Hove rocks as England expire

So with one game to come in the Ashes Series the destiny of the trophy has already been decided after England's batting crumbled into a heap at a packed County Ground at Hove, leaving the Aussies 10-4 up in the series with just two more points on offer.

Yet again England's bowling was good, their fielding generally sharp (with the exception of Winfield's dropped catch), but their batting was woeful. The only crumb of comfort for England was Danni Wyatt's three ball innings. She put more energy and effort into her nine minute stay at the crease than any other England batsmen in this entire series. Her dismissal (cruelly run out at the non-striker's end) was the final nail in England's batting coffin. Please England bat her at a sensible position in the final T20 and let her have a chance to show what she can do. She deserves that chance.

Having contained the Aussies to just 107/7 in their 20 overs England should have been heading to Cardiff just 8-6 down and with the Ashes still in their grasp, but poor shots from Edwards, Winfield, Sciver, Taylor and Knight left the England innings gasping for breath and clutching its chest on 28/5 at the end of the six over power play. Katherine Brunt, inexplicably still sent in at number five when England were 10/3, and Lydia Greenway did what they could to resuscitate England's fortunes, but they could only add 25 in the next six overs. England were clinging on, but they were on their second round of adrenalin.

It was at this stage that Meg Lanning, whose captaincy has been a revelation in this series, produced another masterstroke. She switched Megan Schutt to the Cromwell Road End and very deliberately moved her third man over to the leg-side, leaving an inviting gap at third man for Brunt to try and score in. Schutt bowled a good length ball just outside the off-stump, gently swinging in to the right-hander. Brunt attempted to guide it down to third man, but only succeeded in guiding it onto her stumps.

The England innings briefly twitched into life again when Wyatt walked in at number eight as she scampered through for twos and threes, where before there were only ones and twos, and scored seven off the three balls she faced. She even seemed to inspire Lydia Greenway, who had dab-swept her way to just nine off 19 balls. She hit a crisp straight drive for four off Farrell, but two balls later Wyatt was forlornly trudging back to the pavilion, as Farrell deflected another Greenway drive onto the stumps at the bowler's end.

Greenway presided over the last rites, as she hit another 11 singles and a two, before she was last out in the last over and England were all out for their lowest-ever T20 total of 87 in, ironically, their 87th T20 innings, losing the game by a comfortable 20 runs.

It was a sad end in front of 5,750 paying spectators, who had created a great atmosphere. As Sussex Chairman Jim May explained with a large smile on his face. "It is a different sort of crowd". He was right. It is not the same people who want to see men's cricket. This is a different audience, which is why there will be hardly anyone to watch the final game at Cardiff on Monday, as it is an early-start double-header with the men. Those that have paid their £45 are there to watch the men and will not rock up four hours early to watch the women. They don't want to watch the women. If this series does nothing else let us hope that it has killed the concept of double-headers as being 1) a good idea and 2) necessary.

Going forward England need to stop talking about looking to improve their batting and actually do something about it. This is not a new problem! The players they have in this squad have now been "professionals" for 16 months. There seems to have been little progress over that time despite that very focused investment. They also need to play more cricket. Even I can look good against a bowling machine in the nets. Get out and play. Get time in the middle. Batsmen bat best when they don't have to think about what they are doing or why they are doing it. Charlotte Edwards for example has played just five County Championship games and four County T20s this season. It is not enough.

The proposed Women's Cricket Super League may help, in time, but only if it is properly funded. The ECB appear to be asking a great deal from the host organisations and from the girls that will be selected to play in it. It will be interesting to see who gets the six franchises in December and what they do with them.

The next couple of years could be painful for England. They have the T20 World Cup next year and then they host the 50 over World Cup in 2017. Change takes time, but now is surely the time to start that change?

MD
29/VIII/15

Make or break T20s for England

Wednesday will be Australia's first chance to clinch the Ashes back from England, when they meet in the first of three T20s at Chelmsford. The second will be at Hove on Friday and the third at Cardiff on Monday.

But will England manage to take the series beyond Wednesday's game? The odds don't look good. The Aussies are the current World T20 Champions, having retained the title they first won back in 2010 when they beat New Zealand. In 2012 and 2014 they beat England in the final. They are currently on an unbeaten run of 16 T20 games, which started back in March 2014 against South Africa on their way to their third World T20 title. It is true that during that time they have only played England once (in the final), but they will be keen to extend their run.

As warm-up for these games Australia travelled across to Dublin and took on Ireland. They won all three games comfortably, as you might expect, but it was genuine game time. England by contrast have been ensconced in Loughborough and have apparently played a couple of warm-up games against a young Northants Boys XI. They are now down in Chelmsford where the rain has meant they are in the indoor nets.

The only changes to the England squad are the recalling of the two Danielles - Misses Hazell (actually Mrs) and Wyatt, who come in for Kate Cross and Fran Wilson.

Hazell is England's leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket with 65 wickets in 60 games, but the sparky and intelligent 27 year old seems to be out of favour with the England management for some reason. She looked good with the ball in hand for the EWA in the warm-up games against the Aussies, but she is not the most mobile of fielders and her batting has not been any great shakes this season.

Wyatt is a conundrum. She scores plenty of runs in county cricket, both 50 over and T20 and she is great in the field, with a magnificent arm from the boundary. Originally she was an off-spinning all-rounder, but her bowling went through a lull in 2013 and 2014 with the England skipper having no real confidence in her ability to bowl an over without a bad ball in it.

As for her batting England never seem to have really decided how to make the best of her with the bat. Early on she was promoted up the order, almost as a pinch-hitter, but this failed. She was then shoved back into the middle/late order before she again appeared in the top order against the Aussies in 2013 at Chelmsford (28) and Southampton (0). But by Chester-le-Street she was back to number 6. In the West Indies later that year she started the first two T20s at 7, but was then promoted to open for the next three (37, 13 and 12). She kept the spot for the Ashes T20s in Australia early the next year, but had a miserable time (6, 0 , 6). She was back to 7 for the South Africa T20s last summer and down to 8 in New Zealand, where she did not get to bat at all, in three games. Over the last five years she has played in 56 T20s for England with a top score of just 41 and an average of just 13.16. Quite where she fits into the current England set-up (if at all) is a matter for conjecture.

I think England will start with Winfield, Edwards, Taylor, Sciver, Elwiss, Greenway, Knight, Brunt, Gunn, Hazell, Shrubsole.

As for the Aussies they seem to be in a bit of a quandary over who should open with Elyse Villani. Nicole Bolton is not a T20 player, so Jess Jonassen seems to be the left-hander of choice. But she does not seem to like the position that much and I think someone else may get the role, possibly Healy or Perry. Somehow they will also have to accommodate rising T20 star Grace Harris. She is only here because T20 specialist Delissa Kimmince pulled out of the tour through injury, but Harris impressed in Ireland with her clean hitting and her tidy off-spin, and the Aussies will be keen to blood her against tougher opposition prior to the T20 World Cup next year.

It is difficult to see England getting close to winning any, let alone all three, of the T20s, but one person can win a T20 all on their own. Do England have such a player? They probably do. Are they likely to actually do it though? Probably not.

