What can England get out of ODI Series v Windies?

Following on from the recent T20 Tri-Series which concluded with a convincing win for West Indies in the final, England take on their hosts again almost immediately, but this time in a three match ODI series. All the games are being played at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and it will be England’s last outing before the Ashes series in Australia in January.

England will not be that upset at having lost the T20 competition, but they will be concerned at the manner of the loss. True they had a young squad – with debuts for bowlers Beth Langston and Tash Farrant and some opportunities for Lauren Winfield – but their batting looked weak in all the T20 matches they played and their bowling rather toothless. The Windies in contrast have already beaten New Zealand in a similar series 2-1 prior to the T20 Tri-Series, and their tails will be up. They have nothing to fear against this England side, and are a side on the up, ever since making the final of the 50 Over World Cup earlier this year. They do however still rely very heavily on Stafanie Taylor, both with bat and ball, and the potentially explosive Deandra Dottin. England cannot afford to let these two settle with the bat. They will have to make plans to attack them hard and get them out early.

In the England camp their will be concerns about their batting. Charlotte Edwards missed a couple of the T20 games through injury and without her England’s batting looks weak. The pressure is on Sarah Taylor to fulfil the potential that she obviously has as a great bat. She needs to not only look stylish, but bat long. This series is a great opportunity for her to do so. It is also surely time for England to move away from considering Danielle Wyatt as an opener. They have Lauren Winfield and Amy Jones in the squad, both of whom can fulfil this role. Wyatt started life as an off-spinner who batted a bit, but she has bowled just two overs on this tour at the cost of 19 runs. 

Looking beyond the skills of Taylor and Dottin the West Indies have the added advantage of a wrist spinner in 17 year old Shaquana Quintyne. She may be young, but she has been involved with the West Indies team for sometime and is continuing to improve her art. There are not many good leg-spinners in women’s cricket and the girls find it tough to deal with – forcing the right-handers to try and play through the off-side rather than their natural preference for the leg-side. Her 10 over spell and that of Taylor could mean a tough 20 over section in the middle of the game for England.

West Indies have to be favourites to win the series as they ride their current wave of success, but if England can actually put some runs on the board then they will be in with a shout. Holly Colvin’s slow left-arm spin could be a potential match-winner for England if the Windies are under pressure to score runs.

Fixtures

29^th October – 1^st ODI Queen’s Park Oval Trinidad (13.00 GMT)
1^st November – 2^nd ODI Queen’s Park Oval Trinidad (18.00 GMT)
3^rd November – 3^rd ODI Queen’s Park Oval Trinidad (18.00 GMT)

Squads

West Indies - Merissa Aguilleira (Captain), Shemaine Campbelle, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Chinelle Henry, Stacy-Ann King, Kyshona Knight, Anisa Mohammed, Juliana Nero, Shaquana Quintyne, Shakera Selman, Tremayne Smartt, Stafanie Taylor.

England - Charlotte Edwards (Captain), Tammy Beaumont , Holly Colvin, Katie Cross, Natasha Farrant, Lydia Greenway, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Beth Langston, Natalie Sciver , Sarah Taylor, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt.

MD

28/X/13

England U19s Success in South Africa

England U19s will return from South Africa today quietly content with their showing in Potchefstroom. Admittedly they lost the T20 series 2-1, but then went on to win the 50 over series 3-0. Unfortunately their game against the full South African side was washed out amid heavy thunderstorms.

For full details on all the games click on the "U19s in South Africa" tag above.

It took the team a little while to find their feet and the pace of the wickets, losing the first two T20 games, although they should really have chased down 113 in the second game. But by the third T20 the batsmen were beginning to like South African conditions and rattled up 181 in their 20 overs, which the Saffers were never going to get. From then on England looked in charge in the series, winning the toss and batting first in all three 50 over games and scoring 275, 275 and 238. It was only in the last game that South Africa looked even likely to chase down the target, failing by just one run to meet the England score.

After the first two T20s England batted well against a fairly moderate bowling attack. Sophie Luff (233 runs at 58.25) and Aylish Cranstone (184 runs at 46.00) headed the batting, with consistently good scores. They were closely followed by skipper Jess Watson (187 runs at 37.80), who started the series really well before running out of steam a little. Georgia Hennessy (154 runs at 25.66) tempered her middle-order batting according to the state of the game and played some firey innings to help the scoring along when it began to lag.

On the bowling front it was the seamers that dominated with 9 wickets for Hennessy and 8 apiece for Freya Davies and Grace Gibbs. Off-spinner Fi Morris with 8 wickets was the only spinner to have any real impact on any games, generally bowling tight spells, but left-arm Lydia Harris also bowled well in the two games she played.

Generally the ground fielding was good, including five run-outs in the first 50 over game, but the catching was below par. Perhaps another argument for more white-ball cricket in England in the future?

Five of this fifteeen woman squad are in the England Academy for the winter - Butler, Carr, Davies, Hennessy and Watson and five more are in the current U19 squad - Collis, Gibbs, Harris, Kelly and O'Keefe, and all will have taken a lot from this tour and are likely to be seen again in England shirts. In addition 19 year olds Luff and Cranstone have certainly not done their future England prospects any harm with their performances on this tour.

