Cricket tragic

My guess is Deepti was demanding too much & UPW think they can right-to-match for less than it would cost to retain her directly

Depends if they want a rest from England after already being here from May to July for the tri-series, World Cup, & Lords Test…

I do hope it’s as successful as that. We might stand a chance of winning a World Cup if it is! 😜

I’d love to see more of the top Indians playing in the 100 so let’s hope the new owners have more influence over the BCCI than the ECB! But I certainly wouldn’t want to see more Aussies in the 100 than there are English in the current WBBL (~12 if my maths is correct)

In the short term the former is most definitely a benefit to England. But will the latter harm England’s long term development? Personally I think with Lottie having a say, the latter is less of a risk than it would be under a short-term coach trying to save their (his!) own skin

It depends on whether you consider 1 more overseas player as strengthening the competition (i.e. improving the skills of those who do play) or reducing the opportunity for the 2nd tier of domestic players (1st tier being the top uncontracted players who will play regardless of 3/4 overseas)

Given that she will be nearly 40 at the next edition of this tournament, that’s hardly a controversial statement!

Although it’s clear from recent squads that neither the men’s or women’s selectors are limited to picking only England contracted players (Linsey Smith & Em Arlott being the most obvious examples)

Interesting idea… what more do you know about players after a winter’s training than you knew about them at the end of long domestic season? The only ones you might know more about are the England players who’ve been on tour but you’ve nothing to compare them with

I’m not sure I’m quite so keen for Delhi Capitals to be responsible for the contracts of some of our most talented players as you are. The club vs country tension in football isn’t something I’d like to see creeping into cricket, especially if franchises pay vastly more than England match fees

True, but you know more about where women’s cricket has come from than most! 😁

Would fans & media accept not reaching the semifinal with a young team that has potential but underperformed? I very much doubt it. At least 7 teams don’t win at every WC so it’s not a binary win/lose difference unless we are arrogant enough to believe we should reach every final

Although that “day’s rest” involved a 3+ hour flight plus transfers from Guwahati.
Both semifinals were won by outstanding individual performances. But I think the final will be won by the team that makes less mistakes under pressure, which I agree is probably SA

Of course, the T20s are a different beast with the home WC next summer. England will be expected to reach the final at least. So throwing your developing players into the mix without much time to get them any experience would be a bit foolish

The big camps in Oman & SA over this coming winter will involve all those players. The ones that do well might get their ODI chances in the NZ/India series & most definitely in the Ireland series.

for which Lottie would have (rightly) been hounded to the hills. 4 years is a very long time in sport and this WC performance (only just ok) gives Lottie the perfect mandate to use that cycle to build a new team in her own image with the the likes of Kemp, Perrin & Lamb

It’s great that the expectations on the England Women have risen in line with their salaries. But it’s hilarious to think that chucking Scrivens, Smale & TCC into the frying pan (presumably replacing Beaumont, Knight & Smith) would have been anything other than an unmitigated disaster…

Hopefully we will see a few more arrive after work…

England making sure they get finished in plenty of time to get back to the hotel to watch the women’s semifinal! 😁

Still got it!
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Interesting… This is Apple weather for Wednesday in Guwahati:

Which app/website do you use for Indian weather forecasts?
“The chances of rain during the scheduled hours of play in Guwahati being from 40-52%. The good news? There is a reserve day! The bad news? The chances of rain on the reserve day are 19-64%!”

Sometimes teams react better than expected to a crisis, e.g. being bowled out for 69…

Great to see Jones coming into form just in time for the important stuff… 🏏

#CWC25
#ENGvsNZ

Were you also expected to bat in the top order? Admittedly scoring a ton is much less about liability to injury & much more about fitness & concentration

If you’d personally ever bowled an over of maximum pace deliveries in 40 degree heat you’d be surprised that anyone is capable of actually bowling 10 of them!! Fast bowling is such an unnatural action & so many players get injured

They are going to need her in the SF if they have any chance of beating SA

Ridiculous by England, intentionally injuring Ecclestone just so they can try the surprise experiment of 2 part-time bowlers through the middle overs

Then when the lights came on & the dew came down it went as flat as a pancake. Not a good toss to lose…

Because she doesn’t turn it?! 🫢