<July 28>
Just occasionally, and only occasionally, you receive
an email that makes you read it several times to make sure you're not
mistaken. A day or so ago that happened to me. It said...
For your records notable performances were:-
Opposition: Oxfordshire,
Essex, Kent,
Essex (Final)
Venue Highland & St Lawrence
Result:
Sussex Won all games
Scores 176-3 v 51-10 : 125-6 v
84-6 : 151-2 v 69-10
: 206-0 v 63-9
Details of players scoring over 30 runs
Paige 105no - Freya
30, Izzy 41 - Abbey 36no,
Paige 102no -
Paige 134no, Izzy 54no
Details of players taking 3 or more wickets
and runs conceded -
Kezia 4-26; Izzy 3-9;
Paige 3-14; Tanya 3-1
Details of players taking 3 or more catches/stumpings Abbey 3 stumpings
Now centuries in T20s are rare enough, but here were
three and what is more all scored by the same player! The Paige
in question is Paige Scholfield and someone I have watched play in the
Sussex senior team a number of times. She is a player who appears to
have no fear - a boundary off the first ball of an innings is no longer a
surprise - and she has already made scores in the forties for the senior
side.
You can easily gauge the way she plays her cricket from
the fact that playing for the senior side her strike rate is 100,
top score 48. I do have one great regret about this performance and that
is that I was not there to watch it. I feel sure I missed a real
spectacle. The one consolation I have is that I am confident there is
much more to come!
<August 7>
Well England have announced three separate squads for
the various formats the Ashes is to take this year. What
conclusions can we draw?
It would seem that the recent injuries to both Holly
Colvin and Georgia Elwiss are on-going as neither have been included in
the Test squad and nothing else would surely have kept them out. Holly's
track record in all forms of the game and Georgia's past record
with the ball would surely have guaranteed a place. The fact she has
also been re-born as a fine bat this season, with a better record than
others in the squad, rather emphasises the point. We must hope for
England's sake their recovery is swift enough for them to play a part in
the ODIs and T20Is.
But someone's misfortune means another's opportunity. I
am particularly pleased to see Natalie Sciver's name among the
newcomers. I have seen a number of fine knocks from her and she can turn
her arm over when required.
![[Natalie Sciver]](pow/110514_031-Sciver-Natalie-S.jpg)
Natalie Sciver batting in the Super 4s in 2012
She would have made my squad regardless of the injuries to others.
Also included are Tash Farrant and Lauren Winfield.
<cont... August 9>
![[Tash Farrant]](images/130608_178-Farrant-Natasha-.jpg)
Tash Farrant (above, bowling) and Lauren Winfield (below,
batting)
during the Super 4s, 2013
![[Lauren Winfield]](images/130601_030-Winfield-Lauren-.jpg)
Both Tash Farrant and Lauren Winfield are
relatively unknown to me, and above you have examples from only one or
two pictures I have of each.
If there is a major surprise in the squads
it is how some players are in one unit and not another. For instance how
can a particular player's temperament or skills suit them for Test Match
cricket and T20 but not ODIs? If anyone has an idea
let me
know.
Martin Davies recently picked
his Test XI
and I could find little to quarrel with. What neither of us knew, of
course, was the injury situation which has made so much difference to
the choices available and the choices he made. He picked...
1.
Edwards
2. Knight
3. Taylor
4. Brindle
5. Greenway
6. Elwiss
7. Marsh
8. Wyatt
9. Colvin
10. Brunt (if not fit Sciver)
11. Shrubsole
I would have changed only one from this line-up and, in
order not to offend anyone's sensibilities, who that is will be kept
under wraps! Who would have played in her stead - well I'd have no
problem with giving Natalie Sciver her first Test Match. As a
useful middle-order all-rounder in this set-up she'd be handy to bowl as
well as bat and all-rounders seem to be the order of the day in women's
cricket these days. The other players in this line-up are tried and
tested under fire, so one newcomer did not seem unreasonable. However,
Colvin's and Elwiss' injuries have changed all that and it will be
interesting to see which 11 from 14 finally take the field.
If there is one name I am disappointed to see missing
from these squads it is Amy Jones. Top scorer in that loss against Sri
Lanka in the Word Cup when other failed to keep a cool head, she must be bitterly
disappointed with not getting another match in that tournament, and now
not appearing in the squads. While she must have wondered sitting it out
in India what else she had to do, she must also be disappointed to say
the least to have disappeared off the radar since. I have not followed
her domestic season but as probably the best wicket-keeper after the
current incumbent a place must have seemed on the cards.
![[Amy Jones]](images/120623_218-Jones-Amy-EngAc.jpg)
Amy Jones strikes out while representing the England Academy against
India in 2012
Well, Australia have started well with a
win over the Academy and particularly worrying from the England
perspective is Meg Lanning's century. I have to confess to having
favourite batsmen in most sides and when off to a match, while always
hoping for a victory by Sussex or England it runs through my mind "if
someone has to make a century against us, who would I prefer it to be?"
For Australia is has to be Lanning who, on the few occasions I have been
able to watch her, seems the most elegant in the side.
![[Meg Lanning]](images/110623_196-Lanning-Meg-Aus.jpg)
Meg Lanning takes a stride forward, defending, during a match against
India at Billericay, 2011
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