A look at the semi-finals of the One Day Cup, which took place yesterday, and a large photo gallery.
These matches took place yesterday, and I only witnessed one of the four innings.
HAMPSHIRE V WARWICKSHIRE
This was the one I had not expected to catch any of, since it was an 11AM start, which meant that it was always more likely than not to be done before I was home from work. In the event it was over at 2:23PM, Warwickshire proving utterly spineless. Liam Dawson claimed 7-15 as Warwickshire were routed for 94. Hampshire then only lost one wicket knocking off the runs.
LEICESTERSHIRE V GLOUCESTERSHIRE
This one started at 2PM. By the time I was home from work the Gloucestershire innings was done, for a paltry 125, but it was raining. The rain eventually eased in time for a 6:15PM restart. Early on it looked like Gloucestershire might yet succeed in defending their low total. Leicestershire were 33-4 at low water mark. At that point Peter Handscomb, a former Gloucestershire player, was joined by Wiaan Mulder. This pair, slowly at first and more rapidly as their partnership endured, saw their side home to a six wicket victory. Thus Hampshire and Leicestershire will contest the final.
A look back at yesterday’s finals of the Hundred and a huge photo gallery.
The final matches in this year’s Hundred took place yesterday. This post looks back at both matches.
SOUTHERN BRAVE V NORTHERN SUPERCHARGERS
Southern Brave recovered well from the loss of two early wickets, with Danni Wyatt playing a superb innings for them. They eventually managed 139-6 from their 100 balls, respectable rather than outstanding. Northern Superchargers struggled badly in reply. They didn’t hit very many boundaries, and they did an appallingly bad job of rotating the strike – Indian opener Jemimah Rodrigues, whose dismissal basically ended their hopes of success was out to the 73rd ball of the innings, and so badly had Superchargers failed at rotating the strike that she faced only 14 of those 73 balls. She was the only Superchargers batter scoring quickly enough to give her side a shot at chasing down the total, but her team mates simply could not get her enough of the strike. In the end Brave won by 34 runs, sending their skipper Anya Shrubsole into retirement on an appropriately high note. In 2017 Shrubsole was the star of the show when England won the World Cup final at Lord’s, where this match also took place. On that occasion Shrubsole took six Indian wickets to win England a game that looked to be going the other way for much of its duration. This time she was part of an excellent team bowling performance, and her team rarely looked anything other than 100% in control of the match. One other Brave player deserves special mention: wicket keeper Rhianna Southby, who was, as she has been for most of the tournament stellar behind the stumps. Highlights of her performance this match included three stumpings, at least one of which would have beyond most other keepers in this tournament. She is that increasingly rare player in the modern era – someone who gets picked specifically for her keeping skills – she was officially down to bat at number 10 had Brave lost that many wickets. Danni Wyatt’s sparkling 59 earned her Player of the Match, while Marizanne Kapp was named Player of the Tournament for the 147 runs and 11 wickets she managed.
OVAL INVINCIBLES V MANCHESTER ORIGINALS
This match featured one of the more astonishing turn arounds seen in a game of such short duration (long form cricket offers much more scope for truly spectacular turn arounds – check out Warwickshire v Hampshire in 1922 for a classic example). Invincibles were put into bat, no surprise given that Originals had made a chase of 196 look trivially easy only a day previously. The Invincibles were soon looking decidedly vincible, with the score reading 34-5. At that point Tom Curran joined Kiwi James Neesham and the turnaround began. This pair were still together at the end of the 100 balls, by which time they had put on 127 together, raising the total to 161-5. Tom Curran had 67* (34) to his name, and Neesham, only marginally less brutal, 57* (33). Originals made a bright start, but Invincibles’ three contrasting slow bowlers, Briggs (left arm orthodox), Sowter (leg spin) and Jacks (off spin) proved extremely hard to score off and picked up a number of wickets. Max Holden and Jamie Overton put on a good partnership for the sixth wicket, and then Tom Hartley continued the resistance in partnership with Overton, but Originals were hopelessly behind the required rate, and ended up 14 runs adrift. Tom Curran was Player of the Match, while Jamie Overton’s all round contributions (208 runs and 3 wickets across the tournament) saw him named Player of the Tournament.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have a massive photo gallery today – I have been on two substantial walks today, and both proved bountiful sources of pictures…
A look at what has happened in The Hundred finals weekend so far plus a photo galley.
