Charlie Dean, Alice Capsey rewarded as ECB announce central contracts for England Women
EN-W v IN-W, 2nd T20I Review: Audacious Mandhana spearheads India to an 8-wicket over England
The Hundred Women 2022, LNS-W vs WEF-W: Beth Mooney, bowlers power London Spirit to their maiden victory
The Hundred 2022 Women, OI vs SB: Smriti Mandhana, Georgia Adams guide Brave to a comfortable victory
Brave have started their campaign with two consecutive wins.
The Hundred | Team Preview: London Spirit face resource constraints in first shot at history
The much-ambitious pet project of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)—The Hundred is almost upon us. They had to wait for longer than they would have liked but a sustained period of hype and excitement would not have allowed them to complain a lot. However, they have suffered a wee bit by some international stars pulling their hands away in the year of an ICC World T20. The ECB should be elated to finally have a go at the idea and they would want their poster boy and most successful product manager—Eoin Morgan to show it to the world how it is done. Morgan has been tasked with the leadership of London Spirit and both the side and the ECB would want nothing less than what he has been able to achieve with the England team come to the tournament from July 21. The Hundred is an absolutely new concept and the teams might find it difficult to lock in tactics that can prove successful over a length of a tournament and here Morgan will have the luxury of having Shane Warne in the leadership group. Warne is one of those few men who has been there and done that in the first edition of the then very new concept called the Indian Premier League. London Spirit Men's squad Overseas players: Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Mohammad Amir (Pakistan) Local icon players: Eoin Morgan, Mark Wood Domestic players: Roelof van der Merwe, Joe Denly, Mason Crane, Kyle Abbott, Adam Rossington, Zak Crawley, Jade Dernbach, Luis Reece, Dan Lawrence, Rory Burns, Ravi Bopara Coach: Shane Warne English and batting heavy side The Spirit squad is full of English batting talents. From Rory Burns to Zak Crawley and Dan Lawrence, the fortunes of the Spirit will by and large hinge heavily on these batsmen who have been touted as the stars of the future. Eoin Morgan, Joe Denly, Ravi Bopara and Josh Inglis will do the heavy-duty in the middle order but the format would demand a lot of contribution and heart from the players at the top. Morgan, Wood hold key Morgan has been the most important talisman for England cricket over the last five years and the role and expectations will be nothing dissimilar to what he has been for England. He will have to take the leadership role in batting as well to add impetus to the Spirit batting and his never play defensive attitude will come in handy for the side in The Hundred. Mark Wood has been one of the most improved bowlers in world cricket at this stage and Morgan would back him to come at the top of the batsmen in the shortest acceptable format of the game. Chances are that England Test players such as Crawley, Burns and Lawrence will be called up by the senior men's side for the Test series against India and Morgan will have to lift the side by extra effort and zeal. Experienced bowling The bowling attack will be spearheaded by Mohammed Amir and the Pakistani left-armer has a lot to prove after missing out on the selection in the national side. He was a force to be reckoned with before Pakistan gave up on him and the pacer will be eager to prove his worth in an even shorter format. Mark Wood will be the perfect partner for Amir and both can send serious tremors in the opposition camp with swing and pace. The spin department will be led by Mohammad Nabi, an Afghan who has been a frequent world traveller in the T20 competitions. Nabi has excelled in the T20 format and won’t find himself out of his comfort zone in the tournament. An enterprising Englishman in Mason Crane will look forward to supporting him with his uncanny leg spinners. However, he has been guilty of providing boundary balls and it would be interesting to see if Morgan shows faith in him like he had shown in Adil Rashid at the start of his England captaincy days. A never growing old Roelof Van Der Merwe will accompany him with an astute left-arm spin and Morgan would back the bowling unit to bowl their heart out irrespective of conditions and quality of batting they come up against. Chances of a shot at the title The London Spirit will bank on the Morgan-Warne duo to bring the killer instinct but the team might miss the X-factor of Glenn Maxwell. England's young players have not established themselves in the T20 and at the same time, their departure midway through the tournament can create chaos which could derail their growth. A majority of workload will come on Morgan’s shoulder if the Spirit have to go all the way to establish their name as the first champions of The Hundred and the journey looks ominous from the outset. Probable Playing XI Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence, Joe Denly, Josh Inglis (wk), Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Mohammad Nabi, Chris Wood, Mason Crane, Mark Wood, Mohammad Amir London Spirit Women Squad Tammy Beaumont (wk), Heather Knight (C), Deepti Sharma, Deandra Dottin, Susie Rowe, Chloe Tryon, Grace Scrivens, Charlie Dean, Danielle Gibson, Freya Davies, Sophie Munro Coach: Trevor Griffin Batting heavy, like the men Tammy Beaumont has been one of the best batters going around the world at the moment and she along with the skipper Heather Knight, West Indies’ Deandra Dottin and India’s Deepti Sharma will form a daunting quartet for the opposition attack. Middle order-batswomen like Amara Carr and Aylish Cranstone can also chip in with the bat but the above four will have to make life easier for other batters. The bowling department looks thin in resources with only Charlie Dean and Danielle Gibson being the prominent names and hence if the London Spirit Women have to go all the way, the batters will have to take the onus upon themselves. Chances of winning the title It appears tough for the London Spirit Women to go all the way in the inaugural edition of The Hundred but oppositions can’t be reckless against them especially with the presence of Beaumont, Knight and Dottin in the playing XI. Probable Playing XI Tammy Beaumont (wk), Heather Knight (C), Deepti Sharma, Deandra Dottin, Susie Rowe, Chloe Tryon, Grace Scrivens, Charlie Dean, Danielle Gibson, Freya Davies, Sophie Munro
