The opening day of the old campaign could hardly have been more fascinating.
Two 3-day warm-up matches started simultaneously, AvB and BvA, only they weren’t called that officially. Instead it was:
England v Australia A at Derby and England A v Australia at Leicester.
‘Warm-up’ meant that rules could be broken (slightly more than 44 players here), so the four teams looked like this:
England: Beaumont, Lamb, Knight (captain), Sciver-Brunt, Dunkley, Capsey, A. Jones, Gibson, Ecclestone, Wong, Bell, Cross, Filer
Australia A: Wilson, Faltum, Graham, Jonassen (captain), Webb, Knott, Darke, Brown, Wellington, Sippel, Cheatle, Peterson
England A: E. Jones, Bouchier, Gordon, Scrivens, Winfield-Hill (captain), Davidson-Richards, Dean, Gray, Davies, Heath, Scolfield, Wyatt, Glenn
Australia: Mooney, Litchfield, Perry, McGrath, Healy (captain), Gardner, Sutherland, Wareham, King, Garth, Brown, Schutt, Flintoff
Both sets of selectors could be accused of hedging their bets in their choices, but it allows critics full rein. To the successful batters (Mooney 107, Knott 51, Beaumont 65*) they can say: ‘Ha, you weren’t playing against their top team.’ To the successful bowlers (Ecclesone 5-38): ‘Ha, you weren’t facing their best batters.’
But for A-team players who performed well there is greater glory, Scrivens (55*) Winfield-Hill (53*), against a nominally stronger bowling line-up (Perry, King, etc).
The weather was positively Australian, drinks breaks allowed to eat into the day’s play at their leisure.
Games were played in white apparel and with a red ball. Remember those?
One jarring note at Leicester was the Australian cap, in two shades of blue, the more dominant lighter blue on the peak and the front panel. Where is my baggy green of yesteryear?
From a purely parochial voew, it was excellent to see two Kent batters finishing the day undefeated.
Tammy Beaumont was intent of reminding the selectors of her continuing worth. Grace Scrivens, still only 19, debuted to the manner born, putting on an undefeated 115 with skipper Lauren Winfield-Hill for the third wicket.
LWH looked as though she had been ordered to go out and bat as if it was the easiest thing in the world. She did. She peered at the bottom of her bat once as it failed to produce the goods; otherwise it was hers to command.
On balance, England had the better of the argument:
Scores:
Australia 284, England A 135-2 Australia A 221, England 101-1
