The problem is that the numbers really don't support the theory of Sciver in that role. Here are England's T20I Strike Rates for the past two years:
| Player | Matches | S.R. |
|---|---|---|
| Holly Colvin | 7 | 140 |
| Anya Shrubsole | 11 | 138 |
| Arran Brindle | 8 | 121 |
| Heather Knight | 12 | 106 |
| Charlotte Edwards | 20 | 105 |
| Lauren Winfield | 11 | 102 |
| Sarah Taylor | 21 | 101 |
| Natasha Farrant | 7 | 100 |
| Beccy Grundy | 6 | 100 |
| Lydia Greenway | 20 | 99 |
| Jenny Gunn | 21 | 92 |
| Nat Sciver | 22 | 90 |
| Susie Rowe | 2 | 88 |
| Dani Hazell | 22 | 84 |
| Danni Wyatt | 16 | 83 |
| Amy Jones | 8 | 72 |
| Tammy Beaumont | 10 | 72 |
| Jodie Dibble | 1 | 0 |
As we can see, ignoring the obvious non-starters, the leading candidates are... Heather Knight and Charlotte Edwards; while Nat Sciver languishes some way down the order, despite having had 22 matches in the past two years to prove herself.
I believe that, in the absence of a genuine Alyssa Healy-style "bully", England have to open with their best two batsmen; and when those best two batsmen also happen to have the highest strike-rates... then it really is a no-brainer!
Ahhhh. Flawed logic though. Whoever bats in the first 6 overs will (you'd hope) inevitably have a better strike rate due to the fielding restrictions. NS has not had that chance in any of her 22 knocks as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteHeather only opened in 3 of those 12 games; and actually in 4 of them she came in at 6, BEHIND Nat.
DeleteNot really convinced that those stats make a solid case.
ReplyDelete1. Winfield scored 74 as an opener in England's most recent T20 (something that the above stats do not bring out) and surely has earned another crack as a T20 opener on the back of that. Crickey, I mean Beaumont got selected in the T20 WC in 2014 having scored 2, then still got picked after a duck, and then got picked for the Final after a 2).
2. Knight batted 10 times in those 12 matches and scored only 79 runs (granted she scored them as more than a run a ball but volume of runs also matters and 79 is pretty poor).
3. You've picked the last 2 years but that's arbitrary. Taylor has had a better career T20 scoring rate than Edwards since 5th Sept 2012.
4. One point to better support your case: Edwards' SR when opening in T20 is 107.11
For me, Winfield has earned being opener in the 1st T20 in NZ on the back of that 74.
After that its a straight fight between Edwards and Knight for the other opening spot. Both have good cases. Both were in Oz this winter and Knight batted better than Edwards. Edwards, as you point out, is our best batsmen.
Whether it is Edwards, Winfield, Knight or Sciver, let's hope the opening partnerships form the basis of some 150+ scores.
Um .... a bit more statistical analysis raises one more interesting angle (and a bit more substance to my claim that just looking at the most recent 2 years isn't solid). Ask the question what do the career Scoring Rates look like for squad members when playing as T20 opener and :-
ReplyDeleteEdwards 107.11
MARSH 102.86
Winfield 101.63
Taylor 99.83
Wyatt 95.58
Knight 93.75
Marsh, the forgotten T20 opener. Marsh and Edwards have opened together 31 times (the most of any combination) and amassed 939 (more than any other combination).