With the final of The Hundred (women’s competition) under way this post looks back at the the action from yesterday. Before I go into it a note about the Hundred’s qualification rules: it is an eight team league, and in order to ensure that only teams who have been provably better than average qualify for the KO stages only three teams make it through. The team who finish top of the group qualify straight into the finals, while second and third place play off for the right to join them, with second place having the advantage that if the match gets rained out they progress based on league position.
THE WOMEN’S ELIMINATOR
This match, between Welsh Fire and Northern Superchargers, was the first scheduled for yesterday. Fire batted first and had reached 104-2 from 75 balls when the weather intervened, and did not let up in time for the match to be resumed. This meant that Superchargers, having finished second in the group, joined Southern Brave in the final, the match currently being contested. It also meant that Alex Hartley’s playing career, highlighted by being part of England’s 2017 World Cup winning side came to an end. Had Fire made the final she may have had another outing, but as it happened her time as a professional cricketer ended on the bench, not having being picked for the XI.
THE MEN’S ELIMINATOR
Southern Brave had a chance to make both finals, being joined in this Eliminator by Manchester Originals, with Oval Invincibles awaiting the winners. When they scored 196-1 from their 100 balls batting first this looked more than a possibility. Phil Salt (47 off just 17 balls) and Jos Buttler (82 off 46) had other ideas, and with other useful contributions along the way Originals, who were never at any point not ahead of the required rate won by seven wickets with four balls to spare. Jamie Overton made the winning hit, a six which meant that 196 balls had seen 397 runs scored. In view of the scoring rates elsewhere the approach of Brave opener Devon Conway (51* off 38) has to be questioned. Therefore tonight’s final of The Hundred (men’s competition) will be between Manchester Originals and Southern Brave.
THE WOMEN’S FINAL
Southern Brave are batting, and after the loss of two early wickets are mounting a decent recovery – they are currently 64-2 after 54 balls, Danni Wyatt 39*, Georgia Adams 16*. They will need to up the rate, but they are in decent shape.
A look back at Gloucestershire’s win against Lancashire yesterday, some cricket related links and a huge photo gallery.
Yesterday Gloucestershire took on Lancashire for the right to claim a slot in the One-Day Cup semi-finals. This competition uses an interesting qualification system – the winners of each of the two groups qualify direct for the semi-finals, while second place in one group plays at home to third place in the either to qualify for the remaining semi-final places. Tomorrow will see Hampshire play Worcestershire to complete the SF line up, with group winners Warwickshire and Leicestershire already qualified. This post looks back at yesterday’s game.
THE LANCASHIRE INNINGS
I missed part of the Lancashire innings because I had a dentist appointment at 11AM. Lancashire were already four down with not a huge number of runs on the board when I tuned in. Wickets continued to fall regularly, although the eighth wicket pair (Tom Aspinwall and Tom Bailey) battled hard and prevented a total debacle. Still, 177 all out in a 50 overs per side match, even on a pitch offering a bit to the bowlers, should never be a defensible total.
THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE RESPONSE
There had been a brief rain interruption to the Lancashire innings, but no overs had yet been lost. However, the weather remained threatening, given Gloucestershire motive to look to settle things quickly. In the event they required less than half of their 50 overs to chase down the target. The chief architect of this destruction of Lancashire was Miles Hammond, who reached his maiden list A century off 82 balls, hitting nine fours and six sixes along the way. He added two more fours, the latter the winning hit, after reaching the landmark to end up on 109*. Gloucestershire had eight wickets as well as 25.1 overs to spare. It would appear that Gloucestershire have hit their straps exactly at the right time, and they will be tough for anyone to deal with now (direct qualification for the SF for group winners is IMO a double-edged sword – by the time the SF comes round they have had less recent practice than those who have to win an extra match to claim their places). A Lancashire bowling attack being helpless in the face of a Gloucestershire batter named Hammond is not unprecedented – about a century ago Walter Hammond in a county championship fixture absolutely took Lancashire apart, including starting a day’s play by hitting Aussie pacer Ted McDonald for five successive fours.
