined figures of 4-399
There won't be many from the team who will be looking back at this series with fond memories I'm afraid.
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...... and I should add that despite the cold cold analysis of #30 and #32, the level of disappointment among the players will far exceed that of us bloggers. Sometimes one tries one's best and it just doesn't happen.
It would be nice to see ODI5 used by Laney to play the two members of the squad who haven't played a match yet. Let's see what Heather Knight can do with the bat and Danielle Wyatt with the ball. A dead rubber doesn't come along that often (even when a team is 4-0 up there is something at stake, namely a whitewash) so its an ideal chance to try things out.
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This is certainly not an England set-up that intended to rest on its laurels and will have worked hard to prepare for this series so will be doubly disappointed I'm sure.
Roswami & Raj are great players peforming in their own backyard - a true test of our players international credentials.
The success of last year will seem very far away but I'm sure there are great things tocome from these players and the debutants if they learn from this experience....
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Having spent yesterday with my head in a bucket of sand, I've come up for air - and am inclined to agree @ 33, that we should give both Knight and Wyatt a run-out on Monday. We all have to start somewhere, so why not in a dead rubber, as LB suggests?
In fact, I might be as rash as to suggest we play Hazell and Shrubsole as well - and give Brunt a well-earned rest: Brunt has been one of England's few bowling successes on this tour and we will definitely need her fit and strong in the Caribbean. - Also, there are three T20 matches coming up and we will want to be at full strengh for those.
I feel there's a debate looming over the composition of our side and the introduction of young blood. Some of the faces we know have been around quite a long time, which would be all very well if their performances were making them "undropable," but frankly, they ain't! The Caribbean first, then the debate sezI.
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Interesting contribution as always from FJH and it bravely raises the issuing of dropping players for the first time (first time in many a blog I've read recently anyway). That debate probably is 'looming' but won't get much air time until after the 20-20 WC in May (as I think FJH suggests). I can't see Laney bringing anyone new into the squad for the 20-20 WC.
The women play so little international cricket it's actually quite difficult to change around personnel. A squad will be announced for NZ in the summer and that'll be it (barring injuries) regardless of whether the team play brilliantly or poorly.
The big question Laney has to address is whether he is confident the current squad (+ 2 x Taylors and Holly) can win the next ODI WC or whether this summer represents the chance to see whether there are other players ready to step up and make consistent and significant contributions.
I'm not going to name anyone in particular but this tour and the WI tour has represented a golden opportunity for some experienced players to step up in the absence of the Taylors/Colvin and I think we have to be honest and state this has not happened. I'm not doubting their commitment and indeed not criticising them, just making what is a very obvious point of fact.
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The future composition of the team is indeed an interesting discussion point.
The team has three camps the established, new blood and the players returning from sabbatical or injury. The team for the T20 World Cup.
I doubt there will be wholesale changes for the T20 world cup but after that a longer term squad selection view from Lane & Edwards will be seen when the Kiwi's return planning for a future without Claire Taylor for example.
But at the moment Taylor, Taylor, Rainford-Brent, Edwards & Greenway sounds like the best possible batting platform to retain the T20 WC.
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@ 37.
But at the moment Taylor, Taylor, Rainford-Brent, Edwards & Greenway sounds like the best possible batting platform to retain the T20 WC.
-----------
I'd go for: SJ Taylor, Atkins, Rainford-Brent, SC Taylor, Edwards, Greenway
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Without the 2 Taylors the 20/20 series against India won't be much of a guide. For the WC2020, I suspect we'll see Squirt, Ebs, Tails and Lottie in the top four but could be in a different order (eg Lottie opening). Can't see Shaggy getting into the top 4 because of her 20/20 scoring rate. For WC2020 one needs to bat down to at least No 8 and I'd wager slots 5,6,7 and 8 are there for the taking if anyone can step up and grab one. Bowling wise I suspect Nunny and Holly are nailed on definates.
