England Women's squad announced

C Edwards
J Gunn
A Brindle
K Brunt
H Colvin
D Hazell
H Knight
L Greenway
L Marsh
A Shrubsole
C Taylor
S Taylor
F Wilson
D Wyatt

Given it’s not exactly a state secret that various people are injured it’s difficult to know whether players are not in the squad because of injury or form.
Edwards, Taylor, Taylor, Greenway, Brunt, Marsh & Colvin were always dead-cert picks. Gunn as vice-captain is a dead-cert. Brindle has such a good international record its hard to argue with her selection. Knight, being groomed with Colvin as possible future captain, was a dead-cert. Shrubsole can be fierce, fast and nasty so I can’t find fault with her selection. Picking both Wyatt and Hazell suggest spin is seen as vital this summer. Wilson is perhaps the only selection which doesn’t have an immediate reason hitting one between the eye-balls but she is presumably filling a batsman’s slot in the squad, she has international experience, is a superb fielder and probably has as much reason to be there as anyone else available.
There are some exclusions that had made good cases for inclusion but there’s only 14 slots.
Its looks like a strong and experienced squad.

 

A historic landmark in men's premier cricket should almost guarantee her place in the side.....

 

The England training has evidently paid dividends for Arran's club.

I was concerned to learn that 2 of the 3 pace bowlers in the squad are not currently fit and even the most likely replacement wasn't up to bowling yesterday.

 

LurgMhor,
I was surprised Jenny Gunn was selected because I'd heard rumours of big problems with her back (didn't play in any Super 4s). Katharine Brunt certainly didn't bowl in the 1st Super 4s one dayers and didn't play in the 2nd. Isha Guha has just appeared on the scorecards again (Women's Premier League last weekend) and didn't bowl.
There are 2 or 3 rounds of county championship before the quad series starts so it will be interesting to see which of the quickies bowl in those matches.
I suspect Mark Lane is intending to use a fair bit of spin to take the pace off the ball and force the batsman to apply it. Colvin was on fire in the Super 4s so let's hope that carries through into the quad series.

 

Jenny Gunn (who I think moved from Notts to Yorkshire this season) didn't seem to be in the Yorkshire team .... so no news on her fitness.
Katherine Brunt was in the Yorkshire team .... but didn't bowl !
Anya Shrubsole both played, batted (42) and bowled (30-2) - so that's one non-spin bowler that's definately fit.
Sarah Taylor didn't play for Sussex.... so no news on her fitness.
Ebony Rainford-Brent clobbered 154no ... well that's one way of making a point to the selectors (that didn't pick her for the England squad).
Several other England players played (or at least one would expect them to have played) in the Middlesex Women v Berkshire Women match but the full scorecard for that one is still not published.

 

Good to see Lydia making her comeback last weekend for Kent.

Article from the captain:

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/womens/england-women-and-international/edwards,314476,EN.html

Not long to go now but warm-up in full swing with T20 matches including a win against the academy squad.

 

Yes Lydia is batting and picking up a player of year award.

The 2nd round of county championship games were played last weekend. Notable Div 1 contributions:-
Lottie 73no (currently in a mega-run of form)
Caroline Atkins 82no
Jenny Gunn 83 (suggests she has recovered from her injury or injuries)
Jenny Halstead 85 (academy player I think)
Kathryn Doherty 53 (Yorkshire & played in Super 4s in 2011)
Salliann Briggs 73 (Yorkshire)
Katie Levick 4-25 (Yorkshire & played in Super 4s in 2011)
Nicole Richards 4-25 (Notts & played in Junior Super 4s in 2010)

Also some contributions from Div 2:-
Wilson 87 (Somerset & England)
Elwyn Campbell 125 (Australian qualified maybe - her scores this year in the county championship and premier league are 79, 36, 57no, 50 & 125)
Natalie Sciver 71no (Surrey & played in Super 4s in 2011)
Dawn Prestidge 51 (Cheshire)
Delissa Kimmince 5-12 & 47 with the bat (Warwickshire & Australian qualified I think)

Sarah Taylor still seems not to be playing so she won’t have had much match time when the quad series begins.
Berkshire’s batting & bowling details are missing for both their matches although 130 all out and 191 all out suggest there may not be too many batting performances of note and one has no idea who was batting.

