England v Pakistan – First ODI
It’s the fashion to fasten on to a new national head coach and add “-ball” to whatever strategy he claims to be pursuing.
So after “Baz-ball” we now have “Jon-ball”, but it’s difficult to decipher exactly what that entails. When England players claim it means an aggressive approach, we need only look at the bare bones of the game at Derby to see how little it was in evidence.
The England openers, Tammy Beaumont and Maia Bouchier, were no more aggressive in their first few overs than Sadaf Shamas and Sidra Amin were later. They were taking the traditional approach: see the new ball off, then exploit.
The first powerplay saw 47 runs hoisted for the loss of Bouchier’s wicket. She became just one of the first seven batters to get started but not go on. Their totals ranged from her 17 to Alice Capsey’s 44.
Will Lewis be content or critical? It was a relief to see the consistent scoring up and down the order, but the inability to post a single 50 is a concern. There used to be a warning to batters: if you play across the line, you are liable to be found out.
The statisticians tell us that Pakistan bowled no fewer than 26 overs worth of dot balls. I’ve counted 35 in the first ten overs.
England have three times topped 300 against these opponents. Their run-rate was over 4.8, but that fell short of their expectations. Was there a psychological problem that they know the Pakistan batters are unlikely ever to match their total? The result turned out to be the tightest Pakistan have achieved against England.
Though they put up a good fight and kept England in the field till the last ball, few onlookers would have given them a ghost’s chance of reaching the target of 244.
One big concern was the quality of England’s bowling. Between them, Kate Cross (5), Lauren Bell (7), Sophie Ecclestone (2), Charlie Dean (4) and Sarah Glenn (2) contrived to set an all-time record of 31 wides. Cold hands may be a partial excuse, but we have five proud bowlers here. Amy Jones may be feeling the effects of having to dive to her left to rescue so many misdirected rockets. Most unusually, Jones’ dive to the right to snaffle an edge from a Bell leg-cutter went to ground.Now we await the next two encounters. Will Nida Dar prove bold enough to win the toss and bat first? It looked like a defensive move that she chose to bowl first here in Derby.
Result:
England 243-9
Pakistan: 206-9 (50 overs)
England won by 37 runs
Player of the Match: Sophie Ecclestone (3-26)