MD
24/VIII/15

Hazell & Wyatt in for Cross & Wilson in T20 Squad

Danielle Hazell and Danielle Wyatt have been called-up to England squad for Women’s Ashes NatWest International T20s.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today announced the England women’s squad for the three remaining Women’s Ashes NatWest International T20s. The 14-strong squad features two changes from the squad selected for the Kia Women’s Ashes Test – off-spinner Danielle Hazell (Yorkshire) and Nottinghamshire all-rounder Danielle Wyatt replacing Kate Cross and Fran Wilson.
Hazell is currently the number one IT20 bowler in the ICC’s player rankings and Wyatt has scored heavily in county cricket this summer. The three NatWest IT20s, which are worth two points each to the winner, will be played on Wednesday 26 August (The Essex County Ground, Chelmsford), Friday 28 August (The BirghtonandHoveJobs.com County Ground, Hove) and Monday 31 August (The SSE SWALEC, Cardiff). England must win all three encounters to retain the Women’s Ashes, after Australia secured an 8-2 lead in the multi-format series as a result of winning the standalone Kia Women’s Ashes Test (worth four points) and securing a 2-1 victory in the Royal London One-Day Internationals (worth two points each). Australia require just one more win to take them to an unassailable total of ten points to reclaim the Women’s Ashes.

ECB’s Head of England Women’s Performance, Paul Shaw,“We have called-up Danielle Hazell and Danielle Wyatt for the three must-win Women’s Ashes NatWest IT20s. Together they offer us a lot of international T20 experience, with well over 100 caps in this format between them, and Danielle Hazell currently topping the ICC IT20 bowling rankings. “We know that we face a huge challenge to get back into this Women’s Ashes contest, but there is a lot of pride and fight within this England women’s squad, and I know that the players will give it everything in these last three matches.”

Name	County
Charlotte Edwards (captain)	Kent
Katherine Brunt	Yorkshire
Georgia Elwiss	Sussex
Lydia Greenway	Kent
Rebecca Grundy	Warwickshire
Jenny Gunn	Nottinghamshire
Danielle Hazell	Yorkshire
Heather Knight (vice-captain)	Berkshire
Laura Marsh	Kent
Natalie Sciver	Surrey
Anya Shrubsole	Somerset
Sarah Taylor	Sussex
Lauren Winfield	Yorkshire
Danielle Wyatt	Nottinghamshire

MD
23/VIII/15

No way back for shattered England

Losing the Ashes Test means that England are now 2-8 down in the Ashes Series with 6 points up for grabs from the remaining T20s. They would have to win all three of the T20s against the current T20 World Champions to retain the Ashes. They will not do so. This is a team that looks devoid of confidence in their own abilities. Almost without exception they are batting like rabbits caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. They appear to be so terrified of making a mistake that they are literally paralysed into inaction.

It is true to say that in the last Ashes Series played in England in 2013, England did win all three of the T20s they played against the Aussies, and England are unbeaten at "Fortress Chelmsford" where they are playing the first T20 on Wednesday week (26th August). But that is all history and England have spent the past five years looking back at past glories as an indicator of future performance. It has not panned out.

Those of us who have watched England closely (and the England players in their county colours) over the last few years have frequently lamented the lack of depth to the England batting line-up. Charlotte Edwards and, to a lesser extent, Sarah Taylor, have been the props holding the batting up. England have doggedly stuck to the same players time after time after time. There have been fleeting glances of form - Lauren Winfield's 74 against the South Africans last summer at Edgbaston; Nat Sciver's 65* against the Kiwis at Lincoln in February, but there have been far more failures than successes.

Last year's Test against India should have rung some alarm bells. 12 of the 20 England wickets that fell were to lbw appeals, on a slow, low track that offered little or nothing to the seamers or spinners. The problem was players playing across the line. Professional England, as they had become, were bowled out for 99 and 202 against a team of amateurs and lost by six wickets. It was not a blip, but it was indicative of the fragility of England's batting.

In New Zealand the England middle-order simply failed to turn up for the first three ODI games, which meant England lost the ICC WC series 1-2. They are currently languishing in fourth place in the ICC WC table, seven points behind leaders Australia, having won just four out of the nine games they have played.

England have adopted a head in the sand attitude. England's demise in the Test was all too predictable and they have no-one to turn to to try and get them out of the hole they are in, bar the 18 contracted players on whom they have concentrated all their efforts over the past two years. There are no T20 batting superstars waiting in the wings, so the same batting line-up is likely to be asked to do what they can. With confidence at rock bottom they are likely to get blown away.

Short-term there is little that England can do, bar try and inspire, enthuse and re-invigorate the current crop of players. That inspiration and leadership needs to come from the top.

Longer-term England need to take a hard look at the current contract system. The 18 players contracts are due to be reviewed in September and new contracts awarded in October. By that time the same 18 players will already have been contracted for 18 months. Should the cash be shared more fairly amongst those who have potential? Everyone below the 18 contracted players are unpaid amateurs. Even those additional players named in last year's ECB Winter Training Squad - Jodie Dibble, Beth Langston, Sonia Odedra, and Fran Wilson. For the past 9 months they have been doing exactly the same as the 18 paid players, for nothing. None of them were offered a car by KIA. Also what will happen to contracted players whose contracts may be terminated? There is no cushion of going back into county cricket and earning a reasonable salary while trying to get your place back. Chances are they will be lost to cricket for good.

England also need to look beyond the Loughborough Bubble. At the present time it seems like it is almost the only route for progression into the England set-up. The other MCCU universities do little or nothing to enhance women cricket players. In fact the second best university for women cricketers is non-MCCU Exeter University - current holders of the BUCs Indoor Title and runners-up to Loughborough for the last two years in the BUCS Final at Lords. This year Exeter just had to contend with seven full internationals, two Academy players and one U19 EWDP player in the Loughborough team that defeated them.

Clare Connor herself espoused the importance of cricket players getting an education and qualifications as well as playing the game. Even if girls reach the top the salaries are not high. Life at the top can be precarious, subject to form, favour and fitness. And even the longest careers are likely to only stretch into the 30s. That leaves a long time after cricket. Getting that education at Loughborough should not be a prerequisite to success on the cricket field. The ECB need to expand their horizons.

Alongside, or in conjunction with, the new WCSL (Women's Cricket Super League), the ECB needs to expand the centres of excellence available for women cricketers, so that young players can continue their education away from Loughborough if they chose and avoid excessive travel time to train regularly. It will also allow other coaches to feed into the development of players.

I am a fan of the concept of the WCSL, and what it is trying to achieve. There are simply not enough good players to go around the current 38 county system. But it is going to be difficult to implement if the non-contracted players are not paid. The ECB have no objection to the franchises paying their players, but they are not going to fund it, and what happens if one franchise does and another does not?

In the short-term it seems odd that none of the England batsmen involved in the Test were released to their counties this weekend to play in the final round of the NatWest County T20 competition. Surely it would have been ideal preparation? Instead they will have a couple of practice games this week against young male opponents. Australia meanwhile are in Ireland playing three T20Is against the Ireland Women's team that has beaten both Sussex and Yorkshire in Division One T20 games in the past couple of weeks.

England tour South Africa in February for more ICC WC games and in March the T20 World Cup is being staged in India. The WCSL will not come quickly enough to have any effect on England's performances in these tournaments. Indeed it will not really be up and running properly before England host the World Cup in 2017. The next few years could be tough for England on the international circuit.

MD
18/VIII/15

Test Match - Day Four tactics

So here we are at the last day of a Test Match, which is a bit of a novelty this summer. The Aussies are 90/4 in their second innings and they lead England by 190 runs.

In the series the Aussies lead 4-2. There are four points if you win the Test or two each, if it is a draw. After the Test there are three T20s worth two points each. As the holders of the Ashes England only have to draw the series to retain the Ashes.