If many of the 3rd round of county championship games survive the weather it will be a surprise. Durham (v Derbyshire) probably have the best chance given the rain is swamping the south of the country.

 

Thanks for the update lahdarbheinn haven't had time to peruse the scoreboards.

Hoping we get the worst of the British summer out of the way now before th Quad series starts on 23 June.

The academy took a beating from the 1st team but hopefully valuable experience of the standards being set.

 

A couple of hours play at Harrogate gave Lottie a chance for more batting practice & at Sedgefield they got as far as 6 overs into the 2nd innings before the rain killed off the match. Jenny Gunn not on the Yorks card but I gather Sarah Taylor was due to play at Edmonton.

 

Lurg Mhor (kindred spirit in choosing a remote Munro as your ID): You are better informed than me with the Sarah Taylor news. I couldn't even find out where they were due to play. Not being able to find the venues for County Championship matches is a real pain and not exactly a good advert for this women's game.

Lottie's stellar run of form this season is:-
Super 4s T20 : 62 and 58
Super 4s OD : 41 and 154
Premier League : 46no, 7, 18, 45no
County Championship : 64no, 73no, 93no

Brindle seems to be one of the few England players to get a game the weekend just gone by dint of playing in the Lincolnshire Men's Premier League on the Saturday - belted 70+ so clearly in some form.

 

lahdarbheinn - Your irritation at the paucity of venue information (and scorcard completion) echos my own. The only Sunday match that seems to have enjoyed sufficient play for a result was in Suffolk, but no idea where although I'd guess eastern end of the county. On the slim prospect that there might have been some play early on, I dropped into Edmonton (venue sourced from Don Miles) & had a chat with the Sussex scorer who confirmed Squirt's status (very few of the Sussex players were actually in the club house at the time).

Only watched Lottie's 45* this season, but she did look to be in excellent form, as has become evident from her other performances. Hope it continues into the international arena.

Certainly looking forward to seeing (& hearing) Arran in England colours again.

 

Sky had a good interview with Lottie this afternoon during a rain break and a couple of videos from Shrubsole & Sarah Taylor on Ecb website

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/womens/

Also sounds like some live coverage of the internationals rather than highlights. Hopefully by then the weather will have settled down.

 

Anyone ever heard of 'Retired Not Out' ? I've heard of 'Retired' (defined as a dismissal) and 'Retired Hurt' (not defined as a dismissal). Reason for asking being that on the scorecard for today's county championship match between Kent and Notts it shows Lottie as Retired Not Out (for 73) and Jane Smit as Retired Not Out (for 28). Never seem it before on a scorecard.

 

In some junior matches a batsman has to 'retire not out' on or over 25 but can bat again at the end of the innings.

This maybe a playcricket system description, usually you retire out to allow others to have a bat.

 

I presume that they retired due to injury (hopefully not major) with the possibility that they could return to the crease if needed. My understanding is that since it wasn't necessary for either player to resume their innings the scorecard is marked in this fashion, but had they been needed to bat in order to complete the 50-overs/reach the victory target & not been able to, then it would be recorded as "retired out".

Having now checked the Laws - A batsman can retire at any stage & inform the umpire of their reason. If due to illness, injury or unpreventable circumstance, the innings can be resumed at a fall of wicket or another batsman's retirement. If the retirement is not within these categories, the opposing captain's agreement to a resumption must be obtained. If permission is declined or the batsmen doesn't attempt to resume the innings then they are recorded as "retired - out" in the scorebook, otherwise the record should show "retired - not out" & the player's average calculated according to this convention.

 

Lurg Mhor, that's a very impressive answer. Given the captain of Notts is ex-England player (and legend) Jane Smit I can't imagine she would have had much objection to giving Lydia Greenway a bit of time in the middle ..... especially if it got Lottie off the field of play & not least because it seems she was returning the favour having retired not out in the Notts innings.

The weekend's county championship round up is minus the Middlesex/Yorkshire game because that scorecard has still not been posted on the LV CC website (not good.)

