Derby
This is England, so a black cloud hovered over the ground and the umbrellas went up, but not for long. Nat Sciver-Brunt won the toss and decided to bat.
The game worked out just as we should have expected. Off the first two overs Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones each hit a four, to remind us of the proper approach to a 50-over game.
After ten they had added 45, including seven fours, an even clearer indication: wait for the loose ball and punish it.
Hayley Matthews didn’t allow herself an over till the sixteenth. She had given her bowlers plenty of time to show their abilities, but no wicket had fallen.
Jones’ 50 came up in the eighteenth, underlining her far superior batting stats when she opens. Lottie Edwards was obviously aware of this oddity and exploited it as you would expect of an expert selector and coach. Beaumont was happy to play second string, not at her smoothest, happy just to congratulate her partner after each boundary. Jones posted the 100 in the 21st over with a majestic straight drive. She was helping to prove my contention that she is the most elegant of England’s batters.
Just past halfway, Beaumont struck the first six. She was fed up with her performance thus far; her 24th fifty followed directly. With that she decided it was high time; she hit Aaliyah Alleyne for 4, 4 and 6. Jones added a boundary to complete 18 off four.
Domination became slaughter as England reached their first 1st-wicket 200 partnership in the 33rd. Undiluted delight, except for those of us who worry about the even spread of cricketing glory around the globe.
To show the twists and turns possible in the longer form of the game: Tammy’s eleventh ODI 100 came before Amy’s! Despite her sluggish start, her second fifty came in the blink of an eye. She was dismissed charging down the track and missing. (107, 8 fours, 4 sixes). Did she want to give the tail-enders a chance? In strode Emma Lamb. As so often after a mammoth partnership (222), the incomer failed fast (2/3). Why a reverse shot so early on? And did the ball hit her glove or her forearm? Anyway, she walked.
Jones followed soon after, taken on the mid-wicket boundary (122, 15 fours, 1 six). Nor could Sophia Dunkley profit from the chance she’d been given (9).
The 300 came up with four overs left to exploit. Sciver-Brunt cruised to her fifty off 35 balls, but a finger went up for lbw straight after. She sought legal advice but in vain. Em Arlott may not have expected it, but she got to the crease for the last six balls. Capsey succumbed, going unselfishly for the big hit, but Charlie Dean hit her first ball for 4.
Interval
As we waited, performances around the country pointed to the effect Charlotte Edwards was having on players. Surrey demolished Somerset, Danni Wyatt-Hodge hitting 53* off 35, and Paige Scholfield 63 off 48. Kathryn Bryce, still not offering herself for England (good for her!) hit 61* off 53 for the county-less Blaze; it proved not quite enough. The equally county-denying Bears women held them to a tie at Trent Bridge, 160-4 v 160-8.
The Reply
Could England continue their sequence of wins by around 150? The odds favoured them.
But the great Matthews, taking the first ball rather than Qiana Joseph, struck 39 off the first ten. Joseph offered 24, to bring up 67 off the powerplay. Em Arlott learnt the pain possible in making an ODI debut: she went for 21 off two overs.
She had an answer: she took the prime wicket, Hayley edging behind for 47. Dunkley didn’t improve her catching record by dropping Zaida James in the same over.
Qiana Joseph was the main reason the hosts were kept toiling in the field for so long. Another reason was a fielding display hardly better than others that have caused rude remarks from fans about the fielding coach’s skills, let alone the players themselves.
It was strange seeing Capsey given the ball before Linsey Smith. After all, she was only a late fill-in. But she did take a wicket, and in curious circumstances. First, she couldn’t hang on to a fierce return from Shemaine Campbelle. But next ball she deceived top-scorer Joseph and castled her.
When Smith was allowed to exercise her left arm, she turned the game decisively, gaining her first 5-fer at this level (10-1-36-5). That fifth was especially memorable, coming from her last delivery. And it was Dunkley who took it, one of three she snaffled, to rebuff the term ‘butterfingers’ often aimed her way.
Scores:
England 345-6 (Jones 122, Beaumont 107, NSB 52)
West Indies 237 (Joseph 62, Smith 5-36)
England won by 108 runs
Player of the Match: Amy Jones
Teams
England: 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Amy Jones (w-k), 3 Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver-Brunt (captain), 5 Sophia Dunkley, 6 Alice Capsey, 7 Em Arlott, 8 Charlie Dean, 9 Kate Cross, 10 Linsey Smith, 11 Lauren Bell
West Indies: 1 Hayley Matthews (captain), 2 Qiana Joseph, 3 Zaida James, 4 Shemaine Campbelle, 5 Shabika Gajnabi, 6 Mandy Mangru (w-k), 7 Aaliyah Alleyne, 8 Jahzara Claxton, 9 Cherry-Ann Fraser, 10 Afy Fletcher, 11 Karishma Ramharack
Afterthoughts
Past records of these meetings gave the visitors little cause for hope. Just over three years ago they did win a match by 7 runs, but the margins in the four other recent meetings had brought winning margins of 135, 142, 142 and 151 runs to England.
Most of the new coach’s selections worked well. For example, opening with Jones again. It was hard on Emma Lamb having to wait 35.4 overs as 222 runs were piled up. She’s used to opening. Despite her late inclusion in the squad Capsey made the XI, scored a quick-fire 24 and took a wicket. Other seam bowlers not on show today will have noted Arlott’s iffy contributions, including five wides. Neither Lauren Bell (1-41) nor Kate Cross (1-57) produced the performances they had hoped for.
At every stage of the WI innings England fans were wondering: how would India or Oz have reacted? Would their No 6 miss a straight one as generously as here?
