Sports
Capsey the mainstay as England close out ‘scrappy’ 37-run win
Alice Capsey set the foundations by finding her 50-over form with the bat before England’s spin twins, Sophie Ecclestone and Charlie Dean sealed a “scrappy” victory for the hosts in their opening ODI against Pakistan in Derby.
Pakistan’s search for an ODI win over England continues after this, their 13th match, which England won by 37 runs with two more games to come, at Taunton on Sunday and Chelmsford on Wednesday.
Capsey top-scored with 44, her ODI career-best, as England set a victory target of 244 for Pakistan, who had never scored more than 209 in the format against England, although they gave that a nudge, finishing on 206 for 9 as England failed to finish the game off when they had their opponents on the ropes.
Capsey’s innings broke a run of six in ODIs where she had failed to pass 6 and followed scores of 5, 31 and 1 during the T20I series with Pakistan, which England swept 3-0.
Pakistan were well in the contest through the first powerplay but struggled against the spin of Ecclestone and Dean – who claimed five wickets between them – in a win Heather Knight, England’s captain, described at the presentation as “scrappy”. Seamers Lauren Bell and Kate Cross finished with two wickets apiece.
After being put in to bat, England had a number of moderate contributors, as they did through the first two T20Is, with Amy Jones, Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt making it into the 30s but failing to kick on. Capsey – the player of the match in Northampton with 31 and two wickets – threatened to do just that here after overturning an lbw decision off Dar when she was on 35. But she hung her head in disappointment after spooning a return catch to Nashra Sandhu with six overs of England’s innings left.
Capsey faced 18 deliveries for her first boundary, picking the gap between extra cover and mid-off beautifully with a well-timed drive off Aliya Riaz and she followed that two balls later with a sumptuous drive for four.
Capsey and Jones combined for a 67-run partnership after Knight fell for a laboured 29 from 49 deliveries, which included two chances, before Jones swept Dar and sent a top edge to Ayesha Zafar at square leg for 37.
Openers Maia Bouchier and Beaumont had fallen lbw to Nashra and Umm-e-Hani respectively to leave England 61 for 2 in the 14th over.
Knight was dropped on nought off Nashra when she skied one towards mid-on where Hani made a meal of the opportunity and Hani was again the culprit when Knight, on 18, struck Dar straight to midwicket only to see the chance spilled.
It was Aliya who finally removed Knight, slashing at a wide delivery and producing a thick edge to Najiha Alvi behind the stumps. Sciver-Brunt fell in similar fashion, attempting to drive another wide one from Aliya but managing only to edge behind as England slipped to 118 for 4 just after the halfway point of their innings.
After Capsey’s dismissal, the wickets fell steadily for an England side missing Danni Wyatt, who had scored a 48-ball 87 in the third and final T20I at Headingley but woke up feeling unwell on Thursday. Dean offered a neat cameo worth 20 before she was bowled, giving Dar her third wicket for the match, and Sarah Glenn remained unbeaten on 16 off 13 balls as England reached 243 for 9 in 50 their overs.
In pursuit, Sidra Amin was dropped on 2 by wicketkeeper Jones off Bell but Jones made amends a while later by holding on as Sidra drove at a lovely Bell delivery which nipped away off the pitch outside off stump and brushed the outside edge on its way to the keeper without adding to her score.
After 15 overs, Pakistan were 66 for 1 but, immediately after the drinks break, Ecclestone had Sadaf Shamas out chopping onto her stumps for 28.
Muneeba Ali survived when Jones failed to hold an edge as the batter attempted a cut shot against Dean. But then Ecclestone pushed a gem through the gap between bat and pad to remove Ayesha Zafar in single figures and, although Muneeba reached 34, she fell driving at another excellent Bell delivery, full and jagging away to catch the edge for caught behind.
Pakistan needed to score at around a run-a-ball going into the last 20 Umm-e-overs with four wickets down but when their captain, Dar, slog-swept Dean to Beaumont at deep midwicket it was the breakthrough England needed.
Ecclestone claimed her third wicket in the next over when she pinned Fatima Sana on the front pad in line with leg stump as she strode forward and Dean then had Aliya out lbw as Pakistan lost three wickets for seven runs in the space of 15 balls.
From there, the task proved too steep for Pakistan, despite Nashra and Najiha proving stubborn with an unbroken 28-run stand for the 10th wicket, underlining England’s inability to fully kill off the match. The hosts faced 157 dot balls compared to Pakistan’s 203, although England gifted them 40 extras, including 31 wides, and so they leave Derby with a good amount of work still to do.
Brief scores:
England Women 243 for 9 in 50 overs (Tammy Beaumont 33, Heather Knight 29, Nat Sciver Brunt 31, Alice Capsey 44, Amy Jones 37, Charlie Dean 20; Nashra Sandhu 2-41, Umm-e-Hani 2-43, Nida Dar3-56, Aliya Riaz 2-24) beat Pakistan Women 206 for 9 in 50 overs (Sadaf Shamas 28, Muneeba Ali 34, Nidar Dar 26, Aliya Riaz 21, Najiha Alvi 26*; Kate Cross 2-46, Lauren Bell 2-42, Sophie Ecclestone 3-26, Charlie Dean 2-39) by 37 runs
(Cricinfo)
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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