England’s ODIs about to begin
Once more it’s Heather Knight who previews England’s chances as they prepare to take on Pakistan in the first of three ODI’s.
It is she, not the head coach, Jon Lewis, who maps out her team’s approach to switching from three unbeaten T20s to three ODIs. The batters need more consistency, she declares, pointing out the obvious.
When she centres on the different ways they achieved match-winning totals on the first matches of the Pakistan tour, she reveals the uncertainties that underlay their efforts. 11-4 in the first match, then an all-embracing innings by Danni Wyatt to shore up another win.
With Tammy Beaumont all too likely to reappear in the longer format, the questions loom: why was she omitted from the T20 squad in the first place? Who does she replace? Maia Bouchier is the most junior of the top order batters. Her fine performances in the recent past were countered by her mirror-like dismissals in the recent series, when she twice ran herself out in preposterous circumstances.
Will the selectors take any notice of performances in the Development team’s game at Northampton? (http://4theloveofsport.co.uk/2024/05/22/the-latest-pakistan-tour-game/). Will Emma Lamb be considered as a partner for Beaumont? Will Danni Wyatt be retained after that match-winning 87? If so, as opener or down the order? The latter seems more probable.
Behind these questions lies an issue that Knight touches on indirectly. She points to the length of England’s batting order. Yes, but that becomes significant only when the top order has failed to produce the results. It’s England’s good fortune that their spinners, Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean and Sarah Glenn, can all produce runs when they’re needed. But if numbers 1-6 did the job they’re paid to do, they could concentrate on their primary skill. Does a fine bowler get dropped simply because the batters can’t be relied upon?
A key case in point is Alice Capsey. She hasn’t scored the runs expected of her. You can put that down to all sorts of reasons, including placing too high a value on her promise in her mid-teens. The selectors could go on picking her in the knowledge that she will come off startlingly well at some stage. But is that the wisest selection policy for the squad as a whole?
Nat Sciver-Brunt won’t be bowling, so decisions have to be made about the make-up of the attack.
England can’t reasonably go in to a 50-over game with only one pace bowler, as they did in the T20 series. Kate Cross is the obvious choice, but surely not at the expense of excluding one of England prize possessions, their spin-trio.
It would be interesting to know Lewis’ views on all these matters. We may not get an answer till the sides are revealed before the toss.
The gap between the two teams at ODI level is yawningly wide: England 2nd, Pakistan 10th. That is two places further apart than in T20s (2nd-8th), where England showed quite enough weaknesses for concern, despite their apparent 3-0 canter.
A possible XI
1. Beaumont
2. Bouchier
3. Knight
4. NS-B
5. Wyatt
6. Jones
7. Ecclestone
8. Dean
9. Glenn
10. Cross
11. Bell
Match details:
Date: 23 May
Venue: County Ground, Derby Start: 13.00 BST
The forecast shows a 25% chance of rain through the morning till start time, then dry weather. But the men’s game up the road at Headingley on the 22nd didn’t even start. Fingers crossed.