ENG W vs IND W | 1st T20I: With momentum by their side, Indian eves aim to level all-format series
The Indian eves managed to snatch a narrow victory in the last ODI of the three-match series. With that, they also achieved two crucial points and got to four points, two behind hosts England who were at six points at the end of the ODIs. Part of an all-format series between the two sides, the three T20Is have six points up for grabs and if India Women manage to win the series 2-1, they will level with the English side at right points each and if they are able to clean sweep, they can even win the series comprising of a Test, three ODIs and three T20Is. The Test had four points up for grabs which were shared by the two teams while the white-ball formats had two points for each game. But for India to either level or win the series, they would have to play out of their skins. The main reason for this statement is the absence of Mithali Raj, India's skipper and the leading run-scorer for the Women in Blue during the ODI series. Apart from her, no other batter was able to get a hang of English bowling. The T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on the other hand has had a horrible tour so far, unable to get in the mix either with the bat or ball in hand. However, vastly experienced Kaur knows that she is just an innings away from getting back into form. Acknowledging that she promised in a pre-match virtual press conference that a different approach from her would be on display during T20Is. The team would also look to utilise the form of Sneh Rana with both bat and ball. In fact, Harmanpreet indicated that Rana alongside young Richa Ghosh would work as finishers for the team late in the batting order. When it comes to England Women, they gave got in-form Danni Wyatt back in the squad alongside spinner Mady Villiers to go with horses for course approach as they removed Kate Cross and Lauren Winfield-Hill respectively. With all to play for, the two teams would look to use this opportunity to battle it out as well as to try and test their squad in similar conditions before the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where T20I has been included for the first time. England Women vs India Women: Match Details Match No.- 1st T20I Date and Time: July 09, 2021, 11:00 pm IST, 05:30 pm GMT and 06:30 pm Local Venue: County Ground, Northampton Broadcast and Livestream in India: Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV Pitch Report The pitch in Northampton usually favours the batters and is one of the high scoring grounds. However, in six T20Is, all the matches have been won by teams batting first, suggesting that there will be something for the spinners later in the second innings. Weather Forecast and Toss While there are 25-30% chances of rain, the ground would mostly be covered by clouds hovering above and making the temperature a bit chilly. Although it's a batting track, risking rain and hence the Duckworth Lewis system wouldn't be a wise choice. Hence field first might be the preferred option. Team News England Women The English Women would be forced to make at least two changes from the team that played the last ODI as both Cross and Winfield-Hill are not in the squad. Wyatt and Villiers thus would naturally fit into the squad. However with Sarah Glenn being there already, Villiers might have to make way for Tash Ferrant, or England could be brave enough and play three front line spinners. The one choice that skipper Heather Knight would be making involved experienced Anya Shrubsole and emerging quick Freya Davies. While Davies has been in good nick, Shrubsole hasn't looked her lethal best so far. Sophia Dunkley would once again fancy her chances to let loose as soon as possible. Probable XI Tammy Beaumont, Danielle Wyatt, Heather Knight(c), Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones(wk), Sophia Dunkley, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Natasha Farrant/Mady Villiers, Freya Davies India For India, it would involve plenty of changes with Harleen Deol, Simran Dil Bahadur, Radha Yadav and Ghosh making it to the team and Mithali, Jhulan Goswami and Taniya Bhatia walking out. Indrani Roy might be ignored once again as the team is looking to play Ghosh as a wicketkeeper-batter. Probable XI Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues/ Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Simran Bahadur Dream XI / Fantasy XI team Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Natalie Sciver (vc), Amy Ellen Jones(wk), Sophia Dunkley, Sneh Rana, Sophie Ecclestone, Poonam Yadav, Freya Davies
England Women name 16 member squad for ODIs vs India; Sophia Dunkley ready for ODI debut
After an impressive outing with the bat in her debut Test last week, Sophia Dunkley has been named in the England Women ODI squad as well for their series against India Women beginning June 27. Dunkley had scored an unbeaten 72 in the first innings of the Bristol Test to take England to 396-9 before the declaration. As things stand, the 22-year-old Dunkley, who bowls more than useful leg-spin and has so far played 5 T20Is, might make her much-awaited ODI debut in the series as well. Much of the team remains the same as the one which played the Test. However, Freya Davies and Sarah Glenn, who did not feature in the Tests have been recalled to the squad from their Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy duties. The first of the three ODIs take place at the County Ground in Bristol, the same venue where the thrilling four day Test was completed. The Indian side squad remain the same as it was for the one-off Test. England Women's Squad for Royal London ODI Series Heather Knight (captain), Emily Arlott, Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Freya Davies, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones (Wicket- Keeper), Nat Sciver (vice-captain), Anya Shrubsole, Mady Villiers, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield-Hill