91Èȱ¬

What's happening in women's cricket this winter? I think there's a tour, isn't there? Notice on the list of women's fixtures plus a squad announcement when it becomes available would be appreciated.

And isn't it worth at least a short piece that both Charlotte Edwards and Claire Taylor are on the short list for ICC women's player of the year? My vote would go to Edwards. By her own high standards Taylor did not have a dazzling summer, although the run chase with Morgan v the Aussies at the Oval was perhaps the highlight of the women's international season.

Many thanks for the article on our team's schedule. Those two weeks in November will be interesting indeed without our two star Taylors. I'm glad to see Shrubsole back after her injury. Maybe Hazell & Shrubsole will come through as our pace attack of the future. Without S.J. Taylor, I'm guessing that Rainford-Brent will be tested as opening bat (with Atkins?) - and maybe we'll see Shrubsole, Hazell and Beaumont forming a new triangle of understanding. Good luck to that other triangle - Lane, Connors & Edwards. Where would we be without them?

I do so hope we're going to be kept up to date with matches in St Kitts.

Fat lot of interest the public is shewing in the tour of St Kitts. I posted an article on 606 - ZERO comments. MM failed to mention it at the end of his live-text on the Final of the Champions Trophy, although he did publicise the men's upcoming tours. I would add that MM is a staunch supporter of our women's team and the oversight was probably due to the excitement of the moment.

It falls to the 91Èȱ¬ to publicise this tour on the main cricket page.

Who says Taylor is "West Indies best," as suggested by the picture caption in your (91Èȱ¬'s) report from Paarl? I would think Dottin might want to lay claim to that "title."

For some time now, I've had a vague feeling that Windies women's cricket is on the way up. We'll see next month in St Kitts. If I'm right, it can only be good for the women's game, too long dominated by the 'big four:' England, Australia, NZ and India.

On a much lighter level, do you have to be called "Taylor" to succeed in women's cricket?

One week to go till the first ODI in St Kitts. Oh, how I love talking to myself about it. Come on, Aunty! Do your best to stir the troops. This must be the first England double-World Champions side to leave Heathrow (?) in a blaza of no publicity.

Why oh why is it impossible to find any ball-by-ball updates / live scores on this series? Are none of the British media or the ECB covering it? If so then this is disgraceful - surely World Cup winners and T20 World Cup winners deserve the country's support...Come on 91Èȱ¬, lead the way...

18 months ago I watched England completely destroy the West Indies at Loughborough and the gap between the teams was huge. This year, save for the 1st 6 overs against Australia in the T20 World Cup (when Dottin annihilated the Aussie attack), there was little evidence of significant advancement. The middle lower order was, well, fragile, and the bowling was very average. They even lost the recent ODI series to South Africa. Against this backdrop I think most media organizations felt the trip to the WI was going to be so one sided even without the Taylors that it would be no more than a training trip for the T20 in the WI in 2010 – and to be honest so did I. Oops.
I could have accepted the loss of the first ODI as a fluke but not the 3rd and the 1st T20. The WI have clearly made massive strides forward and must be about the join England, India, Australia and NZ as serious contenders for honours (bad news for England on this tour but great news for women’s cricket). The 2010 T20 World Cup group (Eng, Aus, WI, SA) is now looking like the group of death.
Without the Taylors and with Greenway injured for 2 of the games so far, England’s batting has under performed. Even batters with a track record of success such as Atkins (60 runs from 4 innings) and Morgan (17 runs from 4 innings) haven’t fired. In a way getting beaten by the WI might be a blessing in disguise – rather have a reality check now than in the 2010 T20 World Cup and now’s the time to give new players some experience.

There are lies, damn lies and statistics but perhaps occasionally they tell a story.
If you add up the international career T20 batting average for each England players in the 2nd T20 against the WI you get 129. If you do the same with the team that played in the T20 W-Cup Semi & Final you get 205. No surprise then that we struggled with the batting somewhat.
In the 3 ODIs against the WI we yielded 56 Wides and 7 No Balls. In the 4 completed ODIs against Australia in the summer we yielded 24 Wides and 2 No Balls.
In the T20 W-Cup Semi & Final, the T20 against Aus and the 4 completed ODIs against Aus we suffered 4 run outs. In the 5 games against the WI we suffered 10 run outs.
Still, with 2 World Cup victories this year I think the team can be forgiven for losing a bit of discipline, perhaps even focus, on this tour. It’s the next one to the WIs that really matters.