The England Squad reduced by Two
Lisa Keightley has omitted two of her seventeen players before they move from one isolation centre, Loughborough, to another, Bristol. Sarah Glenn and Freya Davies are the unlucky ones. Keightley will cull the squad a third time before the first ball is bowled. With players restricted to bubbles this must be a trying experience.
Davies’ omission was far more predictable than Glenn’s. She was competing for a place with Katherine Brunt, Anya Shrubsole, Kate Cross and Tash Farrant. Glenn was unique, the only wrist spinner. On unresponsive tracks it is the wrist spinner who is most likely to cause problems. One thing’s for sure: in Glenn’s absence England’s over-rate will suffer.
If Keightley follows a typically English approach, she will play only one spinner, Sophie Ecclestone. That will throw a huge burden on the left-armer. If she picks two, Mady Villiers will have to prove her worth in the most testing circumstances.
The one undoubted blessing is that both nations have committed to this single test match. How long before more join in and before a series of tests is attempted?
India
It is to England’s advantage that India arrive from a towsing by South Africa. At Lucknow in March the Proteas won four of five ODIs and two of three T20s, so the Indians, now playing in less familiar conditions, have a lot to prove..
They have decided on two separate squads:
For the test and the ODIs:
Mithali Raj (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Punam Raut, Priya Punia, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav (18)
For the T20Is:
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain) Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Simaran Dil Bahadur (17)
Fourteen players appear in both lists.
They rank just above England (2nd against 3rd) in ODIs. The position is reversed in T20s. Both lie far behind Australia of course.