The weather looks set fair, which means it looks like we will get in a full day's play (100 overs) and I think they may be able to add another 10 overs (actually 9 it seems) to try and make up for some of the overs lost yesterday, which would mean 108 (now 107) overs available today (allowing for the two lost during the innings changeover)

If you were the respective coaches how would you approach today? Here is what I would do...

Aussie Coach

I would start from the premise that I want 90 overs to bowl England out. That gives 80 overs with one ball and then 10 overs with a new ball at the end if required. I would be quite confident that I could bowl England out in the fourth innings in 90 overs. It took the Aussies 84.4 overs in the second innings of the match. So that would give them about 18 overs this morning to move their score on. I would want another 100 runs if possible to give a lead of around 290.

I would tell Jonassen and Blackwell to adopt a relatively cautious approach for the first 5-10 overs (probably not necessary to tell Blackwell that after yesterday's knock!), but from there on to move up the gears. With wickets in hand they could add plenty in the last 5-10 overs if Jonassen is still there and with Healy, Coyte and Schutt still to come. I would not want to be bowled out for less than 140.

When bowling I would give the new ball to Perry and Schutt and tell them they have four overs each to take as many wickets as possible. I would then chuck the ball to Jonassen and Beams (hopefully she is fit enough to bowl) and tell them to take the rest of the England wickets, with men all around the bat. Game over!!

England Coach

I would tell the girls that they are still in this game. Bowl the Aussies out for 40 more runs and we can win this game at a dawdle!
If this does not happen, and we end up chasing 290 I would still say that we can win and that we need to win, if possible, but that we do not want to lose.
I would tell Katherine Brunt that she is opening the batting with Lauren Winfield, Nat Sciver that she is three, Sarah Taylor that she is four, and Georgia Elwiss that she is five. I would tell them all that they have licence to bat freely, but not just to swing the bat. Hit the bad balls, run the singles and get the scoreboard ticking! They only need to score at just over three an over to win, and if they can get to 150 after 40 overs with just two or three wickets down, then the game will be there to win (140 off 50 overs with six wickets in hand). 

If things don't quite go according to plan and early wickets are lost and the game looks like it is getting away from us, then it will be time to shut up shop with Heather Knight, Charlotte Edwards, Laura Marsh and co into solid defensive mode. 

[Will England actually adopt this approach given their new positive attitude? Not a chance! The sad thing is that they probably won't even give it any consideration].

In about 10 hours we will know what actually happened. It will be a fun day.

MD
14/VIII/15

Five Predictions for the Ashes Test

Here are my five predictions for the Ashes Test which starts tomorrow at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury. If you can get along it would be great to see you there showing your support for England and for Women's Cricket.

[Please note that I am usually wrong in any predictions that I make, so please take the following few lines with a large pinch of salt!]

Prediction 1
Australia will bat first - CORRECT (Aus won toss & bat but Lottie would have bowled anyway)

Prediction 2
Fran Wilson will make her Test debut for England - INCORRECT

Prediction 3
Charlotte Edwards will not open the batting for England  - CORRECT!!

Prediction 4
Kristen Beams will take five wickets in an innings - INCORRECT

Prediction 5
Australia will win the Test - CORRECT

If I do well I will keep count and let everyone know. If I do badly I will probably delete this post under the European Union Blogger's Prerogative Rule (2012 - revised 2014).

Fingers crossed for a great Test!

MD
10/VIII/15

Ashes Test Preview - England would settle for a draw

I expect England to name an unchanged squad of 14 for the one and only Test Match, which starts at Canterbury on Tuesday. So the 14 from whom they will pick the starting 11 will probably be:-
Edwards, Brunt, Cross, Elwiss, Greenway, Grundy, Gunn, Jones, Knight, Marsh, Sciver, Shrubsole, Taylor, and Winfield. I would expect Jones, Elwiss and Marsh to miss out when the teamsheet is handed over at the toss. [In fact England have today named the same squad with the exception that Fran Wilson replaces Amy Jones]

England are 2-4 down in the series and they really need to win this Test Match if they can, but what they cannot afford to do is lose it. There are four points for a win and two points for a draw. If they were to go 2-8 down with just the three T20s to play (worth two points each), they would need to win all three T20s to retain the Ashes, as a drawn series means the holder gets to keep hold of the trophy. That would be a massive ask. But if they were still just two points down at the start of the T20 series, two wins would be enough to keep the Ashes in England. Still tough, but perhaps a little more doable.

All of which means that England are in a bit of a difficult situation when it comes to the right attitude for the game. I think they will attempt to play it safe. Neither Charlotte Edwards, nor the England management, could be said to be anything other than conservative. There will be no adventurous declarations from England (if they are afforded that luxury).

The Aussies on the other hand are in a great place at the moment. They won the second and third ODIs convincingly, and in their last warm-up game against a strong Academy squad (which included seven contracted England players) their batting was majestic, with centuries for Ellyse Perry and Alex Blackwell, plus a good-looking 79* from Jess Jonassen. True it was a great batting track, but Perry, Blackwell, Jonassen and Meg Lanning (who missed out in that game) all look like they can bat for a long time. England will have trouble bowling Australia out once, let alone twice. They will not be helped by the fact that the women play their Test cricket with a Kookaburra ball. It swings and seams less than the Dukes' ball that the men use in England. Apparently Dukes do not make a women's ball that is good enough to last 80 overs. A fact which Dukes' MD Dilip Jajodia strenuously denied to me when I spoke with him this week. If this Test does not go England's way then perhaps talks with Dukes may re-open, so that the girls can use a similar ball to the men.

I can see the Aussies batting long....very long, whether they get first dig or not. At the top of the order they have Nicole Bolton, who has the perfect Test Match batting temperament. Her opening partner will be the more aggressive Elyse Villani. She has calmed down a lot since she first appeared for Australia, but she will still give England chances. I would not be in the least bit surprised if Lanning or Perry made a hundred, if not a double hundred. They are both very focused individuals. After the new ball has gone, which could be after less than 20 overs, batting will get much easier. There could be a lot of work for the spinners, probably Grundy and Knight, but Grundy is no great spinner of the ball, and I cannot see either being a great wicket-taking threat.

That said, of course, the same is true for the Aussie bowlers. I doubt there will be much in the pitch for them either and they will have the same issues with the ball. England need someone in their top order to bat long - Edwards, Knight, Greenway, Winfield or Sciver. The Aussie attack did not look too penetrative against the Academy. Seven of the top nine Academy batsmen got into double figures, but only Fran Wilson managed to score over 50. They batted comfortably for 89 overs against the Aussies before declaring. With 100 overs bowled in a day in Women's Test cricket that is the least that England will have to achieve.

Without seeing the pitch it is always difficult to predict what may or may not happen. But I cannot see England forcing a win. If they can bat with authority and play straight then I can see them getting a draw, but it will need some application. That is the very least that you would expect from a team that are now paid to play for their country. The pressure is on, but that is how professional sport works.

MD
04/VIII/15

Where do England go from here?

England were crushed by Australia in the third ODI losing by 89 runs, and thereby lost the ODI series 2-1 and went 4-2 behind in the Ashes Series. It was not just that they were badly beaten, but that they were poor in the field, with the ball and with the bat. They looked like a team with no confidence. The skipper and the management have to remedy that before the Test.