In summary I think 6 slots are 'decided' leaving 5 slots up for grabs.
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Knights a run machine! Has a batting average of well over 90 at county level and 60 in the southern premier league... definatly one to replace c.taylor in the future.
Lets hope they both get a game tomorrow and show us what theyre made of!!!
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by both i mean knight and wyatt who havent played yet
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Real challenge for England's batting: India 206-9
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Well done a genuine team effort to overhaul the Indian total and particular mention for the new blood Knight & Wyatt.
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This is probably the most positive game of the tour
1. Knight scores 49 in her first ODI innings in India of all places and in 33c heat
2. The innings didn't collapse when 133-5 (which has tended to do in the past) needing 74 off 74 balls largely due to .......
3. Wyatt comes in at 133 for 5 and is still there at the end in her first ODI innings scoring at greater than a run a ball
4. Hazell scores 18 of 11 balls - exactly what was needed at that time
I'm not suggesting that Knight, Wyatt and Hazell are suddenly going to be world class batters but it does give Laney options and England need a pool of about 20 players that are genuine contenders for the 11 places rather than about 13 or 14. Laney needs selection headaches of the right sort and a set of eager young players who are more than willing and able to put pressure on incumbents.
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Congratulations to England on their exciting victory last night. I see BBC has neither a report, nor a scorecard up. Why not? Here's cricinfo's report for anyone who wants to read it, although LB (above) has posted most of the essential information:
http://www.cricinfo.com/women/content/current/story/450464.html
It must be a catching habit for England captains to give themselves a rest; Shaw captained the side last night while Edwards sat it out, presumably taking stock with Mark Lane.
A few odd reflections:
Well as she batted (and many congratulations), it must have been galling for Knight to miss out on a debut 50 by a single run! It's worth noting that this teenager batted at # 1 against Goswami & Dhar for her 49. That's good going - very good!
I think I'm right in saying that every game in the series went to the team that won the toss. In each case, the winner opted to field. Maybe that says something about the conditions in India - on both east and west coasts.
Kaur batted well for India. She, Raj and Dabir were responsible for India's 200+ total. Kaur has done that before, but this was her first game in the series. Undoubtedly, India will be travelling to the Caribbean with high hopes. - Dimri was rested for this game and she has been a thorn in England's side all series; not apparently a big wicket taker, but extremely difficult to score off.
The all-round nature of England's victory last night is encouraging and would appear to give us more options (v. @ 44 - point 4). We now have three T20 games, then back home for a while before we defend our T20 title in the Caribbean. NZ have been making T20 hay all winter (against Australia!) and seem to want to put their name on the trophy. We'll see. More of that later.
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Hot off the press, here's our squad of 20 for the Caribbean: 14 will travel. - Welcome to the fray Griffith and Rowe!
England women 20-strong ICC World Twenty20 squad:
Charlotte Edwards (Kent)
Caroline Atkins (Sussex)
Tammy Beaumont (Kent)
Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire)
Holly Colvin (Sussex)
Lydia Greenway (Kent)
Lauren Griffith (Cheshire)
Isa Guha (Berkshire)
Jenny Gunn (Nottingham)
Danielle Hazell (Yorkshire)
Heather Knight (Devon)
Laura Marsh (Sussex)
Beth Morgan (Middlesex)
Ebony Rainford-Brent (Surrey)
Susie Rowe (Kent)
Nicky Shaw (Nottinghamshire)
Anya Shrubsole (Somerset)
Claire Taylor (Buckinghamshire)
Sarah Taylor (Sussex)
Danielle Wyatt (Staffordshire)
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FJH: I reckon most of the BBC are hungover from the post Olympic coverage
I suppose we should apologise to Ebony for hogging her Blog but this seems like the best forum for all news England.
Certainly some competition for places in T20 which will make the 3 games against India good markers for those involved (are all 20 out in India?). If England take two keepers there will not be much room for manoeuvre. Lane & Edwards will no doubt choose wisely.
