Saturday 28 February 2015

Taylor & Sciver take England to ODI series win

England's middle order batting finally came to the party in the shape of Sarah Taylor (93), Nat Sciver (65*), Lydia Greenway (23) and Katherine Brunt (19*), and as a result England cruised to another ODI victory over the White Ferns, meaning they won the ODI Series 3-2 overall (although they lost the ICCWC series 1-2).

Charlotte Edwards called right for the 7th time in eight games in this tour and had no hesitation in asking the White Ferns to have another go at setting England a target to chase down. The pitch looked a belter, but there was just a hint of moisture on the wicket and the outfield, so bowling was probably the right option. As the Kiwis raced to 34/0 after three overs from Brunt (25 runs) and two from Cross (nine runs), Edwards may have been wondering how many England would be chasing.

Fortunately for England Suzie Bates and Rachel Priest again got themselves out when they needed to bide their time. Bates slashed Grundy to Marsh at point, and Priest plonked her to a grateful Nat Sciver at extra cover. Amy Satterthwaite looked all at sea against the returning Brunt and eventually lost her leg peg to Cross, when she too returned. New Zealand were 53/3 in the 12th over. Sophie Devine and Kate Broadmore decided that caution was the better part of valour, tapping singles through to the 21st over when they had added just 30 more runs. Broadmore then fell lbw playing across the line to Marsh. Sara McGlashan came to the crease in her Kiwi record-breaking 126th ODI, but she was undone by a sublime bit of keeping by Sarah Taylor. She had hardly left her crease, when she was beaten by a Marsh quicker ball. Before she had a chance to react Taylor had removed the bails and McGlashan was on her way. 

Devine now found a willing and more able partner in Katie Perkins. Perkins was happy to knock the ball about and put Devine on strike, but as the partnership grew so did Perkins confidence and her ability to drive the ball. They had taken the Kiwi total to 176 when Devine skied Sciver (bowling her first over of the tour and the 44th of the innings) high to Cross at mid-off, who breathed a sigh of relief as she held onto the catch. Peterson and Bermingham came and went quickly, but Perkins (70*) carried on nicely, aided by some nice drives by the tall Tahuhu (16*) as the White Ferns ended on 230/8. It looked a decent score, but nothing more. Grundy finished with 3/36 and Marsh 2/36.

England's reply got off to the worst possible start when Heather Knight was out lbw to Tahuhu in the first over, but Taylor and Edwards made serene progress to 59 before Edwards played another legside shot, but missed and was adjudged lbw. Danni Wyatt came to join Taylor, her first chance with the bat all tour, but she could only get to 7 before she too was lbw, this time sweeping at Georgia Guy. A more confident Lydia Greenway walked to the crease and she and Taylor took the score to 114/3 before Greenway played on to a Broadmore slower ball. 

The nagging doubts were still there, but Nat Sciver came in and played with time and style. The difference this time was that she went on with her innings to her highest ODI score, unbeaten on 65. It looked for all the world as if Taylor was going to notch her 6th ODI century, when she took 15 off a Devine over, having been dropped off the first ball of the over. But in the next she took on Amy Satterthwaite's arm from the deep cover boundary and lost to be run out for 93. It was no matter to Sciver, who carried serenely on, with the help of Brunt and took England to the win with five overs to spare.

I will let the dust settle and have a couple of beers to celebrate before considering the pros and cons from this tour, and England's chances against the Aussies this summer.

It has been a great experience being here in New Zealand for the whole tour and writing for the ECB website. It was a shame that more media could not have been here for the series. They missed some good stuff.

Full scorecard here

MD
28/ii/15

5 comments:

  1. I think it's fantastic. To come back from 2-1 down when the negativity was starting to set in again, the team showed real character to turn things around. It was not in a dissimilar vein to the Test Match loss against India last summer. We played very well after that and recovered to have 2 decent series. And although Lottie had a big role to play in getting this NZ tour back on track, it didn't feel like she had to do it almost single-handedly, like it did at times in the summer. So, we had stronger team performances and good solid incremental improvement. We have a really brilliant team, and when they play at their best, appear to be unbeatable. When we won, we really did win well. I'm really proud of them right now!

    Looking at those problems with slow starts to series, the obvious solution is to be not starting so cold and out of match-practice when the series kicks off. Better facilities and training is all very well but we need more warm up games, and more quality women's cricket overall. That is the message I'd want want to send to the ECB.

    If we have a decent start to the Ashes series we stand a chance. It will require monumental individual and team performances to win. I think it will be close - we have a couple of little advantages in the home conditions, and already possessing the urn so not having to win on points outright. I still think the Aussies will win, but not by much, so long as we give it our all. And that result's no disgrace, seeing how fantastic a side Australia are. I am hoping to attend the first 2 ODIs and already can't wait for the series to start!

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  2. ODI Series Bowling:-
    Cross 20-2-66-7
    Grundy 40-3-138-7
    Knight 41-2-162-6
    Shrubsole 25-3-131-6
    Hazell 32.1-0-120-3
    Brunt 46-4-173-3
    Marsh 14-0-59-2
    Sciver 2-0-14-1
    Gunn 14.4-0-75-0

    Grundy may have achieved a 1st in having bowled her full allocation of overs in each of her (first) 10 internationals so far.

    ODI Series Batting :-
    Taylor SJ 245 (5)
    Edwards CM 215 (5)
    Knight HC 100 (5)
    Sciver NR 98 (4)
    Greenway LS 50 (3)
    Brunt KH 69 (4)
    Winfield L 46 (3)
    Shrubsole A 34 (3)
    Hazell D 32 (3)
    Marsh LA 12 (1)
    Gunn JL 7 (3)
    Wyatt DN 7 (1)
    Jones AE 4 (1)
    Grundy RL 2 (2)

    460 out of 921 runs by Edwards and Taylor.

    Since her 3 consecutive ducks in the 2013 ODI WC, Taylor's scores have been 88, 28, 15, 34, 22, 32, 64, 55*, 100, 9, 63, 64, 20*, 23, 16, 45, 2, 89* and 93. As Blackadder would say, clucking bell.

    A time for some reflection as MD says, but well done ladies in digging yourself out of what could have been a big hole.

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    Replies
    1. I make that an average of 53.9 over the course of 19 innings. Phenomenal, coming in quick time as they have. And all the while, a great keeper too. Those peddling the idea that Taylor "is still not living up to her promise" would do well to note these numbers as they clearly tell a different story.

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  3. Grundy HAS achieved a 1st in having bowled her full allocation of overs in each of her (first) 10 internationals so far. Jenny Gunn is the next closest having completed her first 8 internationals (7xODI and 1xT20) before only sending down 6 overs in her next ODI. Edwards clearly has a high regard for Grundy.

    That string of Taylor scores above, at the risk of stating the obvious, is for ODIs.

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  4. Edwards; last 19 ODI innings have accrued 843 runs, so only just short of the above 862 runs from Taylor. Bit of a no brainer who our best 2 batsmen are. Their career ODI averages isn't that dissimilar (38.49 v 40.83) and Taylor scores a lot quicker than Lottie (65.79 v 79.62).

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