They have a couple of weeks to try and get their heads together before that four day Test at Canterbury worth a crucial four points for a win or two each for the draw. This will be followed after another two week gap by the three T20s each worth two points. If the Aussies win the Test they will need to win just one of the T20s to take the Ashes.

So what will England do for the next two weeks? I understand they have some longer format warm-up games planned against boys' teams, but I am not really sure how much they get out of these "jumpers for goalpost" games (as fellow blogger Syd Egan calls them). They have nowhere near the same intensity as an Ashes' match and the opposition do not reflect the type of bowling and batting that they face in the real thing. Trying to find that sort of opposition is a conundrum. I would suggest that a game or games against one of the better county set-ups might prove more fruitful. This is one of the problems created by having this void between the 18 contracted players and the rest. This is the void the ECB hope the WCSL will fill, but that is not going to be up and running properly for at least two years. By then the T20 World Cup and the 50 over World Cup will have been and gone.

There is a round of county T20 games this Sunday and I think I would let the batsmen (at least) go and play in these games and try and get a few runs under their belts, just to try and get the feel of hitting the ball cleanly. I appreciate that it is not the same type of cricket that they will be required to play in the Test Match, but the England batsmen are not in a good place at the moment. It might also help them work on rotating the strike from decent length and line bowling, which is what the Aussies have been chucking down, and what England have been failing to play properly. In the first ODI the Aussies bowled too short and England capitalised. In the second they adjusted and bowled much tighter lines and lengths and England played across the line and got out. In the third England played straighter but could not score. In the Test playing straight will again be key, as will patience. Against India last year 12 of the 20 England wickets to fall to India were lbw as England played across the line and were bowled out for 92 and 202 and lost by six wickets.

I understand the Test squad is being selected today. It will not be easy. The ECB keep banging on about how strong the squad is and the fact that England have strength in depth. It looks like smoke and mirrors to me, particularly on the batting front. It was highlighted in the World Cup in Mumbai in 2013 when England failed to make the final; reiterated in the T20 World Cup final when England lost badly to Australia; in the Test last year and confirmed again in New Zealand in February. The only upside during that time was the Ashes in Australia which England won based around some good bowling in the Test Match (which was worth six points at the time). England actually lost both the ODI and T20 series, but one win in each was enough to retain the Ashes. As Mike Selvey, former Middlesex and England bowler, tweeted yesterday about the England team "The hard truth is they have plateaued in white ball cricket for several years while others have caught up".

The reality is that there are no batsmen in the England squad that the Aussies will fear. England have relied on Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor for much longer than is seemly, and during that time Taylor's performances have been sporadic. Overall she averages just over 40 in ODIs. Against Australia she averages just over 34, and this is about the score you expect her to make in most of her innings. In 70 of her 91 ODI innings she has failed to get beyond 50. 39 of those times she has scored between 20-49.

The problem England have is that they have not produced another reliable batsmen in the mould of Claire Taylor or Arran Brindle. Amy Jones and Georgia Elwiss have been introduced in this series with little success. Waiting in the wings are Tammy Beaumont and Danielle Wyatt. They have already played 23 and 33 ODIs each respectively. Beaumont averages 17.25 and Wyatt 16.43. They are not exciting replacements.

So who will England pick for the Test? Again I doubt they will look outside the contracted 18 players, but steady bat Fran Wilson and left-arm spinner Jodie Dibble deserve to feature in their thoughts. If they select 14 again I think it will be:-
Edwards, Beaumont, Brunt, Cross, Elwiss, Greenway, Grundy, Gunn, Hazell, Knight, Sciver, Shrubsole, Taylor, and Winfield
Whether that is a 14 that will trouble the Aussies? I have to say I have my doubts.

MD
28/VII/15

Can England win ODI 3?

The rain of the last couple of days has given me a chance to reflect on two very different ODI performances by both England and Australia. Fingers crossed they will get a chance tomorrow to complete the third game in the series.

The Aussies came to the first game luke-warm at best. They had only been in England for seven days, and they had been flayed by a men's side early on and then beat the England Women's Academy by just 15 runs just two days before the first ODI. It was not ideal preparation given that most of their players had not played a competitive game for several months. England had exactly the same problem when they toured New Zealand. Given that the girls do not currently play all-year round, better warm-up games in out of season tours seem to be a must.

It meant that the Aussie batting was timid and their score of 238/9 was under-par on a great wicket, where the ball thumped into the boundary markers almost as soon as it beat the in-field. It also meant that their bowlers were off the mark, bowling far too many short balls, which Nat Sciver, in particular, latched onto with relish. The Aussies were also hampered by poor and unfortunate team selection. Nicole Bolton missed the game after being hit on the head the day before in the nets. Jess Jonassen was promoted to open, presumably on the basis that she was a left-hander more than anything else. She did not look comfortable and used up 17 balls scoring her five runs, before she was one of Katherine Brunt's three victims.

The poor selections were Kristen Beams and Holly Ferling. Beams is a thirty year old leg-spinner who made her debut for Australia just last year against Pakistan, and was then selected for the successful Southern Stars series against the West Indies. She had been the leading wicket taker in the WNCL the summer before and had apparently performed well in warm-up games against the touring English team that summer. Her selection into the Stars team, and giving her a Southern Stars contract, seemed a great leap of faith. On hard turning Aussie wickets she may have proved remarkably economical for a leg-spinner. In England on lifeless, slow English wickets, her threat seems minimal, and, as with all leg-spinners, she bowls plenty of bad balls. Her selection for the first ODI, and indeed for the tour, seemed rather optimistic.

Holly Ferling is a separate issue. I first saw her when she was 17 when she first toured with the Aussies in 2013. She bounded in off a long and loping run and bowled pretty quickly, albeit somewhat erratically. She was a bit of a loose cannon on that tour, but there looked to be plenty of potential. Now, after back surgery and with a modified run-up and delivery, she looks mundane. She kept her place for the second ODI but I don't think she will keep it for the third.

In the second ODI the Aussie team was much better balanced. Nicole Bolton returned to open with her partner, Elyse Villani. Villani has curbed her thrash at everything style and they seem to make a sound opening partnership, with a disruptive left-hand/right-hand combination. Bolton took Jess Cameron's place, which seemed tough on Cameron. She has not been in the best of nick over the past year or so, but she looked good at Taunton and was unfortunate to be run out. Had she gone on and made 50 the Aussies would really have had a selection dilemma. Beams was also dropped and replaced by the steady seam of Megan Schutt, who is very used to English wickets having played 13 games for Notts in county cricket last season. It turned out to be an inspired selection as she ended the game with figures of 4/47. Her secret....she bowled straight. Not that much of a secret really.

Having won the toss England decided to bowl at Bristol. The perceived wisdom was that it was a good idea. I have to say, and I said at the time, that I would have batted. It was a good wicket and runs on the board add a pressure to batting, which tends to result in batsmen looking to play forcing shots across the line. Nine England batsmen either lbw or bowled suggests this is what happened to England.

The Aussies certainly batted better in the second ODI (plus we bowled too short and too wide), helped by Meg Lanning getting her mojo back. As she said after the game it is her job at number three to get a big score. Thursday was the thirteenth time in 38 innings that she has gone past 50 in ODIs and it was the sixth time she has gone on to make a hundred. Compare that with Sarah Taylor who has gone past 50 on 21 occasions but in 90 innings, and converted only five of those into hundreds. She has not had an ODI hundred against the Aussies since 2009. England desperately needed one on Thursday and she was well set at the half-way mark with England apparently cruising at 122/1. But it was not to be. Lottie was deceived by a Schutt slower ball and there then followed a procession of batsmen failing to play straight. "Play straight" has to be the mantra for the third ODI tomorrow. True Schutt and Sarah Coyte bowled good lines, but there was little or no movement again and at this level the batsmen need to be able to score without going across the line.