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squad of 20 has to be cut to 14 yet...
Great win today! I think england will stick with most of the experienced players tried and tested over the world cup in England. Lets hope the new players get another chance to show off their talents in the 20/20 matches this week.
Anyone found any highlights anywhere? The least we could have is a few highlights on sky sports news surely! What a joke
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It will be something like this... if all players are fit...
I think Atkins may miss out
Squirt will deffo go if fit... with it being a close call between tammy and lauren for 2nd choice... tammy needs runs!!!
Charlotte Edwards (Kent)
Katherine Brunt
Holly Colvin
Lydia Greenway
Isa Guha (Berkshire)
Jenny Gunn
Laura Marsh
Beth Morgan- needs some runs!!!!
Ebony Rainford-Brent
Nicky Shaw
Claire Taylor
Close between these 3 for the last place.
Danni Hazell
Danielle Wyatt
Anya Shrubsole
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There is something rather childish and silly about playing the 'pick the squad' game ...... but so what I love it.
One issue is whether Laney thinks Tails can dep as keeper if Squirt was injured and therefore go for a straight batter rather than a reserve keeper. I think he'll take this option, especially if we do not have really good keeper/batter player.
The following I would say are absolutely nailed on to be in the 14:-
Katherine Brunt
Charlotte Edwards
Holly Colvin
Claire Taylor
Sarah Taylor
Jenny Gunn
Laura Marsh
Ebony Rainford-Brent
Lydia Greenway
Nicky Shaw
The following I would say are likely to be in the 14 but are not nailed on certainties:-
Caroline Atkins
Isa Guha
Beth Morgan
One of the following will make up the 14th player (or more than 1 if any of the above 3 miss out):-
Danielle Hazell (Yorkshire)
Heather Knight (Devon)
Anya Shrubsole (Somerset)
Danielle Wyatt (Staffordshire)
The following are not likely to make the final 14:-
Susie Rowe (Kent)
Tammy Beaumont (Kent)
Lauren Griffith (Cheshire)
However, there is an Indian 20-20 series first and that might change everything.
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Hmmm. I don't have the necessary information, nor the access to UK media, nor even a sufficiently developed knowledge of T20 cricket to pick the final fourteen.
Based on these disqualifications, I make the general point that in sporting activities, we should always be looking towards youth. The game goes on piling up its unique history, time passes and established players have to move over, however reluctantly. Last year, we saw Karen Rolton and Heidi Tiffen bow out - and one day, not too far hence, I feel, it will be Charlotte Edwards's turn.
Having mulled things over for a couple of days, I'd say Knight's performance in the final ODI was pretty remarkable. Consider! First, she's only 19. Second, she (and all) had a coast-to-coast air-flight and a day of practice to get over. Third, she was asked to open the batting against Goswami & Dhar after those two had quietened England effectively in Visakhapatnam - quite apart from Goswami's world-wide reputation! Fourth, informed people obviously knew she had the talent, but the all important question, "Did she have the temperament?" remained. - Those circumstances are not far off baptism by fire, so to hit a virtual debut 50 is some achievement. I hope she plays in all three T20 matches in Mumbai. Let's put her under scrutiny.
As for Hazell and Wyatt, they too showed maturity beyond their years. In the 4th ODI, after Greenway and Morgan had gone, it was Hazell and the manner in which she set about things, that seemed to lift some of the burden of responsibility off Edwards's shoulders: the captain relaxed a bit - and began to open her own shoulders. I also heard Wyatt's interview with BBC Radio (Stoke), in which she seemed both measured and confident.
So! I pick no teams. I do not play down the invaluable role experience plays. But I do urge those responsible to put youth to the test.
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T20 is a cricketing lottery but you still have to show the ability to perform under pressure. If a young player can come in and be uninhibited by the situation and perform this in my mind is as important as experience.
Looking at the Aus v NZ scorecard there are some real tests ahead in the T20 and this summer...
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/428065.html
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