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No Sophie Ecclestone or Sarah Glenn for England then with those in the know suggesting that the former would have been dropped had she not been recovering from injury.
Fast bowler Issy Wong returns to the set up after a lengthy time out of the camp struggling with her form and all-rounder Emily Arlott gets a deserved debut after strong showings in the early part of the season. Charlotte Edwards has spoken about how she wants to get more competition for places and shake up what was a bit of a cosy system. This first XI seems to be evidence of exactly that.
Here are the teams:
England: Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), Heather Knight, Amy Jones (wk), Alice Capsey, Em Arlott, Issy Wong, Charlie Dean, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell
West Indies: Hayley Matthews (capt), Qiana Joseph, Zaida James, Realeanna Grimmond, Shabika Gajnabi, Aaliyah Alleyne, Jannillea Glasgow, Mandy Mangru (wk), Cherry-Anne Fraser, Afy Fletcher, Karishma Ramharack
England win the toss and will bowl first!
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s first act as captain is a success as she wins the toss and chooses to bowl first on a flat looking pitch. She looks a wee bit nervous and admits as much.
“I’ve been a bit nervous all day, but excited to get going. I’m still growing into the role and hope to get more comfortable.”
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the opening salvo of the summer between England and West Indies from Canterbury.
Humiliated and whitewashed 16-0 in the Ashes – who you gonna call?
Charlotte Edwards! (It sort of scans doesn’t it Ray Parker Jnr?)
Today’s T20 in Kent marks the start of the Charlotte Edwards and Nat Sciver-Brunt era, one in which the Head Coach and bona-fide ‘England legend’ will look to raise standards and drive this talented bunch of players onwards and upwards from a period of stagnation, selectorial sameness and even accusations of poor fitness and standards of professionalism. Not exactly and empty in-tray then.
Raf Nicholson wrote recently about how the new regime is likely to shape up in comparison to the previous one:
“This new era of England women’s cricket will be driven forward by Edwards: she will set the standards and write the plans, and the captain will implement them. Sciver-Brunt described her role as “focusing on pitch things and winning games for England”. That is a 180-degree shift from her predecessor, Heather Knight, whose voice on and off the pitch was heard more loudly than either of England’s previous head coaches, Jon Lewis and Lisa Keightley.”
I spoke to Edwards just before she was offered the job and was impressed with her steeliness and passion. The players seem to love her and she is going to demand a lot from them – she’s already announced that minimum fitness standards are on the horizon. Today’s opponents are West Indies and the last time the two sides met the women in maroon knocked England out of the T20 World Cup before the knockout phase.
Plenty to get into then as a new era begins. Play starts at 6.30pm and we’ll have news of the toss and teams imminently. As always, feel free to drop us a line at the link on the left of the page.
