Once more Jon Lewis has proved to be a selector who sees no need to take chances. Here is his selection for the T20 series starting on 6 July:
Heather Knight (captain, Western Storm), Lauren Bell (Southern Vipers), Maia Bouchier (Southern Vipers), Alice Capsey (South East Stars), Charlie Dean (Southern Vipers), Sophia Dunkley (South East Stars), Sophie Ecclestone (Thunder), Lauren Filer (Southern Vipers), Danielle Gibson (Western Storm), Sarah Glenn (The Blaze), Bess Heath (Northern Diamonds), Amy Jones (Central Sparks), Freya Kemp (Southern Vipers), Nat Sciver-Brunt (The Blaze), Linsey Smith (Southern Vipers), Danni Wyatt (Southern Vipers) (16)
At least Sophie Ecclestone, Danni Wyatt, Alice Capsey and Nat Sciver-Brunt have kindly agreed to take part after preferring to play in the IPL during the reverse tour last March. And even Lewis will be able to give full attention to his prime job of safeguarding English interests after taking a coaching role in the same tournament.
When those four players were still missing from the third T20 in Nelson, England collapsed in a heap, losing five wickets for eighteen runs, to gift the White Ferns a 3-run victory. This clatter of wickets is all too familiar in the short format, not least in this season’s Charlotte Edwards Cup. England must ensure they are above such fallibilities.
Election result: No change
There are two possible approaches to this selection: either it’s best to know your first-choice team and maintain consistency, or, the many other players performing great deeds in the Charlotte Edwards Cup don’t get the chance to prove their worth.
The only changes see Sophia Dunkley return (she was already named in the ODI squad) and the possible use of Freya Kemp as a bowler/all-rounder again, as she makes a cautious recovery from back trouble.
There are five games in this series, so the squad is two players larger than for the three ODIs. Of course Tammy Beaumont doesn’t figure: her highest score in a T20 is only 116.
As I argued in my review of the ODI squad, players will be fighting for retention. Not as strongly as they would, if Lewis was proving to be more radical in his choices, but the over-30s know the clock is ticking, and less experienced contracted players need to prove they really are better bets than their many rivals who have performed strongly over recent weeks.
We’ll have a clearer view of selection policies as the series unfolds. Above all, will every squad member have her chance to take the field? If Sophie Ecclestone plays all five matches, Linsey Smith may need a stoic view of life. If Amy Jones retains her place as keeper, we still won’t have proof that Bess Heath is her worthy successor.
The White Ferns are renowned fighters on the cricket field, but their constant fallibility is lack of player-depth. That can be exposed in T20 when batting-depth is examined. If the top order, especially the leading trio, Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and Melie Kerr, don’t produce the goods, will the late order still be able to score meaningful runs at top pace as the overs diminish?
We shall see.