[As a postscript Sophie Luff and wicket-keeper Carla Rudd have been added to the Academy squad]

MD
25/X/13

England's Winter Training Squads in full

England have now named all their Winter Training Squads for 2013/2014 - u15, u19, Academy and Performance, and the full lists appear below.

Lancashire can claim the most England players with 11 (including five at u15 and five at u19), Sussex have nine, Yorkshire eight, Kent and Devon six each and Warwickshire five. It is good to see some of the counties outside of Division One of the Women's County Championship have representatives, particularly at the u15 level, including Cheshire (2), Gloucester (2), Staffs, Shropshire, Hampshire, Herts, Derbyshire and Cornwall.

Performance (21)
Charlotte Edwards - Kent
Tammy Beaumont - Kent
Arran Brindle - Sussex
Katherine Brunt - Yorkshire
Holly Colvin - Sussex - has decided to take a break from cricket
Kate Cross - Lancashire
Georgia Elwiss - Sussex
Tash Farrant - Kent
Lydia Greenway - Kent
Jenny Gunn - Notts
Dani Hazell - Yorkshire
Amy Jones - Warwickshire
Heather Knight - Berkshire
Beth Langston - Essex
Laura Marsh - Kent
Nat Sciver - Surrey
Anya Shrubsole - Somerset
Sarah Taylor - Sussex
Fran Wilson - Somerset
Lauren Winfield - Yorkshire
Danni Wyatt - Notts

Academy (12)
Amara Carr - Devon
Stephanie Butler - Staffordshire
Jodie Dibble - Devon
Freya Davies - Sussex
Cordelia Griffith - Essex
Rebecca Grundy - Warwickshire - promoted to Performance Squad after Holly Colvin's withdrawal
Georgia Hennessy - Warwickshire
Alex McDonald - Gloucestershire
Sonia Odedra - Notts
Susie Rowe - Surrey - has given up her place
Helen Shipman - Warwickshire
Jess Watson - Yorkshire
Sophie Luff - Somerset (added after U19 tour to South Africa)
Carla Rudd - Berkshire (added after U19 tour to South Africa)


U19 (21)
Hollie Armitage - Yorkshire
Izzy Collis - Sussex
Rachel Dickinson - Lancashire
Bhumika Doshi - Lancashire
Beatrice Firth - Yorkshire
Abigail Freeborn - Sussex
Grace Gibbs - Kent
Lydia Harris - Devon
Georgia Holmes - Lancashire
Hannah Jones - Surrey
Alli Kelly - Devon
Marie Kelly - Warwickshire
Emma Lamb - Lancashire
Anne Nicholls - Middlesex
Tara Norris - Sussex
Kennedy Nuttall - Yorkshire
Cait O'Keefe - Devon
Charlotte Pape - Kent
Nalisha Patel - Lancashire
Lily Reynolds - Essex
Paige Scholfield - Sussex


U15 (22)
Emma Albery - Hertfordshire
Eve Alder -Gloucestershire
Maia Bouchier - Middlesex
Georgia Boyce - Notts
Cassie Coombes - Somerset
Sophie Ecclestone - Cheshire
Katie George -Hampshire
Kate Green - Shropshire
Anna Harris - Sussex
Bess Heath - Derbyshire
Hannah Jones - Lancashire
Jessie Jones - Devon
Sophie Mackenzie - Cornwall
Ellie Mason - Cheshire
Rebecca Newark - Yorkshire
Shatchi Pai - Lancashire
Hannah Poulter - Yorkshire
Karla Rose - Somerset
Jessica Kate Thornton - Wales
Eleanor Threlkeld - Lancashire
Erin Staunton-Turner - Lancashire
Lucy Staunton-Turner - Lancashire

Congratulations to all concerned.

MD
04/X/13

Women's Cricket Blog Awards 2013

In keeping with the age-old tradition of giving out rather tacky metal-looking gongs to various individuals and thereby upsetting all those who do not get them, Women's Cricket Blog has decided to award the inaugural WCB Gongs of the Year. Please imagine Stephen Fry is presenting these awards, as this will add gravitas and to the general sense of occasion (we'd like to thank Stephen for giving up his time for this worthy cause!).

Unluckiest Team of the Year
 This goes to Somerset 1st XI. Not only were they denied the chance of being promoted to Division One when their second play-off game (having already beaten Div 2 league winners Lancashire) against Div 1 losers Essex was called off due to a waterlogged pitch, but they also lost out on a place in the T20 Finals as best runner-up by one run. In the south west comp they lost to Berkshire by just 3 runs and must have felt confident that they would have the best net run-rate of the losing finalists, only to be told that Kent had contrived to lose to Sussex by just 2 runs, when they needed only 5 from the last over with 8 wickets in hand. Kent, of course, had the last laugh, beating Sussex in the final.

Best Crowd of the Year
This goes to the Chelmsford Massive, who turned up in their thousands to watch an England v Australia T20 game without the need to be bored by the men afterwards.