OTHER CRICKETING LINKS
This time last year I was making my cricketing trip through the alphabet. There are two more pieces to share to complete the set of selectorial posts:
THE LETTER Y
My full post about players whose surnames begin with Y can be seen here. There is a change to this XI since I posted it – Yashavsi Jaiswal has announced himself for India in no uncertain terms, which means that Martin Young, a respectable county opener, loses his place. The revised XI for this letter is thus: M Yardy, Yashavsi Jaiswal, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, GN Yallop, *NWD Yardley, +Saleem Yousuf, U Yadav, Waqar Younis, J Young, P Yadav.
THE LETTER Z
No changes to this one, which can be viewed in full here. The XI reads Fakhar Zaman, Ibrahim Zadran, Zubayr Hamza, Najibullah Zadran, K Zondo, JW Zulch, +Zulqarnain Haider, M Zondeki, Zia Ur Rahman, Zaheer Khan, Zahir Khan.
As well as the above I have a new blog to introduce. Brailly has opened up with a cricket themed post, reinventing the county championship as a red ball franchise competition. I am impressed by this effort, and in gratitude for getting an honourable mention I reciprocate by linking to it.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have a splendid gallery to share with you today…
Welcome to another quirky take on the all time XIs theme. This time I pick an England XI (plus twelfthy) in which every decade of test history is represented at least once.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Jack Hobbs (right handed opening batter, 1900s-1930s). At the time of his retirement he was the leading run scorer in test history, and he still holds the England records for Ashes runs (3,636) and centuries (12).
Herbert Sutcliffe (right handed opening batter, 1920s-30s). The only England batter to finish a career that spanned at least 20 test matches with an average above 60 (60.73).
*WG Grace (right handed batter, right arm bowler of various types through bhis career, captain, 1880s-1890s). Made his debut for England in the first ever test match on English soil in 1880, and although he was already 32 by then he remained a formidable opponent for the next 19 years.
Ken Barrington (right handed batter, occasional leg spinner, 1950s-60s). Averaged just short of 59 with the bat, including a career best of 256 against Australia.
Wally Hammond (right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler, ace slip fielder, 1920s-1940s). The first ever to score as many as 7,000 test runs. In the 1928-9 Ashes he scored 905 runs at 113.125, four years later he was joint leading run scorer for the series with 440 at 55.00, a performance followed up by scoring 227 and then 336* in two tests in New Zealand.
+Les Ames (wicket keeper, right handed batter, 1930s). He averaged over 40 with the bat in test cricket and was also a top notch wicket keeper. Late in his career lumbago prevented him from keeping wicket, but he played on for Kent as a specialist batter, with Godfrey Evans maintaining the succession of great Kent keepers, going back to Tylecote in the 1880s.
Ian Botham (right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler, ace slip fielder, 1970s-1990s). I have placed him in the position from which he scored both of his legendary centuries in the 1981 Ashes. His last bow at international level was the 1992 World Cup – he retired from all competitive cricket part way through the 1993 home season when he realized that England would not be picking him again.
Jim Laker (off spinner, right handed lower order batter, 1940s-50s). Perhaps the greatest of all orthodox off spinners, most famous for his destruction of the 1956 Australians. It is also noteworthy, especially in view of the generally awful record of English off spinners down under, that he took 15 economical wickets for a thoroughly beaten England in 1958-9.
Syd Barnes (right arm fast-medium bowler , right handed lower order batter, 1900s-1910s). 189 wickets at 16.43 in just 27 test matches makes its own case for his inclusion.
Hedley Verity (left arm orthodox spinner, right handed lower order batter, 1930s). Even in a decade of doped pitches and Bradman’s batting he claimed 144 test wickets at 24 each, while in FC cricket he was an absolute destroyer, paying less than 15 a piece for his wickets.
James Anderson (right arm fast medium bowler, left handed lower order batter, 2000s-2020s). England’s all time leading test wicket taker.
George Ulyett (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, 1870s-1880s). The fast bowling all rounder was part of the earliest period of England’s international cricket history and could replace anyone save Ames without massively weakening the side – he once scored 149 in a test match, opening the batting, while his best bowling figures at that level were 7-36.
This side has a powerful batting line up, and a strong and well varied bowling attack. There is no front line leg spinner, and no left arm quick bowler, and no genuinely fast bowler, but nonetheless it is a pretty good side.
PHOTOGRAPHS
A two part photo gallery today…
We start with some images from work yesterday – lots 638-43 inclusive in the October auction.We finish with pictures I have taken while out and about yesterday and today.