I am guessing that Worcester will be a decent batting track again and that means that it is likely to be the side that bats best that will win the third ODI. You would hope that England could not bat that badly again, but we have seen it before, so it is possible we might see it again.

Will Amy Jones keep her place at number 4? I hope she does and that she is given the support of the team and the management. Her main failing is a lack of self-confidence, not a failing of technique. If she were replaced by Lauren Winfield then the pressure on Winfield to justify her selection would be huge, which could be just as stifling. I don't think bringing her in would be fair to her or Jones.

I think the Aussies will drop Ferling and bring in Rene Farrell, and I think they will win the third ODI, but it will be close.

MD
26/VII/15

Aussies square series as Lanning comes good

Australia are back in the Ashes Series. Were they ever really out of it? No we just got a bit over-excited after the Taunton match.

They came into the second ODI at Bristol with a much more balanced side, replacing Jess Cameron with opener Nicole Bolton and leggie Kristen Beams with medium-pacer Megan Schutt, who has bowled plenty of times in English conditions before for Notts. Cameron can probably count herself as unlucky. She was batting well at Taunton before she was run out, but the Aussies wanted Bolton in to open the batting (left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen filled in in the last ODI) which meant sacrificing a batsman somewhere. The only other weak link from Taunton was Holly Ferling, and she proved to be the same today, bowling just three poor overs for 21 runs. She is unlikely to make the cut for the third ODI. For all the pre-tour talk she has looked out of her depth at this level. Rene Farrell will surely be preferred.

Inserted by Charlotte Edwards Australia never really looked to be in any kind of trouble. There was nothing in the wicket for seamers or spinners and once they had negotiated the first ten overs it was a matter of how many runs the Aussies could put on the board. England also bowled too many bad balls. Thanks to 104 off 98 balls from Aussie skipper Meg Lanning and a rather sedate 48 off 71 balls from Ellyse Perry, just missing out on her 7th consecutive 50, they managed to score 259/6. England did not help themselves with some sloppy fielding. Sarah Taylor dropped Lanning on 72 standing back behind the stumps, and Kate Cross dropped her again on 83 off her own bowling. Neither may have been overly significant, but they were indicative of a rather poor day in the field for England.

It meant England needed to hit a record 260 to win this second ODI and for the first 25 overs things seemed to be going according to plan. They reached the half-way stage at 122/1. They had lost Heather Knight for 38 off 51 balls with the score on 92, but that brought Sarah Taylor to the crease and the expectation always rises when she skips to the crease. To be fair the anxiety levels also rise, as you are never quite sure what you are going to get from Sarah. Knight had again not looked to be in great form, which must be a bit of a worry for England.

The first over after drinks was bowled by Schutt. She removed Charlotte Edwards who the Aussies had stifled by posting two short extra covers and bowling on her off stump. She likes to whip the ball to the leg side and when she tried to pull a slower ball from Schutt she missed and was bowled for 58 (her 46th ODI 50). This brought Amy Jones to the wicket, who had been a surprise pick at four for the these opening ODIs ahead of Lauren Winfield. For six balls she looked a lonely figure at the crease, and anxious to get off the mark she tried to work her seventh from Jonassen off the stumps to the off-side and was bowled. England needed Sarah Taylor to make this the time she went on and made a big score, but she could not. She fell for 43 off 39 balls, just before the batting powerplay, lbw to Jonassen to a full ball going back in front of her stumps and trying to work the ball to leg.

But it was the powerplay itself which scuppered England's chances of going 2-0 up in the ODI series and 4 points to nil up in the Ashes Series. England scored just 17 runs and lost four wickets. Greenway was lbw to Coyte, Elwiss was bowled by Schutt, Sciver was bowled by Coyte and Shrubsole was lbw to Schutt. Elwiss was bowled off an inside edge driving, but the other three were attempting to play straight balls to the leg-side. England were sunk at 181/8. They managed to get to 196 before they were bowled out, well short of the Aussies' total.

After the euphoria of the England middle-order batting in the first ODI this was back to the more familiar middle-order batting woes. Consistency is the middle-order's problem and it is not one that I can see being solved mid-series. We have to hope that one or two of the middle-order can come good again on Sunday, that Heather Knight finds some form and that we bowl better. Lines and length were poor today. It is going to be a tall ask and the Aussies are now favourites in my book to take the ODI series 2-1 in Worcester on Sunday.

scorecard here

MD
23/VII/15

Ashes' Opener doesn't disappoint!

What a great day at Taunton!!

And not just because England won, although I have to say that helps!

The atmosphere was electric before the start. The media were there in force with pre-match pitchside interviews for radio and television. Photographers were getting set-up. The crowd started to trickle in, filling up the traditional small stands. The owners of the penthouse flats on the far side of the ground settled down with a coffee on their balconies to watch proceedings. The Ashes were about to get under way - NOT the WOMEN'S Ashes!

There is always that nagging fear that the game might not quite live up to all the hype, and when England reduced Australia to 35/3 with the MegaStar, Meg Lanning, one of the wickets to fall, there was a mixture of anxiety and euphoria amongst the bloggerati (a word I think I have just made up for those of us who blog on women's cricket). It was great to see England doing so well, but the game, being broadcast on Sky and on BBC radio, needed to be a good contest. We needn't have worried. Ellyse Perry and Alex Blackwell ensured it was a decent game. They added 121 in 161 balls for the fourth wicket, before Blackwell was run out by a direct hit from Heather Knight at mid-off. It was the first of four run-outs by England, who until that time had not had a great day in the field, with fumbles in the field, missed stumpings and a dropped catch (Perry on 21 at the time) by Becky Grundy off her own bowling. The run-outs took the wind out of the Aussie sails which meant they ended up on 238/9, rather than the 260/270 they looked like achieving at one stage. It looked a decent score on the board, but with an outfield like glass and no movement in the air or off the pitch for the seamers and no spin for the spinners, it was well below par. England just needed to bat sensibly.....just....

Charlotte Edwards pulled the first ball of the England innings for 4, and all seemed right in the world. The crowd had grown to around 3,500 and they were enjoying themselves, even if the sun had given way to some rather ominous grey clouds and the occasional spit and spot of rain. But Edwards dragged one on from Perry; Knight clipped Coyte to mid-on; Jones swatted a long-hop from Osborne to midwicket; and Taylor edged Osborne behind trying to dab the ball down to third man. England were 80/4. England's previously fragile middle-order was exposed, but this was still a good batting track, and none of the Aussie bowlers really looked that threatening. Did they? But still there was little confidence that England would pull it off.

Again unnecessary pessimism. Nat Sciver, despite some indifferent form in the County Championship, rose to the occasion like a leaping salmon. She, together with a more circumspect Lydia Greenway, gradually brought the game round England's way. They got to 30 overs with the score on 124/4. England still needed 115 from 20 overs. Eminently doable, but if they lost a wicket now..... They did not. Instead they hit Jonassen for eight; Beams for 10; Perry for seven and Osborne for 10 in consecutive overs. 35 off four overs and the game was theirs to lose now.