Best Knock of the Year
Four joint winners
Heather Knight for her majestic 157 against the Aussies at Wormsley - it saved the game and set England up for their series win
Lydia Greenway's reverse sweeping 80 from 64 balls in the second T20 which sealed the Ashes series for England
Sarah Taylor's 128no for Sussex v Yorkshire in the County Championship Play-Off Final - it brightened up a dreary, dank afternoon for anyone who wasn't supporting Yorkshire
Laura Marsh - it may only have been 55, but her knock against the Aussies at Wormsley occupied 304 balls and, together with the aforementioned Heather Knight, she added a record-breaking 156 for the 7th wicket.

Best Catch of the Year 
No competition really......Sarah Taylor's remarkable piece of anticipation and outstanding reflexes to catch Aussie skipper Jodie Fields as she tried to reverse sweep Dani Hazell at Hove in the 3rd ODI at Hove.

Best Spirit of Cricket Moment of the Year
Two winners this time
Yorkshire 1st XI for agreeing to play their cancelled league game against Middlesex when they knew a loss would lose them their place in the County Championship Final - they won and got there on merit! 
Yorkshire U17s for their grace and good humour having lost the T20 Final to Sussex when the scores were tied off the last ball, by reason of Sussex losing one less wicket. The maturity of youth!

Best Idea of the Year 
Turning the Women's Ashes into a Women's Ashes Series with points for the Test, ODIs and T20s - inspired (still too many points for the Test, but heh). It has created an Ashes series worth playing for and worth watching.

Worst Idea of the Year 
Using Net Run Rate (NRR) to calculate any winner or loser of a tournament. There are only three people on the planet who understand it and they are never around when you need them. In addition cumulative Net Run Rate, as used at the ODI World Cup and by the ECB, favours a side batting first - I could explain how, but life is too short!

Surprise of the Year
Sri Lanka beating England at the ODI World Cup to record their first-ever ODI win over England. It was a great day for Sri Lanka and a miserable one for England, which ultimately cost them a place in the World Cup Final. Cricket can be a cruel game. Credit to England for coming back to win the Ashes after a disappointing tournament.

Congratulations to all the winners and indeed to all the losers. It has been a great season, and one in which women's cricket has perhaps come of age, helped in no small regard by a compelling and victorious Ashes series for England. Crowds and television viewers have enjoyed the women's game. The task now is to build on that for the future. The County Championship and the County T20 competitions need to be extended and better funded; England need to retain the Ashes in Australia; and winning back the T20 World Champions' crown in April would be a good start to the 2014 season.   

MD
03/X/13

England Winter 21 named - with 14 going to Windies

England have named a Winter Performance Squad of 21 players, from whom they have selected 14 to tour West Indies this month, taking on Windies and New Zealand in a T20 series, and then playing three ODIs against the Windies.

A 15 player squad will then be selected in December for the return Ashes series in Australia starting in January 2014. There is also the small matter of the ICC World Twenty20 in March/April 2014. It is a busy schedule.

England's selection for the Windies trip was always going to be a young team, given the current injuries to Heather Knight, Laura Marsh, Anya Shrubsole and Katherine Brunt - all will be aiming to be fit for the Ashes Tour. There are no real surprises with the 14 being :-
Charlotte Edwards - Kent
Tammy Beaumont - Kent
Holly Colvin - Sussex
Kate Cross - Lancashire
Tash Farrant - Kent
Lydia Greenway - Kent
Jenny Gunn - Notts
Dani Hazell - Yorkshire
Amy Jones - Warwickshire
Beth Langston - Essex
Nat Sciver - Surrey
Sarah Taylor - Sussex
Lauren Winfield - Yorkshire
Danni Wyatt - Notts

As well as the four injured players, Arran Brindle, Georgia Elwiss and Fran Wilson from the 21 are omitted for the Windies trip (with Brindle not available for selection for personal reasons).

England will miss the fire and brimstone up front of Brunt and Shrubsole, with their opening bowling looking potentially rather tame - Cross, Farrant, Gunn and Langstone will have their work cut out, with back-up from Sciver. Spinners Colvin, Hazell and Wyatt may have a lot of work to do, probably including even opening the bowling.

Knight's injury is also a big blow. She was England's find of the summer (along with the ice cool Sciver) and now Beaumont, Winfield or Jones may have to fill her shoes at the top of the batting order, keeping Edwards company. Taylor, Greenway, Sciver and Gunn are not a bad middle-order and all the spinners can bat. They may need to in the longer format of the game. 

Winter Performance Squad

Charlotte Edwards - Kent
Tammy Beaumont - Kent
Arran Brindle - Sussex
Katherine Brunt - Yorkshire
Holly Colvin - Sussex
Kate Cross - Lancashire
Georgia Elwiss - Sussex
Tash Farrant - Kent
Lydia Greenway - Kent
Jenny Gunn - Notts
Dani Hazell - Yorkshire
Amy Jones - Warwickshire
Heather Knight - Berkshire
Beth Langston - Essex
Laura Marsh - Kent
Nat Sciver - Surrey
Anya Shrubsole - Somerset
Sarah Taylor - Sussex
Fran Wilson - Somerset
Lauren Winfield - Yorkshire
Danni Wyatt - Notts

MD
01/X/13