Raj makes the difference
Post categories: Cricket
| 11:55 UK time, Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Well, what can I say - we finished up losing the one-day series 3-2, which is not the result we had hoped for but India played some very good cricket.
We weren't quite up to the necessary standard with the bat but Mithali Raj was the main difference - she showed why she is ranked world number one with four half centuries and an average of 143.5!
Personally, I felt in great form, but I didn't do as well as I would have liked for the team. I was very happy to get promoted from three to opener, which is where I love to bat (who doesn't fancy the hard ball coming on in the first few overs!!!), as the pitches have been pretty good despite a bit of swing through the air early on and Gouher Sultana managing to get some big turn with left-arm orthodox spin.
Mithali Raj's bating was the key to India's series victory - Pic: Getty
The wicket here at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai is fantastic and following our win in the last one-day game here, we are set up nicely for an exciting T20 series.
Although I have been to India twice before, this is my first time touring to different parts of the country and there have been some major differences in the crowds..
The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore was a large ground with a small number of relatively sedate supporters, but when we moved on to the ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapnam (Vizag), the lively, buzzing crowd lived for every ball, bringing the impressive venue to life.
It was amazing to hear the constant banging to a beat, cheering, waving and calling of your name and facing the first ball from the Indian fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, with the crowd going wild and having to concentrate on the little white ball coming towards my head was the best feeling I have ever experienced. I absolutely loved it!
Off the pitch it has been a quiet tour, not much time to do anything other than play, train, team meetings, weights or recovery sessions, but I was fortunate enough to find a few minutes to get to the Kali Temple, near our hotel in Vizag with Isa (Guha). It was an amazing experience to be allowed in and experience first hand the prayers and worship, and also to watch girls being taught classical Indian dancing.
We were also lucky enough to spend 15 minutes on the beach one evening, to experience the buzz of the local area at night.
Before I finish this blog a special mention has to go to Danny (Danielle Wyatt), Dani (Danielle Hazell) and Heather (Heather Knight).
Danny and Heather made their international debuts in the final ODI and showed the strength in depth we have in women's cricket in England at the moment.
Heather got us off to a flying start, opening the batting with composure and maturity to score 49. Yes, she is being fined for jug avoidance, although she claims she didn't realise she was on for a half century! Danny then scored a match-winning 26, playing smart cricket, which was delightful to watch.
I have to say, though, that Dani Hazell played for me the two shots of the series, a back-foot drive through cover from her first ball and a flat-bat straight back past the bowler off the front foot. These girls have great character both on and off the pitch and look like they will play a major part of the future.
Spending time with them off the pitch also reminds me why I enjoy playing and being part of a team, they all have a great sense of humour and are fun to be around, with lots of youthful energy to help keep our team in high spirits.
~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
What an entertaining blog! Thank-you. Your remarks on Knight, Wyatt and Hazell echo somewhat my final observation in your previous blog, so I'm glad to be chugging along on the right lines.
Also! I see we now have an under-17 squad, all set to visit South Africa at the end of the month. That's even MORE exciting.
Good luck tonight / tomorrow.... (These time zones are playing havoc with my sleep patterns!) I'm looking for a 3-0 T20 series win. I have a feeling Raj is not quite as effective in the T20 format. But whatever - take no prisoners.
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Great insight Ebony. Good luck for the T20 series.
No pun intended but touring is a personal, cricketing and team journey!
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Should I feel too ashamed that I did not know until today, Eng and India were playing women cricket. This is when I had followed every moment of recent India-SA series. I wonder why women cricket receives so much less attention.
I believe women themselves are partly to blame who do not follow this sport as much and do not make the heroes/ins out of the players.
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Although close and both away from home, this was the second consecutive series the team have lost. Coming after such a dominant 12/18 months, have the wheels fallen off?
Of course the loss of the two Taylor's haven't helped but I do wonder if we have enough depth. The players coming through are ok but nothing special at the moment. Saying that I still think that there is little to choose between the top four sides at the moment.
http://crictips.com
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Well, well, well! Shaw, off Sultana, off the last ball of the match! Not an easy win for England, obviously, but 1-0 up in the series, nevertheless! Congratulations to the team. Next game, please!
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Hurrah for England....
This is a worse timing than the 50 over stuff at least I woke up half way through now it is all over, no suspense!
Team effort again but an important stand by Hazell & Shaw for the 8th wicket.
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Good Luck with the Twenty 20 Ebony. Hope to see you getting some runs in style as the girls in Suffolk remember you teaching them. MaryM
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In answer to Scimk (#4)
I wouldn’t say the wheels have fallen off but the WI series and this one has raised some eyebrows. Of course winning 2 World Cups doesn’t mean you can win every series you play – but it does mean you’ve peaked at the right time – something that’s quite useful.
Over the last, say, 5 years players have largely made it into the team through the retirement of the incumbents (eg Newton, Brindle, Taylor, Connor retiring) with rare cases of the incumbent being dropped (eg Squirt replacing Smit) and Birch dropped out. If the system (eg academy etc) is working well I think we will see a different type of player replacement in next 5 years. Instead of retirement being the driver for change we will see more players losing their place because of form as the pressure from below builds and Laney has a bigger pool from which to choose. This will be a very healthy state of affairs and is a good barometer of whether the ‘system’ is working.