Cue slight palpitations when Greenway departed with 37 still needed and then Sciver with 22 still needed, but Georgia Elwiss looked like the calmest of calm people on a calm day as she cut her first ball off Osborne for 4 and then lofted her over extra cover for 4 more. Her glove punch and smiles with the enigmatic Katherine Brunt as she edged Osborne for 4 two overs later, before cutting her for the winning 4 two balls later, were great to witness. As was the noise of the enthusiastic and partisan Somerset crowd, who gradually came to life as the Sciver/Greenway combo took the game by the scruff of the neck.

England won with more than four overs to spare. Why were we ever worried?

It really had been a grand day out. Perhaps it was the day that women's cricket finally came of age?

scorecard here

MD
22/VII/15

It's going to be a rollercoaster ride - Women's Ashes ODI Preview

Tomorrow England start their Ashes campaign against the Aussies with the first of three ODIs at Taunton, the second is at Bristol on Thursday, and the third at Worcester on Sunday. As well as being part of the Ashes Series the games are also the three matches in the ICC Women's Championship, the qualifying tournament for the World Cup in 2017. Australia are currently top of the table, while England languish in sixth place. These are three very important matches for England.

I had intended to write this preview last week, but I thought I would wait for yesterday's EWA v Australia warm-up game (scorecard here), so that I could get a sight of the Aussies playing on English soil. Had I written it last week I would have been pretty pessimistic about England's chances of winning any of the three games in this mini-series. Australia are the current 50 over World Champions and England come into this series after a rather dismal 2-1 ICCWC defeat in New Zealand. But I have to say that, having watched Australia yesterday and having seen how they have warmed-up against men's teams both in Australia and here, I am now less pessimistic.

The Aussies are out of season and playing on English pitches and in English conditions. I understand their desire to warm-up against strong opposition, but their bowlers were flayed round the park by the two men's teams they have played and their batsmen have struggled. I am not sure that is the preparation they needed, and it showed yesterday against the England Academy. True they won that game, but only by 15 runs and they failed to put more than 250 runs on the board on a great batting track and with a lightning outfield. With the exception of Ellyse Perry (93*) their batting looked tentative.

As for their bowling it looked toothless. Perry is a shadow of the bowler she once was and Holly Ferling looked over-coached, medium-paced and inaccurate. Rene Farrell bowls tidily enough and looks hard to get away, and England will have to avoid getting bogged down by her as the Academy girls did yesterday. They also struggled with left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen, who is naggingly accurate even if she is not a big spinner of the ball. Leggie Kristen Beams looks set to play in the ODIs, and the Aussies have talked her up, but if the England girls can use their feet to her and not allow her to settle she will bowl plenty of scoring deliveries and the tracks are unlikely to offer her much spin.

England will have no better chance of getting two points on both the Ashes and ICCWC scoreboards than in the first ODI tomorrow. The question is whether they are in a good enough place to take that chance? It is a big series for the likes of Heather Knight, Nat Sciver, Lauren Winfield and possibly Georgia Elwiss, who all show so much promise with the bat, but all too infrequently. England cannot keep relying on Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor to get all their runs. I think Knight could be a key player. Anya Shrubsole and Katherine Brunt will lead the bowling attack, but they need to avoid bowling too short to the Aussies. They are good off the back foot, and neither bowler now have the consistent pace they used to have. They will need to keep a lid on the Aussies for the first ten overs and then it seems likely that spinners Knight, Rebecca Grundy and possibly Laura Marsh, will try and stifle the Aussies in the middle overs. Knight's honeymoon period as a spinner is coming to an end and I think the Aussies may look to get after her early. If she can hold her nerve that could work for England. It will be an intriguing battle.

The other imponderable for England appears to be Jenny Gunn. Will she play or will she be replaced by Laura Marsh or Georgia Elwiss? If she does play where will she bat? She drifted down to 10 in New Zealand. And where is her bowling at the moment? She has been notoriously stingey in the past and good at taking wickets, but appears to have lost that knack of bowling darts at the batsmen's toes. At her best she could be a vital cog in the well-oiled England machine. Hopefully someone will have got the physios equivalent of WD40 out on her.

These and many other questions will be answered over the next few days. I am going to stick my neck out and say that I think England will win the first ODI, and that one team will win the mini-series 2-1, but I'm not sure which team that will be. It is going to be a rollercoaster ride. Please make sure you are safely strapped in, remain seated at all times and keep your hands down!

20/VII/15

No real surprises in England's ODI Ashes' Squad

England have announced the 14 players that will make up their squad for the three ODIs against Australia, which will not only count for 2 points each in the Ashes Series, but are also worth two points each in the ICC Women's Championship (the qualifying tournament for the World Cup in England in 2017).

As expected there are no real surprises, except perhaps the omission of off-spinner Dani Hazell (it was confirmed that she is not injured and was simply not selected), as England stick to their tried and tested squad members. The only change from the 15 that went to New Zealand in February (and lost the ICC WC series 1-2) is the addition of Georgia Elwiss and the dropping of Hazell and Danni Wyatt. Despite England's poor middle-order batting on that tour Wyatt was given little opportunity to stake her claim for more permanent selection in the starting 11. She has now been jettisoned from the squad for Sussex's Georgia Elwiss, who had a good "Academy" tour in Dubai, but has not had a great start to the county season here in England, either with the bat or the ball. Her highest score has been 34 and she has just three wickets to her name.

England are emphasising the experience within the squad, with a total of 807 ODI caps amongst the 14 players, but the question is whether experience is enough? Talent, form and confidence are also prerequisites. With the T20 World Cup next year and the 50 over World Cup in 2017, both currently held by Australia, England are going to need a lot more than just experience. The New Zealand tour was the time to blood some youngsters and get those on the fringes into the games, but that opportunity was missed. So it is back to the old guard, at least for the ODIs. Should England be 6-0 down after these three games (as they may well be) one wonders if the squad might change for the Test and then the T20s?

Clare Connor suggested that this squad "is one of real strength and demonstrates the depth of talent currently running through the England women's performance programme". I think it actually shows the opposite. Where are the young batsmen challenging for a spot in a team which has serious middle-order frailties, or even in the squad? Batsmen on the fringes are Danni Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont, both of whom have had plenty of opportunities in the past. The England focus has been on the 18 contracted players, some of whom are getting close to their sell by date. England desperately need to get the Women's Super League up and running. There needs to be a showcase for young talent, which the county championship cannot provide at the present time.

Despite England currently holding the Ashes, the Aussies are clearly favourites to take this series (three ODIs, one Test and three T20s). England will need to scrap for every single point they can and it all starts at Taunton on 21st July.

The squad is :-
Charlotte Edwards
Katherine Brunt
Kate Cross
Georgia Elwiss
Lydia Greenway
Rebecca Grundy
Jenny Gunn
Amy Jones
Heather Knight
Laura Marsh
Nat Sciver
Anya Shrubsole
Sarah Taylor
Lauren Winfield

WCB will be at all the games tweeting and blogging as usual. It sounds as though the Press Box will be full of journos, but few if any will have seen a county game this season, and none of them were in the Press Box with me in New Zealand. Hopefully that means that I can bring something different to the table when it comes to coverage. Hopefully I will have your company too throughout the series.

MD
07/VII/15

Who will make the England Ashes Squad?

So it looks like England will not name their squad of players that will represent England in the Ashes Series - three ODIs, one Test and three T20s - until the beginning of July.

I expect the squad to be probably 15/16 players and there will be no designation of who will play in which format. In the past this was done before the series started, only for injury and form to require changes to be made as the series went along. I anticipate that the pared-down squad for each format will be announced a few days before each format begins.