A look back at the all time XIs I produced for the letters U, V, W and X last year, the last of them OTD last year, with some extra comments and one change. Also a fine photo gallery.
One of the things I have been doing on this blog lately is looking back at the cricketing trip through the alphabet that I took this time last year. In this post I look back at four of the posts on that journey.
THE LETTER U
In retrospect I should have mentioned left arm medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat. His very ordinary international record means he deserves no more than an honourable mention, but he deserves that much. I did give Andrew Umeed, an opening batter and occasional leg spinner, an honourable mention, and although Somerset as a whole struggled in the One Day Cup, never coming close to qualifying for a knockout slot, he had a quite superb tournament, scoring 613 runs with the bat. If he gets a county championship place in the strength of this and delivers in that competition as well he will represent a genuine threat to Imam Ul-Haq or Taufeeq Umar, but for the moment he has justified my giving him a mention. The XI in batting order remains: Taufeeq Umar, G Ulyett, Imam Ul-Haq, Inzamam Ul-Haq, *Misbah Ul-Haq, PR Umrigar, +Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Umran Malik, DL Underwood, M Ur Rahman. Please read the full post before commenting on my selections.
THE LETTER V
No new information has come to light relating to this letter, and I remain happy with my selections. I admit that the batting looks precarious with Vaas at seven, but point out that while sides who are powerful in bowling and not quite so strong in batting have been big winners (1930s Yorkshire, 1950s Surrey etc) very few sides have been big winners with batting but a lack of bowling. This XI in batting order is: M Vandort, J Vine, *MP Vaughan, GR Viswanath, DB Vengsarkar, +K Verreynne, C Vaas, AE Vogler, H Verity, W Voce, V Van der Bijl. The full post can be viewed here.
THE LETTER W
I regard the 2023 Ashes, yet another away series in which D Warner did not deliver with the bat, as full vindication of my decision not to pick. I should have given Chris Woakes an honourable mention, but I still prefer Woods in the number seven slot. Everyone I selected deserved their places, though Willis and Walsh are a toss up for the no11 slot – I wanted Bill Whitty with his left arm to give the attack extra variation. The XI in batting order remains: FE Woolley, *FMM Worrell, E de C Weekes, CL Walcott, SR Waugh, +BJ Watling, SMJ Woods, SK Warne, JH Wardle, WJ Whitty, RGD Willis. The full post can be viewed here. Footnote: Wasim Akram was in the As XI, and the Ys had greater need than the Ws, so Waqar Younis was held back for that letter.
THE LETTER X
This XI has changed since I created it OTD last year – Kiwi off spinner Xara Jetly has emerged in no uncertain terms, and she replaces MaX Waller in the number slot. The XI thus reads: MaX O’Dowd, MaX Holden, ER DeXter, *AF KippaX, SJE LoXton, AXar Patel, XC Balaskas, RK OXenham, +T BoX, MaX Walker, XC Jetly. The original post can be viewed here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Time for my usual sign off…
This is one of a large number of Hornby and other railway models that will be going under the hammer in James & Sons October sale.
The second part of a two part exercise that started yesterday, featuring the second XII, honourable mentions and a comparison, as well as a large photo gallery.
Welcome to the second part of a two part all time XIs piece that I started yesterday. Today we see our second XI, honourable mentions and a comparison.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Graeme Pollock (left handed batter). Not a regular opener, but he did once score 274 in a test match from number three, and my reckoning is that he could cope with the task of opening. He averaged over 60 in test cricket before the curtain came down on South Africa due to the foul apartheid system of government in that country.
Majid Khan (right handed opening batter). One of three cousins to have captained Pakistan (only one of the other two features in this post), he was a stylish and attack minded opening batter, generally rated by those who saw him as a better player than an average just the wrong side of 40 suggests.
Garry Sobers (left handed batter, left arm bowler of every type known to cricket, brilliant fielder). The most multi-skilled player in cricket’s long history, and a regular in this batting position – his then test record 365* came batting here.
Mark Waugh (right handed batter, occasional off spinner, ace slip fielder). Once dubbed ‘Afghan’ because how much longer it took the Aussie selectors to noticer him than it taken them to notice his twin brother, he was a stylish batter and the safest slip fielder I ever saw in action.
