It was a great pity that the auld enemy, rain, brought an early end to another game, this time an ODI, at Northampton.
Now it was England’s so-called ‘Development‘ side playing the tourists. The fascination for fans was to see the XI Jon Lewis selected, after leaving so many of his T20 squad unemployed.
This was his choice: Hollie Armitage (captain), Emma Lamb, Grace Scrivens, Sophia Dunkley, Freya Kemp, Bess Heath (wk), Tash Farrant, Issy Wong, Ryana Macdonald-Gay, Kirstie Gordon and Hannah Baker.
Once again these names stretched the meaning of the word ‘development’ beyond recognition. It was in fact a Second XI or an A team, and a pleasure to see them working together.
Pakistan also took the opportunity to give game-time to several less familiar faces. Their team:
Gull Feroza, Sadaf Shamas, Aliya Riaz, FS Khan, Diana Baig, Waheeda Akhtar, Ayesha Zafar, N Parvaiz, Nahija Alvi (wk), Tuba Hassan, Rameen Shamim
The tourists batted first and improved on previous performances only to the extent of avoiding a mid-innings collapse. Seven batters made scores between 12 and 30, but they were not enough to cause concern to the opposition.
For England the two prize bowling performances came from Ryana Macdonald-Gay and Hannah Baker.
RM-G came on as first change after Farrant and Wong had been firmly dealt with. Unlike them she bowled with great accuracy. Her only loose over was her last; she finished with 7-1-28-3.
Baker’s leg-spin was even more telling. Unlike Sarah Glenn she gives the ball a real tweak, and manages to maintain admirable accuracy despite the contortions of her wrist. Her analysis, 9.2-1-26-4, must surely have impressed onlooking selectors.
Both these bowlers played leading roles in the successful Under19 squad in South Africa last year.
Kirstie Gordon was the other bowler to take the eye. No surprise there, she is a model of consistency.
The weather closed in after the interval. None of the batters managed to dominate the scene, though Emma Lamb (34) and Grace Scrivens(14) saw the 50 up to start. It was unfortunate that both were dismissed within an over.
Sophia Dunkley (24*) no doubt aware of the microscope eyeing her closely, was more restrained than usual, but Freya Kemp gave another indication of her willingness to strike the ball hard and clean.
It was a pity that she followed her captain in waltzing down the pitch to a slow bowler, to be smartly stumped by Nahija Aivi. She made a bright 27, her skipper a single. Aivi was less elegant in stumping Armitage, but the captain missed a leg-side wide that took a bit of hauling in. Not a clever way to go second ball.
A target of 150 was always likely to prove gettable, considering the depth of batting on hand, but sadly the rain had the final word.
Scores
Pakistan 150 (in 43.2 overs)
England 112-5 (in 20 overs)
England won by 26 runs (DLS method)
Afterthoughts
Not every England player was able to produce the results she wanted. The opening attack of Farrant and Wong went wicketless in their sixteen overs, and Farrant added five wides.
Bess Heath kept quite tidily, but couldn’t convince me she is the undoubted No 2 keeper in the country. Sadly for her, yet another mindless run-out accounted for her after four runless deliveries. Yet another ball hit square on the off: who’s call? Heath set off, stopped, went again and was left stranded half way down as Dunkley looked on in horror.
England may have broken some little known Law of the Game: they paraded no fewer than three left-handed batters.
With all the growing pool of talent to be seen around the country, it’s hard to assess how useful this one outing was for the players and especially the selectors. Only those two bowling performances really stood out as outstanding.
PS: What a huge relief to see a game played at New Road Worcester again, after all the fears that constant flooding would see an end to this beautiful ground.
