England need to look to the future

England have recently announced their England Women's Performance winter training squad (EWPS) for 2015/2016, which is exactly the same as last winter's squad minus Sonia Odedra. The squad is made up of the 18 contracted players (named in May 2014), plus non-contracted Jodie Dibble, Beth Langston and Fran Wilson. In the words of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose" - the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In fact a little research suggests that very little has changed in the England camp over the last few years. Here is the 15 player squad from the summer of 2012 selected to play the Indians :-

Tammy Beaumont
Katherine Brunt
Arran Brindle
Holly Colvin
Charlotte Edwards
Georgia Elwiss
Lydia Greenway
Jenny Gunn
Dani Hazell
Heather Knight
Laura Marsh
Susie Rowe
Anya Shrubsole
Sarah Taylor
Dani Wyatt

Looks very familiar! In fact the only players that have left - Brindle, Colvin and Rowe have done so of their own volition. Certainly Colvin would still be there if she had not decided to take a break from international cricket. These 12 plus Kate Cross, Tash Farrant, Rebecca Grundy, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver and Lauren Winfield make up the current 18 contracted players.

Compare this with the Southern Stars contracted player list from 2102 :-

Alex Blackwell                   
Melissa Bulow
Jess Cameron
Sarah Coyte
Lauren Ebsary
Sarah Elliott
Jodie Fields
Rachael Haynes
Alyssa Healy
Julie Hunter
Jessica Jonassen
Meg Lanning
Sharon Millanta
Erin Osborne
Ellyse Perry
Leah Poulton
Clea Smith
Lisa Sthalekar

Only those in bold are still contracted players. This shows that just nine of those 18 players are still contracted. The other nine have been replaced by Kristen Beams, Nicole Bolton, Renee Farrell, Holly Ferling, Grace Harris, Delissa Kimmince, Megan Schutt and Elyse Villani.

Perhaps the lack of change would be understandable if the England players were all still young. But in fact three of them are over 30 (the oldest being Charlotte Edwards at 35), and the average age for the England contracted players is 25.66. Only Kristen Beams and Alex Blackwell are over 30 in the current Aussie squad and captain Meg Lanning is just 23.

There is of course something to be said for stability in a squad, but new players need to be introduced, played and brought on. England appear to have gone stale. Not only do they not look beyond the current 18 contracted players, but those contracted players have not changed for 18 months and it looks unlikely they will do so for another 14 months. That is not healthy.

The departure of both Paul Shaw (Performance Director) and Lisa Keightley (Head of the Academy) may prove a catalyst for change, but it will depend who takes over from them. More time and money needs to be invested in the Academy players, and Academy games and tours need to be just that. Not games and tours for contracted players. If contracted players need game time then more games should be organised for them. In the so-called Academy tour to Dubai in February five of the 14 players chosen were contracted and four more were from the EWPS. Only five players were genuinely from the Academy. In contrast the Aussies took one young contracted player (Elyse Villani) and included seven teenagers in their squad. In the two day "Academy" game against Australia this summer seven contracted players played, two EWPS players and just two genuine Academy players. Not only did this not benefit the England Academy players, but it meant Australia had a better warm-up game.

The women's game is moving on around the world and England cannot afford to keep looking back. Let's hope the new Head Coach can install that philosophy throughout the England player pathway.

MD
05/X/15

Academy pay for England' s poor 2015

England have named their three winter training squads, which include a total of 55 players ranging from 35 year old Charlotte Edwards down to 15 year old Rhianna Southby. The three squads are the England Women's Performance Squad (EWPS), the England Women's Academy (EWA) and the England Women's Development Programme (EWDP) (which used to be U19s, but now appears to have no age restriction).

Despite a poor 2015 for England (both in New Zealand and at home in the Ashes) the only change from last year's EWPS is the dropping of Notts' Sonia Odedra, who, after the EWA tour to Dubai, played no further part in England or England Academy games during the summer. All 18 contracted players remain, with Jodie Dibble, Beth Langston and Fran Wilson again expected to train at the same level without payment. There are no additions from the Academy, although with eight of the 18 contracted players wintering in Australia there should be some opportunities for the Academy players to be called up to train with the EWPS. The ECB have also confirmed that the current England contracts will now continue until the end of January 2016, although an announcement on new contracts will apparently be made before the end of 2015. Given the lack of movement into the main squad it seems unlikely there will be many surprises. England either have great faith in what they have or they are not impressed by what is coming through?

But in the Academy four players have lost their places - Aylish Cranstone, Georgia Hennessy, Paige Scholfield and Carla Rudd, with five girls promoted from last year's EWDP U19s - Sophia Dunkley (opening bat/leg spinner), Sophie Ecclestone (left-arm spinner), Katie George (left-arm seamer), Bryony Smith (hard-hitting top order bat) and Ellie Threlkeld (wicket-keeper bat). In addition Sussex's 17 year old Ellen Burt (right-am seamer/ middle order bat) has been added into the Academy after a good season with her county at U17 and senior level, and in the rain-affected Junior Super 3s in August.

In addition the Academy have also lost their Head Coach Lisa Keightley, who has decided to return to her native Australia. High Performance Manager Jonathan Finch steps into the role for the time being, although I understand that the ECB hope to make a new appointment early in the new year.

In the EWDP eight girls lose their places for 2015/2016, but coming in are Megan Belt, Izzy Cloke, Alice Dyson, Emily Edgcombe, Tiarna Gilkes, Sarah Glenn, Lucy Higham, Rhianna Southby and twins Erin and Lucy Staunton-Turner. Most of those that have been omitted are 18 and 19 and most of those that have been brought in are two or three years younger.

The full squads are:-

England Women's Performance Squad
Tammy Beaumont
Katherine Brunt
Kate Cross
Jodie Dibble
Charlotte Edwards
Georgia Elwiss
Tash Farrant
Lydia Greenway
Rebecca Grundy
Jenny Gunn
Danielle Hazell
Amy Jones
Heather Knight
Beth Langston
Laura Marsh
Nat Sciver
Anya Shrubsole
Sarah Taylor
Fran Wilson
Lauren Winfield
Danielle Wyatt

England Women's Academy
Georgia Adams
Hollie Armitage
Ellen Burt
Steph Butler
Freya Davies
Sophia Dunkley
Sophie Ecclestone
Katie George
Alex Hartley
Evelyn Jones
Emma Lamb
Sophie Luff
Alex Macdonald
Bryony Smith
Eleanor Threlkeld

England Women's Development Programme
Emily Arlott
Megan Belt
Maia Bouchier
Georgie Boyce
Izzy Cloke
Izzy Collis
Alice Dyson
Emily Edgcombe
Tiarna Gilkes
Sarah Glenn
Cordelia Griffith
Lucy Higham
Hannah Jones
Sophie Mackenzie
Anna Nicholls
Tara Norris
Rhianna Southby
Erin Staunton-Turner
Lucy Staunton-Turner

MD
22/IX/15