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Pursuant to Hainba (#6)
The stand between Hazell & Shaw for the 8th wicket lasted 2 balls and produced 2 runs. Perhaps you mean between Hazell and Gunn, which produced 40 runs in 5.1 overs.
The presence of Wyatt (previous game) and Hazell (both games) seems to have added some 'bulk' to the lower middle order, an area in which England have struggled. As the scoring in women's T20 gets higher as more games are played its going to be ever more important for sides to bat down to No 8. A T20 batting line up involving (just one example) Taylor, Knight, Taylor, Edwards, EJCLRC, Greenway, Gunn, Wyatt, Hazell starts to look really strong and there are other combos as well but the key point is having serious batting depth in T20. (England solved this problem in the 2009 World T20 by often not needing their no 8 to bat !).
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@ 8 & 9
I agree substantially with both posts. I think the second half of 8, on "young merit" v "old pals" is a particularly important point. If I were Mark Lane I'd be on the plane to South Africa for at least part of the u-17 tour. I would also emphasise that this seems to have been a good tour for Wyatt, Hazell and lately, Knight. All three have made a mark and each will have learned a lot.
Re. 1st T20:
As far as one is able to read a game off a live-scorecard, with no commentary, Hazell in particular seems to have a cool head on her shoulders. Wyatt had virtually a "non-game," run out after facing just one ball and not getting to bowl at all. Knight, of course, didn't play. So although the signs are encouraging, we need more evidence of their consistent reliability, bearing in mind that in the Caribbean they'll have Perry, Osborne, Ruck, Bates, Goswami, Dhar - and more to cope with.
So far, it seems to me that the reliable successes of this tour have been Gunn, Brunt and Edwards herself - with a mention for Beaumont who seems to have coped well with the sudden responsibility placed upon her.
Winning the series is our first objective and for that we have to trust Lane 6 Edwards to get the selection right on the day; but for myself, I'd like to see these three young'uns tested further.
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Raj continues to challenge bowlers and get the best out of them. Congratulations to the two teams. A lively blog.
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@ 11.
A couple of things about Mithali Raj. Firstly, she seems to resemble Virender Sehwag in that she dosn't believe in running up and down the pitch too much! :) She's more for timing the shot and watching it speed over the boundary.
Secondly, speculatively, but more seriously, it seemed to me that when she came in the other night and began immediately with the boundaries, you could almost hear Charlotte Edwards saying "this one's mine!" - After the ODI series, Edwards went on record as saying Raj had been "a thorn in her side" (sic) all tour. - So, on came Edwards and out went Raj. Thorn drawn? - We'll see what happens tonight.
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9 Lahdarbheinn: I really should know how to read a scorecard by now!
FJH The Skipper as an all-rounder does give the team much needed options in T20. Hopefully CE continues to back her bowling in readiness for the T20 WC.
Roll on another overnight success then England could experiment with the series won.
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Not a good result overnight but at least now we get a thrilling finale to the tour.
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/439018.html
See the Aussies & Kiwi's continue to score 250+ in ODI's - ominous.
Off to LYG's today for U13's girls finals @ Lord's
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/439018.html
The future England women we hope....
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With the batting line up we put out last night it's no surprise we didn't reach a 100 (no disrespect to Nunny but she is not a No6 and if she's elevated to No6 there must be something wrong). Presumably some others players have injuries or illness ?
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Missed last night (unexpected weekend visitors). - Hmmm. Looks like there was little to celebrate. Hazell's 3 wickets looks encouraging and at least she performed a little with the bat.
As Hainba says, "a thrilling finale" in prospect.
(Hope the u-13 tournament went well, amigo. Was your daughter playing?)
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FJH - My daughter was playing. A long but enjoyable day at Lord's for all the girls from 8 London Boroughs.
My daughter plays for Bromley and they lost the final to local rivals Bexley with only two balls to go!
Hopefully a few future England prospects on show in amongst the teams.
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Congratulations, Hainba. Good to hear of so many littl'uns getting this kind of opportunity. I looked up the event on the ECB page, but the short article seemed mainly concerned with the fact that Claire Taylor was there.
Anyway! "Tonight's the night," as they say. It looks like a bit of a zero-sum game to me: win the match, win the series; lose the match, lose the series. We absolutely have to win, because if not, there's going to be an awful blue mood settling over the squad on the flight home.
Someone needs to nail Naik before she gets going; she's been pretty dangerous in these T20 games.
Come on, England!
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A series win nice to wake up too on a Monday!
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/439019.html
A fairly even contest...
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Indeed, yes, hainba. - And a happy flight home for Danielle Hazell in particular, having bowled out the great Mithali Raj!
There will be a few things to say about this tour once we've all had time to think, but at the same time, minds click forward to April / May in the Caribbean where the opposition will be world-wide. We're the World Champions: we want to go on being World Champions.
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Another interesting batting order from Laney - illness or injury aside one cannot help but think he's experimenting ahead of the World Cup T20. What has happened to Knight (injured, ill or just not in line for a World Cup T20 place ?). Over to you Ebony for some answers in your next blog.
In case anyone is desparate for a stat attack (unlikely), England have played 24 T20s (batting in 23), and the only players to have scored more than 46 (Boggy's score today) are Lottie (64,61,60), Squirt (52,50) and Tails (76,75).
Anyone want to guess our batting order for the 1st World Cup T20 game ?
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