Steve Waugh (right handed batter, occasional medium pace bowler, vice captain). A gritty and determined batter who tended to score runs when they were most needed, and I have acknowledged his leadership qualities by naming him as vice-captain of this XI.
Jonathan Bairstow (right handed batter, occasional wicket keeper). He is picked in this side as a specialist batter, a role that in my view he is best suited to.
*Imran Khan (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain). One of the greatest of all allrounders, cousin of Majid Khan and designated captain of the XI. Some might make him vice-captain and S Waugh captain rather than vice-versa, but I believe he was the finer skipper, and also the Pakistan Cricket Board recently disgraced themselves by putting up a montage about Pakistan cricket history that did not even mention him.
David Holford (right handed batter, leg spinner). A cousin of Garry Sobers, which is why I am prepared to pick him although his record is fairly moderate – a compromise to get Sobers in being worthwhile IMO. The two cousins once saved a test match against England by putting on 274 together.
+David Bairstow (wicket keeper, right handed batter). This is why I selected Jonathan Bairstow – there are limited ways of getting a top drawer keeper into a side of this nature and this is one of them.
Shaun Pollock (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). Almost absurdly low in the order for him (nos 8,9 and 10 in this side are virtually interchangeable in terms of batting skill, and all rather better than a standard number eight).
Peter Pollock (right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). One of the most ferocious fast bowlers of South Africa’s first period as a test nation (JJ Kotze, Neil Adcock and Peter Heine are other contenders), a fine player to round out the XI.
This side is awesomely strong in batting, superbly equipped in seam/ pace bowling (P Pollock, S Pollock, I Khan, Sobers), has a great skipper and a great keeper, but is under par in the spin department, with the moderate Holford and Sobers in his slower guises the best available to them.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Two fast bowlers I could not accommodate in either XI were West Indian half brothers Fidel Edwards and Pedro Collins. The Mohammad brethren of Karachi, five of whom played FC cricket and four of whom gained test selection were perhaps the most notable family to be omitted, although the multi-generational Cowdreys (four generations), D’Oliveiras and Headleys (three generations each) all produced many first class cricketers and two of the five Edriches of Norfolk to play first class cricket would have been worthy selections. The two George Baileys of Tasmania, Great-great grandfather and Great-great grandson, are to date the furthest apart by generation of related first class cricketers, but the elder just missed out on international honours and the younger was never a regular in the Aussie team. The Gunns of Notttinghamshire produced four first class cricketers, two of whom, William (also the original Gunn of Gunn&Moore) and George did well for England. Sussex have a long history of cricketing families (see my post about that county), but the only family of theirs that had two players of sufficient class to potentially claim places were the ruling family of Nawanagar with ‘Ranji’ and ‘Duleep’.
THE COMPARISON
The XI I presented today is stronger in batting (although G Pollock is out of position), and its pace/ seam attack is quicker though not necessarily better. Neither side is that strong in spin bowling. Both will be well led, and both have high class keepers, though Tallon would outrank D Bairstow in that department. No side with WG Grace in their ranks can be entirely discounted but I think todays XI have a clear advantage and would expect a five match series between these sides to end 4-1 in their favour.
A brief account of Pride in the Park, and the first part of a two part All Time XIs post, plus my regular photo gallery.
Welcome to the first in a two part all time XIs post. Today I present the first of two XIs to do battle, each comprising four pairs and one trio of related cricketers. Today I start with an unrelated feature after which I will introduce the first of the two XIs to feature in this envisaged contest. Tomorrow will see the second XI make their appearance, followed by an honourable mentions section and a comparison between the two XIs.
PRIDE IN THE PARK
Yesterday was King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Pride. There were two elements to the day, a march from the Tuesday Market Place to the Recreation Field, part of The Walks, and the festivities at the Recreation Field. I was not involved with the march, but the West Norfolk Autism Group had a stall in the Recreation Field, and I was there from set up until about 3PM. We had a some information cards about our group, a display board, two stand up banners, one horizontal banner, one large pride flag and were running two activities for which we charged – a lucky dip at £1 per go and a “guess the teddy’s name”, also at £1 per go. Our little stall attracted a stream of visitors through the day, especially once the march arrived. The occasion benefitted from impeccable weather.
WG GRACE’S XI
We meet the first of our two XIs mentioned in the introduction, listed as usual in batting order.
