Women's Ashes preview

Women's Ashes (mini)-preview 2015

You can read some proper previews here! 

http://www.wisdenindia.com/preview/glory-stake-womens-ashes/173110

http://womens-cricket.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/its-going-to-be-rollercoaster-ride.html
 
http://www.sportspromedia.com/quick_fire_questions/womens_ashes_series_2015_ecbs_clare_connor_on_pushing_the_boundaries_in_eng?utm_content=buffera746f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
 
As the Women's Ashes series starts tomorrow here are some good articles to get your teeth into and also my brief thoughts on each side's chances.
 
I am attending both the first and second games at Taunton and Bristol respectively and hope to post some piccies from them on the other blog: http://jpiesports.blogspot.co.uk/
 
I think this series will be great for women's cricket whatever the result. We will get some close games, and whether England (hopefully!) or Australia ultimately triumph it will be a fantastic advert for women's cricket. Some good crowds are expected, and the standard is likely to be as good as you'll see, now that both sides are fully professional. The media interest should speed along some overdue applications for hosts in the planned women's super league T20 competition. Hopefully it will do wonders for the sport's coverage, participation at grass roots, and interest from the general public. Unlike some, I do not view the increased interest in football's WSL as a problem, rather a happy challenge to match. The audience for this most beautiful of games can be increased, and these women can do it.

I'm not too worried about the ICC women's championship points table. We may not be doing well down in sixth position at the moment, but we've yet to play some of the worse sides who we should definitely beat. Other sides are beating each other, so it's not all bad. I stick by my original claim that we can afford to lose to West Indies, Australia and New Zealand and still get fourth. That is as long as the fixtures are fair of course and we actually play all the other teams! Like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka...
 
It might not be a rollercaster ride, despite what some observers think. It might not even be close, overall. Looking at the fixtures, Australia could thump us by, say, 12 points to 4 - that's hardly impossible, nor would it be a disgrace. In this case, our 2 victories could come at Worcester and Cardiff say, when the respective mini-series could have already have been won by the Aussies.
I accept that it's likely for Australia to grow into the series as it goes on, as a whole. But, players may drift in or out out of form, and we don't know how England will wax or wane throughout. So I'm not so sure we have the best opportunity to win in the first games, but we'll see.

I think the series could be determined by how well England play at big hitting. Whether we manage to get a lot of blows away to the boundary or just loft it straight up in the air, or just miss the thing completely.  In ODIs we rarely look likely to get more than about, say, 220 - or I am at least wise in being very worried when the opposition score this many. 

England have traditionally been much better at attritional cricket, where runs are at a premium and every ball looks like it could result in a wicket. Australia, on the other hand, are at their best when their batting can pit itself against their opponents' in ideal batting conditions. The way women's cricket is moving is towards the Australian way, and to me it's going to be about how well England can adapt to that. It will require a sea change in thinking not dissimilar in magnitude from that which the men's team displayed against New Zealand.
 
The days of 180 plays 181 in a cold damp day on a slow dead pitch may be exciting by dint of being closer, and more likely to result in an England win, but just as men's sides have moved on from 250+ to 350+, I think the women's game will be moving on from 200+ to 300+ on a regular basis sometime soon. Market forces would be pushing towards it. Looking at the England side, I wonder where that type of firepower is coming from. Our batters are better at finding a way to get some runs in difficult conditions than maximising runs. We may not have quite seen the last of 220 being a winning score in an ODI, but I think it will become an increasing rarity particularly amongst the top 3 or 4 sides. While this may not benefit England in the short term, it will be good for women's cricket overall.
 
England's very conservative squad selection, going for experience over well, anything like form, or innovation, is the same approach as used to mixed success against New Zealand in February. It should result in at least solid, reliable performances but will it give us the cutting edge in bowling, or the firepower with the bat to beat Australia? I'm not so sure. The records of the Australian players, and the Southern Stars team as a whole is and are beyond question. Their statistics are impressive and they are the clear favourites in my eyes. It's not without good reason that some pundits who had previously (wrongly I might add!) picked Australia to win the last 2 Ashes series are deliberately choosing to do so again.
 
Player-wise, I'm picking out the following as being very good & important performers. So look out for the following batters:

Sarah Taylor, Lauren Winfield (England)
Meg Lanning, Elyse Villani (Australia)
 
All-Rounders:
Georgia Elwiss, Heather Knight (England)
Ellyse Perry, Jess Jonassen (Australia)
 
And bowlers:
Kate Cross, Becky Grundy (England)
Erin Osborne, Holly Ferling (Australia)

Last but not least, I guess I have to do a review of the debacle that second Ashes Test at Lord's turned out to be, painful though that will be. I'll try and do that over the next week or so. I might wait until the third Test though!