KENT
Laura Marsh 10-2-21-2
Lottie Edwards 73 (retired not out)
Tammy Beaumont 68no
Edwards-Beaumont 2nd consectutive century opening stand (after the unbroken 192 stand against Yorkshire)

Kent's innings so far have been:-
106-1 (32.3 overs) v Sussex
126-2 (23.2 overs) v Middlesex
192-0 (37 overs) v Yorkshire
164-0 (26.5 over) v Nottinghamshire

which works out as 588-3 (119.4 overs). Edwards has scored 303 of these and Beaumont 164.


SUSSEX
Caroline Atkins 52
Sophie Parnell 5-1-9-2

BERKSHIRE
Heather Knight 76no
Alice Macleod 10-1-27-4

WARWICKSHIRE
Laura Crofts 3.3-2-5-4

WALES
Marsha Davies 10-1-18-2

SURREY
Rainford-Brent 58
Sarah Clarke 9-1-16-2

ESSEX
Lauren Onojaife 9-1-23-3
Bryony Butcher 5-0-14-3

SOMERSET
Kate Randell 9-0-33-6

CHESHIRE
Lorna Thomas 10-4-17-2

STAFFORDHSIRE
Danni Wyatt 69


On the Quad T20 front there are warm-up games taking place at present and news of these games is like gold dust. Fortunately some England players are providing excellent coverage on Twitter (especially Brindle yesterday). Yesterday the England Academy tied their match with India and then lost on the Super Over. Today England Academy beat both Australia and New Zealand. Only warm-ups but good experience fof the Academy.

 

Based on form and what happened in the T20 series in Australia (and apologies for a bit of frivolous crystal ball gazing) I reckon the team for the opener against NZ tomorrow will be (in batting order) Edwards, Marsh, Taylor, Greenway, Brindle, Sarah Taylor, Gunn, Wyatt, Colvin, Brunt and Shrubsole.
Reasons
1. Can't see Lane wanting to break up the Edwards/Marsh opening partnership that did so well in T20 series in Oz. Also Sarah Taylor hasn't played much cricket recently.
2. Knight seems to be thought of as more of an ODI player. Yes she could play instead of Gunn but Gunn will probably be used as a bowler and Gunn's Vice-C.
3. Hazell seems to play the ODIs and Wyatt the T20s
4. Wilson misses out simply because there isn't a batting slot free. Brindle will probably get the nod.

 

Interesting to note that Lottie hasn't been dismissed in the 4 county innings she's played so far & I assume from the latest ECB video that she's still fit. Dissapointing that the warm up games don't seem to have been advertised at all. ECB website articles & media releases have dropped away noticeably since last year. Is this due to tighter budgets or the perception that there is insufficient interest I wonder?

I'm afraid that I take minimal interest in the T20 format, but hope to get to most of the ODIs if the weather permits.

 

Lottie's competative innings this season:-
Gunnersbury 46no
Diamonds 62
Diamonds 58
Diamonds 41
Gunnersbury 7
Diamonds 154
Gunnersbury 18
Gunnersbury 45no
Kent 64no
Kent 73no
Kent 93no
Kent 73no
England 40no

 

Impresssive start from Australia and England to the T20 series. Should be an interesting showdown on Saturday - shame (from a selfish point of view) that's it on with the men and thus more expensive and difficult to get in.
I can't help but think that the next Quad T20 will be a Quin T20 with the West Indies involved - in fact Trinidad & Tobago (due in the country in early July) would probably have put up a very good show (not least because T&T includes Dottin & Taylor).
That was England's most capped (265 caps) T20 team they've ever put out (in 39 T20s). It was also heavy artillery with the bat - the collective Int T20 career scores of the 11 players was 3659 after the match - well ahead of the previous record of 2875.
Congratulations to Lottie on passing 1000 Int T20 runs - next nearest is Tails with 539 and Lydia with 537. Lottie also has the most 4s (133) - although Jenny Gunn has the most 6s (with 6). Brindle's 3-11 are England's 2nd best bowling figures for a player bowling in a Int T20 for the first time (Rosie Birth managed 4-27 in England's very first Int T20 & these are the best debut bowling figures as well).