Delaying the squad announcement until early July will also give the players in contention a few more chances to show what they can do. There are county T20 fixtures on 14th June, followed by County Championship  games on 21st June. There is also then apparently an England v England Academy game on 30th June in Loughborough. The recent four day fixture (the "Loughborough Test") with this moniker actually turned out to be a practice match for the Winter Training Squad of 22, plus a few Academy players. This could well be the same, and it could be a last chance to impress before the squad is announced.

As things stand it is very hard to see England picking any player outside of the 18 contracted players. Of those 18 two missed the Loughborough Test - Danni Wyatt with her shoulder injury, which she picked up slipping over batting against Berkshire two weeks ago and Jenny Gunn, who has a foot issue. Both I understand hope to be back playing very soon.

Assuming therefore that the entire squad is fit which 15/16 will get the nod?

Shoo-Ins
The first names on the squad list will be Charlotte Edwards, Sarah Taylor and Heather Knight. They have all been in a bit of form with the bat in the County Championship and each one of them got a score in the Loughborough Test. Knight's bowling form does look to be a bit of an issue and I suspect she may have a current back issue, but I could well be wrong. This is just from her body language at Loughborough.

Next on the list will be Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole. They have been the mainstay of England's pace attack for the last three years, and will no doubt continue to be so this summer, although both have been a bit expensive of late, guilty of bowling too short on occasions. Both have been working hard on their batting and it would not surprise me to see them migrate to the all-rounders role (possibly sooner rather than later), with less expected of their bowling. Kate Cross is the next pace bowler in the pecking order and will be selected. She has had a well-documented effect in the men's game early this season, but she has found wickets hard to come by in the women's game - just two in the three Women's County Championship matches and only one in two stints at the Loughborough Test. This may be down to a matter of respect. She gets it in the women's game, but perhaps she does not in the men's?

As for spinners off -spinner Dani Hazell and left-armer Rebecca Grundy  seem certain to keep their places in the squad. Hazell has a knack of taking wickets although she can be expensive. Grundy is generally pretty miserly but is a less attacking option.

The ninth name into the squad will undoubtedly be Amy Jones. Her name is pencilled in early as the back-up keeper to Sarah Taylor, but she also has a right to be considered as a middle-order batting option, particularly after her fine century at the Loughborough Test. She is a very selfless player, who has probably not had as many chances as she deserves. I would like to think she will get them this summer, but I think once again poor form or injury for others will be her only way into the final 11.

Probables
Despite poor form against the Shooting Stars in Dubai and an iffy start to the County Championship, Nat Sciver's name will almost certainly feature in the squad and in the 11 to play in the first ODI on 21st July. Her final innings in New Zealand showed what she is capable of, but England desperately need her to fire early. Lydia Greenway will also make the squad, but she was dropped from the starting 11 in New Zealand after some poor batting displays and she looks vulnerable. Lauren Winfield has been in decent form for Yorkshire in their two games thus far this season and hit a decent 56 in the Loughborough Test. It looks like England are considering her as a possible opening bat in the longer formats of the game (she currently has the job in the T20s), allowing Charlotte Edwards to prop up a middle order that has been found wanting on far too many occasions recently. After her exploits in Dubai with the bat against the Shooting Stars and a crisp 71 in the second innings at Loughborough, plus her ability to bowl, Georgia Elwiss, is likely to find her name in the squad. She is an attacking option, both with the bat and the ball. She might have to sit out the first few games, but could well get a chance later in the series, depending on results and player fitness. Finally long-serving Jenny Gunn's name will be in the 15. She had a miserable time out in New Zealand, but I cannot see England leaving her out of the squad. It was a great shame that she was not fit enough to play in the Loughborough Test, where she could have shown what she can do, but she has had a reasonable start to the season with Notts, if county form counts for anything?

Possibles
So that leaves just one or two places in the squad. Of the 18 contracted players you have Tammy Beaumont, Tash Farrant, Laura Marsh, and Danni Wyatt left. I think one or two will be taken from here. The four others in the Winter Training Squad were Jodie Dibble, Beth Langston, Sonia Odedra and Fran Wilson. Who gets the final couple of slots is a matter of conjecture and overall squad make-up. There could even be a couple of surprises, but I think that is unlikely unless there are injury issues.

As for the starting 11 in the first ODI I think they will go with :-
Winfield, Knight, Taylor, Edwards, Sciver, Greenway, Brunt, Shrubsole, Gunn, Hazell, Grundy

As for my 11 I would go with :-
Winfield, Knight, Sciver, Taylor, Edwards, Elwiss, Jones, Shrubsole, Brunt, Hazell, Grundy

MD
5/VI/15

Elwiss & Wilson gunning for England places

England's so-called Academy team are three matches in to their six match series with the Aussie Shooting Stars out in Dubai and they find themselves 2-1 down, with one ODI and two T20s to come.

The three matches to date have all followed a fairly similar pattern. England have won the toss and batted first, scored about 260 thanks to major contributions with the bat from Georgia Elwiss and Fran Wilson, and the Aussies have chased them down on two occasions and fallen just short on the other.

Both contracted Elwiss and non-contracted Wilson have been in fine form. Elwiss has scored 100(81), 65(42) and 50(39). She has also taken 1/21, 3/46 and 1/22. Wilson has scored 57(60), 50(42), and 45(54). It is not only the fact that they have scored runs, but that they have scored them at a good pace (Elwiss in particular). The only other batsmen to have gone past 50 have been Tammy Beaumont 59(82) and Evelyn Jones 50(104), in an opening stand of 118 in the second game, which consumed nearly 30 overs.

With England's senior middle order still looking like their biggest problem, both Elwiss and Wilson must be in the frame to make it into the Ashes squad (or more likely squads) for the summer. If they are to make the final 11 then realistically they will have to displace one of the current incumbents - Lauren Winfield, Lydia Greenway, Nat Sciver or Jenny Gunn.

Winfield was promoted to number three in England's recent series against New Zealand. She made 3,14 and 29 in the three ODIs she played and 1 and 48 in two T20s. She was not convincing. She had apparently been hitting the ball well in the nets, but as we know, hitting it well in the nets and out in the middle are two very different things. She was then injured (quad muscle). She was due to go to Dubai with the Academy, but pulled out a week before when her injury failed to clear up. She will therefore have games for Yorkshire against Kent, Warwickshire, and Berkshire in May to prove she is fit and in form. She really needs to find some runs soon.

Greenway had an indifferent tour to New Zealand too. She struggled with the bat in the first few games and was dropped for the third ODI after scores of a scratchy 27 and 0. She came back into the side for the T20s and two great catches seemed to restore her confidence. She batted better after that but still only scored 18*, 25 and 23. She has only one score over 50 in her last 25 ODI innings (going back 3 years), and averages 26 over that period. England are unlikely to jettison her without more thought, but her outstanding fielding cannot be allowed to dictate her automatic selection.

Sciver came into the England set-up as a bowling all-rounder, but has developed into a stylish, but somewhat frustrating batsmen. She looks the part with the bat in her hand, but tends to find ways to get out. It is early days in her career and she has been described as "the future of England cricket". Her knock of 65* in the last game against New Zealand suggested that could be true, but her performances to date in Dubai (1, 11 and 23) leave something to be desired. It would be good to see her come to the party in Dubai in the next few days.

