Sunday 2 February 2014

Women's Ashes 3rd T20

Random thoughts on the finale of the #WomensAshes, focussing on the match itself -
  • England's batting was basically rubbish. (That's the kind of detailed insight I (don't) get paid for on here!) Seriously, though...
  • Having Lauren Winfield open was the right call, but offering her one opportunity, in the very last game before the T20 World Cup, just heaped far too much pressure on her and (surprise, surprise) she didn't do herself justice.
  • That England didn't score enough runs is obvious from the result, but a couple of stats stand out in this regard. In the first 5 overs, England scored at just 3.5; and by the end of the match they had notched up a whopping 42 dot-balls. (This was actually less than the 45 dot-balls in the 2nd T20, but at least then they opened at 5.0 from the first 5 overs.) The 19th over consisted of 4 dots and 2 singles - 'not good enough' is understating it, I'm afraid.
  • England chose to open the bowling with Dani Hazel, and she didn't let anyone down; but England really needed an 'enforcer' there with the new ball too, and without Shrubsole or Brunt they had to turn to Cross, who was getting no favours from the pitch today and got knocked around a bit.
  • Seeing Edwards bowl at the death, with a huge smile on her face, was interesting. I guess partly she was protecting Cross and co. from taking any more of a confidence-busting thwolloping. (And yes - I am assured by my 10-year-old son that it is a word!) But there was also a psychological element there I think - Lottie was sending a message to the Southern Stars: Yer, we've lost this game; but we won The Ashes, so who cares! I'm not completely sure I agree with her - there is a sense of disappointment at finishing the tour on such a low; but coming home with the trophy clearly means something, so for the moment I'll raise another cup of coffee to that!

1 comment:

  1. In the 2nd T20 England managed their lowest ever T20 score batting first and in the 3rd T20 they managed their 3rd lowest ever score batting first. Needless to say that’s the first time England have not scored a collective 200 across two successive T20s.

    I’ve heard the reason of injuries mentioned – including by the captain. A smokescreen. The only injured batsmen is Knight (who has no record of successful batting in T20). The reason we lost the 2nd and 3rd T20s was batting not bowling. Edwards (28,12), Taylor (8, 22), Greenway (15, 0), Brindle (26*, 6) and Wyatt (0, 6) have collectively batted (successively 70+56+58+28+35=) 247 times for England. There is no mystery, these low scores are why we lost. Even a fully fit bowling attack would have problems defending these miserly totals.

    I suspect England were physiologically knackered after winning The Ashes in the 1st T20. Most of them are not professionals and would have been under severe mental pressure in this multi-format Ashes. Even the experienced players simply couldn’t hold it together for the last 2 matches. This is not a criticism, just an attempt at explaining the tail off in performance.

    Hazell was the highlight of the limited over bowling - the only bowler Lottie trusted to bowl her full quota of overs and by some way our best bowler but where was that 2nd spinner (‘retired’ and ‘injured’ in the UK are the obvious answer). The combined ODI and T20 bowling figures are : Hazell (42-3-144-5 e=3.42), Gunn (35-1-194-4 e=5.54), Shrubsole (29-2-169-3 e=5.82), Sciver (24.3-0-138-3 e=5.63), Brindle (21-0-107-2 e=5.09), Elwiss (6.1-0-31-2 e=5.02), Wyatt (13-0-108-2 e=8.30), Cross (27-1-154-1 e=5.70), Farrant (4-0-29-0 e=7.25) and Edwards (1.3-0-10-0 e=6.66).

    I’ll resist a good tour / bad tour player breakdown because (a) some are not professionals and it’s a bit tough criticising non-professionals on blogs and (b) they won The Ashes and that was the prime objective.

    Looking forward, T20 World Cup just weeks away. Only 2 wins in our last 7 T20s. Interesting. We’ve used 16 players on this tour and the Academy are currently getting experience of sub-continent conditions. Still, I guess the likelihood is that the World Cup squad will be selected from these 16 (unless the selectors recognise the need for a 2nd spinner or those currently injured don’t recover).

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