Katya Witney speaks to those in and out of the England Women’s set-up about how they can address their struggles playing spin bowling.
England go into their first tour of India for four years off the back of a contrasting summer.
After defeating Australia for the first time in 10 years in the ODI and T20I rounds of the Ashes, they lost to Sri Lanka for the first time in a T20I series. The deciding factor in this defeat was his 18 wickets lost during the three-match series.
In the summer of 2023, 64% of England’s wickets across all formats were accounted for by spin bowlers. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Bangladesh within his year, how he addresses this glaring weakness in the upcoming series in India will be a key step on the road to victory. Probably.
After the defeat to Sri Lanka, John Lewis acknowledged the difficulties spin had caused during the series. “After the Ashes and what we saw at the World Cup, it’s clear that the way we play spin bowling is a big area of development for us,” he said.
“There’s an Over-20 World Cup in Bangladesh, there’s a tour to India, and there’s an Over-50 World Cup in India.” So our next three big challenges are actually quite It’s going to be a spin. Let’s play bowling. People will see us spin and say, “Okay, I think we can leverage this team in this area.”
Sri Lanka devastatingly exposed England’s weakness against spin, which had been smoldering under the surface for some time. All but one of England’s five defeats in the summer of 2023 saw the Spinners win the Player of the Match award. Ash Gardner takes 12 wickets in the Ashes Test and Alana King takes 3 wickets in the Ageas Bowl defeat, dismissing three of England’s top five batsmen and putting the Ashes out of reach. placed. Chamali Atapattu took the honors with his two wins for Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan spinner took his third place among the top wicket-takers in the T20I series.
England’s problems go back even further. Since the beginning of last year, their average against spin has been fair to poor, ranking him fourth in the world in T20Is and fifth in ODIs.
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How we can improve this is more important than ever. Their calendar is jam-packed with a subcontinent tour and a world championship scheduled to be held in Asia. Each tournament shows whether the “difference” with Australia has narrowed or widened. Over the past two years, Australia’s top six teams have averaged almost double the average of England against spin in T20Is, a stark difference. After the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh next September, his 12-month countdown to his ODI World Cup in India begins.
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In theory, the upcoming schedule offers an opportunity for England, armed with their No. 1 ODI and T20I spinners and an exciting group of fast bowlers. But if they continue to perform worse than other teams when it comes to spin bowling, they risk wasting that money.
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England’s batting since Jon Lewis took over as head coach in December last year has been characterised by aggression. Since he took charge, their overall run rate in T20Is has gone from 7.45 in the two years before his appointment to 7.84 since. It’s a similar trend in ODIs, where their collective run rate has gone from 5.00 to 5.33.
This is also reflected in their spin strike rate, with the top six teams having a combined strike rate of 122.3 over the past two years, despite being second only to Australia (141.6) in the average T20I rankings. . In ODIs, their strike rate is about the same as Australia’s: 89.7 and 91.2 respectively.
The attacking mindset that Lewis and a new generation of young batsmen with franchise experience have instilled in the team has enabled them to play an enterprising brand of cricket, but the tour to India is different. It will be a challenge. All three T20Is will be played at the Wankhede and the Test match will have a four-day spin test. England proved to lack the balance between attack and the ability to rotate the attack and score consistent runs against the spinners.
“If you look at the way England have approached things this summer, they’ve obviously been aggressive and always trying to push the game forward, which I fully support,” Lydia Greenway said. “But I feel like that means there were times when they weren’t as smart as they could have been, especially against spin. You have to be able to kick the ball off the ground to be effective. There’s no problem.” There’s a time and a place for a little grit and determination. They know that we’re going to see a lot more spin, especially in India, because women’s football is so spin-based. ”
This assessment is echoed by Mark Butcher, who closely monitored England’s struggles against Sri Lanka during his time at Sky Sports.
“The problem was we didn’t have a rotating shot,” he says. “In reality, it was just an obstacle and a difficulty. If you can’t push the ball and turn in front of the wicket between extra cover and midwicket and between square leg and midwicket, that ball can block, block, It’s going to be big shots, cow corners, big sweeps, or trying to beat him over-the-top. There’s also over-coverage.”
Not only their thinking but also England’s technique is under scrutiny. “I remember the game at Chelmsford and Derby [in the Sri Lanka series] when the ball was held very short and it went in diagonally, too close, too close to the off-stump.” aggressive and always plays with a little bit more spin on the ball,” Butcher says.
Greenway suspects a lack of confidence in their defense is causing England to seek out big matches too often. “If you compare it to when I was playing, or even before, the players in this England team can do more things in terms of batting power that I and other players couldn’t do.” and it will be much easier to find the boundaries. But what is questionable is the players’ defense. Because he doesn’t feel the need to rely on it too much. ”
Whatever the diagnosis, it is clear that England need to work on expanding the game and are working to resolve the issue. The six batsmen – Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Emma Lamb, Dani Gibson, Freya Kemp and Beth Heath – flew to Mumbai in October for a spin-based training camp in anticipation of the India tour. .
England players vs spin in T20Is since January 2022 (10+ innings only) – Highlighted players on the October Mumbai spin camp
“The purpose of the camp was to explore ways to counter spin bowling and different shots and techniques,” says Alex Gidman, who served as England’s assistant coach before the Mumbai camp. “We were there for five days and there was just a hustle and bustle. We had some really good coaches on site who taught us some of their ideas, theories and methods, and the girls went out and… I went out and tried to apply them.
“We looked at the swing, we looked at the backplay, we looked at the cutting, we moved over the top, we really explored 360 degrees.” It was very spin-oriented, but there were sailors there. There were also some people. .
England is still in progress. The England A team played three T20 matches against the Indian A team before the A team arrived in Mumbai this week. They lost the opener of that series by three runs, with five of the seven wickets taken by the bowlers falling on spin. In the end England A won the series 2-1, but nine of his 11 wickets for England, which fell in his remaining two matches, were also taken by spinners.
The challenges in India are becoming more difficult than ever. India has included young star players who played in the U-19 World Cup and the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League in their squad for the senior series. Uncapped Shreyanka Patil has become the leading wicket-taker in this year’s Women’s Caribbean Premier League with her quick off-breaks. Left-arm finger spinner Saika Ishak also did not play any senior international matches, but she became the second highest wicket-taker in the WPL. Gidman’s message is that England need to balance success now with instilling the right mentality for the future.
“We expect tough conditions,” Gidman said. “So for management and leadership, it means putting these players in what I would call high-pressure, high-stress positions and looking at the big picture, which is about the present. It is also future-oriented.
“Of course we are the England cricket team and we want to win now, but we are also not afraid to grow as a team and as individuals.” Yes, I understand. At this point, it can sometimes be a little more expensive. . We don’t intend for it to be that way, but there is a consensus within the group that it could be, and we are working towards the World Cup. ”
The next two years begin for England. If you can’t solve the spin problem, you’ll fail again. But at least at the end of this subcontinent he will be able to look back on this tour as the basis of his success if he becomes world champion again in one format.
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