The general picture plus Essex v Surrey
There is so much cricket going in England it’s almost coming out of our ears. The players won’t be putting in for overtime rates, because this is what they’ve always wanted – cricket on a professional scale. But some are showing distinct signs of fatigue; this was a Monday after all.
The Metro Bank One-Day tournament is fighting a no-holds-barred tussle with the Vitality T20 for more favourable ratings, but I know which I prefer.
Behind them lies the problem that cricket seems incapable of solving, a surplus of competing formats. It seems to me the ICC doesn’t even want to solve it. So players are expected to adjust their approach overnight from hit-every-ball-for-six (The Hundred, to descend upon us just as summer finally appears on 6 August) to 4-day tests (still a great rarity).
My personal preferences are for the longer formats. For the women that means the ODIs, since the people who matter see no reason to revive test matches to their former glory. The coming series against the West Indies doesn’t offer one.
Essex v Surrey
For the moment we must make do with the Metro Bank One-Dayers, and they have provided rich entertainment. The most recent example I’ve watched was the game between Essex v Surrey at Chelmsford.
This one example offered all the delights of the extended game you could wish for. Surrey collapsed in undignified fashion to 117-6. You might have written the winners in your scorebook there and then.
There was a reason for this sorry state of affairs: Surrey had their usual heavy quota of England players “resting”, before they take on Hayley Matthews and her pals. This left the top-order bereft of Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Alice Capsey and Maia Bouchier (at present discarded by Charlotte Edwards). Skipper Bryony Smith wasn’t at roll-call either.
That represents a missing-persons list that few counties could withstand. But Surrey, knowing they are always likely to make up more than half of any England side, had taken wise precautions, mainly by signing up half-a-dozen Kent players to cover such an emergency.
So today the Brown Caps were really the Blue Caps in disguise, six of the Eleven having started their careers at Canterbury.
And that is precisely how things worked out. From that pitiable 117-6 Ryana Macdonald-Gay (ex-Kent and an England test match) and Kalea Moore (ex-Kent) rebuilt the innings so well that they added 113 in 21 overs. Moore made 66 and RMG 56. Surrey’s 259-9 was a formidable target.
The Reply
Now Alexa Stonehouse (ex-Kent) took over. With her left-arm quicks she had the top-order Essex batters guessing. Was it the inducker or the one that flies past the outside-edge?. Grace Scrivens did hit her first ball for a firm square-cut four, but they have known each other for ages in Kent cricketing nurseries.
After that the bat could hardly make contact with the ball. Stonehouse went for 10 off her first five overs. Cricket being the game it is, she finished wicketless, Dani Gregory taking 4-58 and RMG 3-42, though neither was at her most accurate; RMG in particular is having trouble with her line. One of Gregory’s wickets owed everything to a remarkable catch by Emma Jones. Amara Carr whacked a ball hard towards the mid-wicket boundary. Jones took off and held the ball inches above ground level as everyone else was trying to spot it beyond the rope. She is one of the leading outfielders in the country.
Essex enjoyed a recovery similar to Surrey’s. Ariana Dowse (44) and Sophia Smale (42) built circumspectly, and with Carr’s dismissal the score was 155-5 at a far inferior rate. It was Jo Gardner who provided the answer. She batted right through, till it looked as if the home side might carry the day. Kira Chathli was brave enough to keep RMG on. After Gardner had carted her over the rope, she clean-bowled both her partners, Kate Coppack and Abtaha Maqsood in successive deliveries.
Gardner finished with a formidable 73* off 46 balls, with two 4s and six 6s.
Scores:
Surrey 269-9
Essex 245
Surrey won by 14 runs
Reflections:
Trade Descriptions Act: Surrey might lose a court-case, since more than half their side were Kent players bought in. With Hampshire playing a home game at Arundel, there’s more than a hint of the regional structure that existed before the ECB decided in its infinite wisdom that yet another fundamental rebuild was the best way to beat Australia.
Let’s hope Grace Scrivens was excluded from the England set-up (again) only because of Emma Lamb’s excellent form. In May alone she has notched 84, 52, 88, 74, 20 and 43. April finished with 86, 52 and 130*. Edwards said she would pick on form!
By contrast: in May Scrivens has scored 120* and 101, but in between there was a duck, to prove she’s mortal – or at least, not yet up to the standards Edwards now expects of England batters.
Captaincy
This was a fascinating matter. For Essex, Scrivens was in quiet charge as usual. In the absence of Bryony Smith and other candidates Kira Chathli has been given the task and executed it well. But a keeper needing to discuss matters with her bowlers can make for long delays, so Surrey had agreed on a different system. Others shared responsibility, especially Alice Davidson-Richards, who often found herself at mid-on for the purpose.
All the bowlers were happy to exchange thoughts with the fielders closest to them – a nice sense of cameraderie has been built up.
