England Cricket Board on Friday announced a 15 member strong squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.
Squad – Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Amy Jones, Danielle Wyatt, Natalie Sciver, Katherine Brunt, Georgia Elwiss, Sophie Ecclestone, Freya Davies, Anya Shrubsole, Lauren Winfield, Sarah Glenn, Kate Cross, Mady Villiers, Fran Wilson.
Squad Analysis
ECB seems to have played it safe with all familiar names and no uncapped players in the squad. All-rounder Georgia Elwiss has been picked in favor of the left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon because of her all-round abilities.
England have put together a powerful batting line up with Danielle Wyatt, Tammy Beaumont, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Lauren Winfield, Sciver and Fran Wilson forming the core
1. Danielle Wyatt
A veteran of over a hundred T20 internationals, the 28-year-old is an explosive batswoman. With a strike rate of around 125, she has amassed over 1500 runs in the shortest format of the game. With a couple of international T20 hundreds to her name, England expects Wyatt to be the teams guiding light in the mega event.
An attacking batswoman with a penchant for hitting the bowlers out of the park, she was the only English player to be featured in this year’s ICC T20 team of the year.
Captaincy comes naturally to Heather Knight who had filled a big void in the team following the retirement of Charlotte Edwards in 2016. She has built enough captaincy experience with Berkshire in county cricket and Hobart Hurricanes in the WBBL. She bats with a strike rate of over 111 in the T20s and is an economical bowler with an economy rate of 5.75.
3. Tammy Beaumont
She is one of the crucial batters in the England line up. In the 61 T20 innings she has batted in, she has amassed 1201 runs with her highest score being 116 runs. She was named as the Wisden 2019 cricketer of the year.
4. Natalie Sciver
All-rounder Nat Sciver boasts of over 1100 runs and 51 wickets in the T20 format. Currently ranked 4th in the world in the ICC rankings for all-rounders, the 27-year-old will be looking forward to having a cracker of an event in the World T20.
5. Amy Jones
The wicketkeeper batswoman who made her debut in 2013 had been long lurking in the shadows of veteran keeper Sarah Taylor. However, after Sarah announced her retirement last year, Amy is expected to fill her shoes.
Amy has kept wicket in 42 of her 80 England outings across all formats and is in fine form with the bat with an impressive strike rate of around 120 in T20s. She has a pivotal role to play in England’s campaign in the tournament.
6. Katherine Brunt
Katherine Brunt is one of England’s greatest ever fast bowlers. With more than a decade of international experience under her belt, she will surely be leading the bowling attack for her team.
In December last year, she became the first English woman cricketer to take 150 ODI wickets. Brunt has had the honor of being the ECB cricketer of the year in 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2013.
7. Anya Shrubsole
One of England’s premier fast bowlers, Anya Shrubsole who has picked 90 wickets in just 68 T20 games can be called a match-winner for her team. Providing breakthroughs at crucial moments, she was also the architect of her team’s victory at the 2017 World Cup final with figures of 6/46.
8. Sophie Ecclestone
The 20-year-old won her first England cap in 2016 in a T20I game against Pakistan. In December 2018, she was named the ICC Emerging Player of the year.
Currently ranked 4th in the ICC T20 bowler rankings, she is a premier wicket-taking option. She boasts of 37 wickets in the 26 T20 games she has played in national colors.
9. Georgia Elwiss
Seam-bowling allrounder Georgia Elwiss has been termed as a surprise inclusion in England’s squad. She has got both batting and bowling abilities which will give the team a good balance.
10. Freya Davies
The fast bowler has proven her worth as a short format bowler through her performances in the Women’s Cricket Super League in England, where she bowled Western Storm to the title with her consistent performances.
11. Sarah Glenn
The leg-spinner, who made her debut against Pakistan in Malaysia, has had a remarkable start to her career taking eight wickets in the ODIs, and four wickets in the T20Is. Throughout her career, she has often been termed the trump card responsible for spiraling the opposition down.
12. Fran Wilson
A technically sound batter, Wilson has played 17 T20 internationals. A middle-order batsman Wilson will hope to help England win the event for the first time since 2009.
She was impressive in the Kia Super League as part of Western Storm’s dominant line-up, and also featured during the ODI leg of the Women’s Ashes series against Australia in July.
13. Mady Villiers
The 21 year old off spinner made her WT20 debut for England against Australia on 31 July,2019. She starred in England’s only win of the Ashes last year, taking 2-20, including the wicket of Alyssa Healy.
14. Kate Cross
Pace bowler Kate Cross, has been impressive in the WBBL playing under the Australia captain, Meg Lanning, for Perth Scorchers. After a break of two years, when she was not picked up for the team, she made her comeback against New Zealand in 2018. She can play a key role in taking the pace-bowling pressure off the experienced pair of Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole.
15. Lauren Winfield
The wicketkeeper batswoman is a veteran of 35 ODIs and 18 T20 internationals. Winfield was also a member of the winning women’s team at the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup held in England.
Runners-up of the 2018 edition, England, are placed in Group B alongside Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and Thailand for this year’s T20 World Cup.
England’s first match of the T20 World Cup is against South Africa on Sunday, Feb 23, after two warm up-fixtures against New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
