England’s cricketers have just emerged from prison, aka quarantine, to begin preparations for their tour of New Zealand. An immediate bonus is their location, Queenstown on South Island, one of the most impressive settings imaginable in world cricket. Planes flying low overhead into the local airport compete with the lowering mountains for attention.
The first ODI starts on 23 February at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
It was fascinating to hear Raf Nicholson and Syd Egan in their latest offering, The CRICKETher Video Vodcast No 47, voicing their concerns about England’s batting line-up. Their views are identical to mine, which I voiced back on 16 January.
Why did Lisa Keightley not take the opportunity to introduce a new batter to the group? It is not as if all the current top-order players have consistently proved their right to be included. We can understand why she was cautious in her first choices, for the West Indies series in the early autumn. As things turned out, the opposition made it an ideal chance to try out a new face.
41 players signed full-time domestic contracts last December. That was a major step forward, allowing the selectors to run their eye over a wider spread of talent. Then the excellent Rachael-Heyhoe-Flint Trophy gave them ample opportunities to add one, even two to the mix. But no.
It is England’s everlasting aim to outdo the Australians. One essential difference in their approach is the Aussies’ willingness to give youth a chance. While the world’s eyes focus on the big names – Lanning, Perry, Haynes, Healy, etc – the selectors are always prepared to introduce a new name or two.
It’s this blindness to future needs that causes the biggest worries. As Syd Egan pointed out, the average age of the English squad keeps rising, hovering around 30 these days. One sure way of inviting disaster is to have a cohort of gifted, experienced players retiring in short order.
The only squad unit to avoid this risk is the spin-trio. Not one of them, Ecclestone, Glenn and Villiers, is anywhere close to that average age. The same does not hold true for the quicks or the batters.
Like the Australians, the White Ferns have been careful to bring on promising juniors. Apart from the very gifted Amelia Kerr (now 20), they have introduced Frances Jonas, a mere 16-years-old.
England’s structural fault-lines, even in non-Covid times, include: the elite players training at Loughborough don’t have a moonlighting job to return to back home – in other words, a regular competition at regional or county level. The new pattern for 2021, with the launch of The Hundred, may ensure a more convincing alternation of international and national competitions. But the Hundred, almost inevitably, has to include top players from around the world, each one of whom deprives native players of the chance to show their worth.
We still can’t tell how the relationship between the eight new hubs and the counties will work out in the long term.
It all makes for a revealing contrast with women’s rugby in England. There the contracted players meet up at the start of the week at Bisham, then return to their clubs to prepare for their weekend match. The league comes to a halt while major international series take precedence. This alternation helps to raise standards across the board. Players can bring back new techniques and ideas introduced at Bisham; club players can feel closer to the elite level by this constant interchange.
The World Cup begins in fourteen months time in New Zealand.
Meantime we hope all England’s cricketers have survived their confinement and are raring to go. Their experiences will help other teams to know what to expect (The Rugby World Cup also in NZ next autumn!)
The White Ferns Squad:
Sophie Devine (captain)
Amelia Kerr
Amy Satterthwaite
Brooke Halliday
Frances Jonas
Frances Mackay
Hannah Rowe
Hayley Jensen
Jess Kerr
Katey Martin
Lea Tahuhu
Maddy Green
Natalie Dodd
The England Squad:
Heather Knight (captain)
Amy Jones
Danni Wyatt
Fran Wilson
Freya Davies
Georgia Elwiss
Kate Cross
Katherine Brunt
Lauren Winfield-Hill
Mady Villiers
Nat Sciver
Sarah Glenn
Sophia Dunkley
Sophie Ecclestone
Tammy Beaumont
Tash Farrant