*WG Grace (right handed opening batter, bowler of various styles and captain). One of the greatest of all cricketers, and although he was already 32 by the time he played in the first test on English soil in 1880 he twice topped 150 at that level, 152 on debut in 1880 and 170 six years later.
EM Grace (right handed opening batter, occasional lob bowler, daring close fielder). Until his brother overhauled him he was the greatest of all Victorian era cricketers. A one cap wonder at The Oval in 1880, but in the first innings there he shared an opening stand of 91 with his brother.
Ian Chappell (right handed batter, occasional leg spinner, vice captain). A fine number three and a shrewd skipper, which latter I have acknowledged by naming him as WG’s vice captain in this side.
Greg Chappell (right handed batter, occasional leg spinner, occasional medium pacer, brilliant slip fielder). One of Australia’s greatest ever batters.
Eric Bedser (right handed batter, off spinner). One half of a pair of identical twins. They did not think that one county would sign two medium-fast bowlers at the same time, and not able to bear being separated tossed a coin for who would continue bowling medium-fast and who would switch to spin and develop their batting. Eric lost the toss and made the switch. He never quite gained an England cap, but was a crucial part of Stuart Surridge’s amazing tenure as Surrey skipper (five seasons as captain, five county championships won).
Fred Grace (right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler, brilliant outfielder). In the 1870s his FC batting average of 25 was only exceeded on a consistent basis by his most famous brother, and he also took his wickets at 20 a piece. He only played one test, scoring a pair but taking a legendary catch to dismiss Aussie big hitter Bonnor (the batters were allegedly on their third run when he completed the catch). He died of a chill not long later, at the tender age of 29.
+Don Tallon (wicket keeper, right handed batter). Selectorial horse trading cost him the opportunity to play for Australia in his absolute prime, but he had a fine career in the early post WWII era, and Don Bradman rated him the greatest keeper he ever saw in action.
Maurice Tremlett (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). His career was ruined by well meaning coaches after a storybook start, but I am envisaging him as he might have been had he been left to develop as the cricketer he was rather than suffering attempts to turn him into the cricketer that England thought they needed.
Alec Bedser (right arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter). The Bedser twin who won that famous coin toss, and went on to become one of England’s greats. He was the first England bowler to take 200 test wickets, and when his career ended his final tally of 236 was an all comers record at that level.
Chris Tremlett (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). He was great in the 2010-11 Ashes.
Bill Tallon (leg spinner, right handed batter). His career record makes poor reading, but it was a very brief career.
This XI has a good batting line up, a great range of bowling options and will be superbly led by WG Grace and his deputy, Chappelli.
A reblog of my all time Ts XI with some extra comments.
I am going to be out for much of today – WNAG have a stall at ‘Pride in the Park’, in The Walks, and I will be there.
On this day last year I published my all time XI of players with surnames beginning with T. I am still happy with it, and I draw especial attention to the selection of Tarrant at number three, required with three of the fastest of fast bowlers inked in at 9,10 and 11, and positions 1 and 2 heavily contested, and 4,5,6 not up for debate since those slots were filled by three greats of the game. Since I first posted this Josh Tongue has played for England and bowled well enough to justify my giving him a mention but still has a long way to go to dislodge any of my chosen specialist quicks.
T20: Heather Knight (captain), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Lauren Filer, Mahika Gaur, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp, Issy Wong, Danielle Wyatt.
ODI: Heather Knight (captain) Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Lauren Filer, Mahika Gaur, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver-Brunt.
THOUGHTS ON THE SQUADS
Sophie Ecclestone is being rested for these series on grounds of workload management, which is also why Nat Sciver-Brunt is only playing the ODI series. Beaumont in spite of her recent record breaking innings in The Hundred remains out of favour in T20Is. Among the inclusions the biggest news is the presence in both squads of Mahika Gaur, a 17 year old pace bowler. The T20I squad offers the possibility of all three of Gaur, Lauren Filer and Issy Wong playing together which would be quite something. There is also a maiden call up for Bess Heath, a 21 year old wicket keeper who will be second in line behind Amy Jones. I am not a fan of this particular selection – I would have preferred to see Rhianna Southby or Eleanor Threlkeld got this spot. Overall I am happy enough with these selections, and I am confident that England can win both series.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have a large photo gallery to finish with…
This sequence of pictures illustrate amply why I have dubbed this structure “Cormorant Platform”.
aspiblog 