Gunn averages less than 20 with the bat in ODIs after 96 innings, but she does have the small matter of 115 ODI wickets to her name. She has fulfilled the "reliable second change bowler who can bat a bit" role for some time now. In fact there was a period in her England career when she batted in the top three. However those days seem to have long gone. In New Zealand she started the ODI series at 7, but was soon demoted to 10, behind Brunt, Marsh and Shrubsole. She looked out of sorts with the bat scoring 1, 5 and 1 in the first three games. She also only bowled 14.4 overs during the five match series taking no wickets. Early county form could again be a key indicator.

That is not to say that Elwiss and/or Wilson are the panacea to all England's middle-order batting woes. It is worth noting the standard of the opposition they are facing out in Dubai. Australia are clearly treating this tour as an experience for some of their younger players. The Shooting Stars have seven teenagers in their squad. In contrast England have just one (the centrally-contracted Tash Farrant at 18). Three of the ten Aussie bowlers used in the last OD game did not even bowl in the WNCL (senior state cricket in Australia) in 2014/15 - opener Lauren Cheatle (16), first-change Nicola Hancock (19) and off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner (17). There is also the fact that the wickets in Dubai are great to bat on, with little movement, even bounce and lightning outfields. Having said that Elwiss and Wilson have outshone both Sciver and Beaumont, who are playing in the same games, on the same wickets and against the same bowlers. They can do no more than that.

Certainly on the batting front both Elwiss's and Wilson's stock has risen at just the right time. It will be for the England management to decide if it has sufficient upside to require a significant investment.

MD
07/IV/15

A chat with Clare Connor on The Future of Women's Cricket

No-one can deny that women's cricket has come a long way in the last few years, and by "a long way" I mean from a true minority sport for women to a sport that now attracts 60,000 women to play it every week and where those at the top can genuinely call themselves "professionals". A great deal of that development in the game can be put down to the work of Clare Connor, the Head of Women's Cricket at the ECB for the last seven years, and the huge injection of cash that has come from the ECB themselves. She is a massive supporter of England Women's cricket and works tirelessly for the sport she so clearly loves.

But there is always more to do, and the growing number of women's cricket fans always want more, so I took the opportunity at the Test Match at Wormsley to have a chat with Clare about what the future may hold and how the women's game can develop further. We covered a range of topics and here is what she had to say.

WICL
Earlier in the year a company called 14 Degrees announced that they were trying to put together a two week T20 tournament featuring all the top women players in the world, akin to a cut-down version of the IPL. The players, who had been promised sums of up to £20,000 for their efforts, were naturally excited at the prospect. However the ECB and Cricket Australia seem to have kiboshed the whole idea when they stated that they would not support the competition. So where are we now?
CC "I think we have shut the door on it if it is only going to be a privately run tournament, because the powers that be at Cricket Australia and ECB jointly won't condone privately run cricket. Some of the privately run stuff in the past has set some rather strong alarm bells (ringing) for certain people.
I think there is a strong feeling from Australia and England that such a tournament is worth considering, once we have really established the ICC Women's Championship, which has been the priority for the last 12 to 24 months, but only if it was run by probably England or Australia. We want everything to be for the good of the game. We want the money to go where the money is most needed.
There are concerns around corruption approaches now; other regulatory stuff; medical support; players actually being paid. A huge amount of effort has gone into integrating women's cricket into the ICC, which I would argue has been a huge benefit to the top eight and the developing nations in terms of how women's cricket is run and developed and in terms of what the future looks like for women's cricket. And the joint World Twenty Twenty has been a big part of that in terms of profile and opportunity, and it is felt that, at the moment, we are not quite ready for another Twenty Twenty operation or competition. That is not to say that we would feel the same in 12 or 24 months."

Test Cricket
Is there really a future for Test cricket in the women's game?
CC "There is no doubt that it is hanging by a thread. Its difficult to see a future for Test cricket. I would love to combine a multi-format series with the three ODIs for the Women's Championship, and that is what we tried to do with India for this summer. For whatever reasons India didn't want that schedule, which is why we have got South Africa coming over as a separate competition to play those three Twenty Twenties. 
It is really hard to justify why we are going to continue to play Test cricket I think. The reason we came up with the multi-format Ashes series is because Cricket Australia didn't want to play more than one Test. We wanted three; we were prepared to play two, Australia didn't want to play more than one.
I would love to see every one of at least the top five or six playing a Test as part of a multi-format series, which also included the three Women's Championship ODIs. The sad reality is that New Zealand do not want to play any Test cricket. They have not played a Test since 2004. The ECB would like to play more Test cricket (as part of a multi-format competition). I think it could be commercially viable (if it was part of the multi-format series). That really did capture the imagination last summer of the public and the media."

ECB Contracts
In May the ECB announced that 18 England players were being given contracts. It transpired that there were three levels of contract - tiers 1, 2 and 3. Much was made in the media of the fact that the girls were now "full-time professional cricketers", but is this actually the case? First of all how long are the current contracts?
CC "The new contracts will begin 1st October 2015, so the current contracts are 16 months. We won't take a player off a contract during that time, but we can add players if we want".
Can you see any way that the gap between the contracted players and those immediately below, who have no income from cricket, can be closed?
CC "Yes but probably not drastically. It might be that we can secure extra budget to have maybe, in the next couple of years, 50% of the Academy on some sort of contract. Our ability at the moment to extend that type of budget or give bigger financial payments or incentives to counties - we are some way from that".
And is the tier system here to stay?
CC "I think we have got to be open to reviewing it. It may be that it is tweaked a little bit. I can't see it changing drastically. We were able to increase the tier 3 contract to nearer the tier 2 contract. There is a bigger gulf between tier 1 and tier 2". 
Is tier 3 a liveable wage?
CC "Nearly I'd say. By the time you have added in player appearance fees and other bits and pieces that the players can earn, then yes".  

County Championship
Many have been calling for sometime for the County Championship to be white ball and for there to be more games. What are the ECB's plans?
CC "2015 will be white ball cricket, but probably not for every single county team. Certainly for the top two divisions". 
So that would include coloured clothing, white ball - extra funding from the ECB for that?
CC "Yes. And in 2016 more significant changes I would envisage. We have a consultation starting with counties on 29th September and that will be chaired by someone independent. I don't want to say too much, but I think we have got to get to a point by 2016, really, where the top-flight of women's county cricket is more top-flight, more high profile, more of the best playing the best more often, with more ECB investment, whilst recognising that we also need to invest heavily in certain areas of club cricket and developing counties".
So where does Super 3s fit into that?
CC "That is part of it. We need to use Super 2s, 3s or 4s as best we can for the talented players. It is tricky to work out what that looks like with young players with exams, players having to be monitored for workloads, players with injuries".
Do you think you get anything out of the Super 3s competition?
CC "Not as much as we would like. That will be looked at closely as well for next year, and of course we can make whatever changes we want as that is ours, to work out what the right format for that looks like".

Ashes Series in 2015
The Ashes Series next year will be the same multi-format series with 1 Test (possibly worth only 4 points and not 6); three ODIs and three T20s.
CC "The three ODIs will be part of the ICC Women's Championship. I don't know if that is complicated? I don't think it is. Those three ODIs are the Women's Championship games with their own points. The good news is that next summer we won't clash with the men's game".
And the Ashes Test will be at Wormsley?
CC "No almost certainly not. We would like it to be at Lords, which would be historic. It would be the first Women's Test at Lords. Lords are great supporters and enthusiastic about doing it. We will know hopefully in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed we can make it happen there."

Thanks to Clare for taking the time to talk with me so frankly.

MD
17/VIII/14