A run-a-ball century – 117 off 117 balls – from Nat Sciver-Brunt was the difference between England and Sri Lanka in Colombo, putting England top of the table as we approach the halfway mark in the group stages of this World Cup.
Requiring 254, Sri Lanka lost the wicket of bright young hope Vishmi Gunaratne after Chamari Athapaththu had retired hurt; but Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama made decent progress and at the 20-over mark, Sri Lanka had the edge on the WinHer Win Predictor, with a 61% chance of victory.
But the introduction of Sophie Ecclestone turned that equation on its head, with the spinner taking wickets in the 20th, 22nd and 24th overs, to put England in charge – turning a 61% chance of victory for Sri Lanka into an 83% chance for England, from which they never looked back.
Sophie added the cherry on top of the Eccles Cake with one more key wicket – that of the returning Athapaththu, as she bowled 10 overs straight through the middle phases.
The ball of the day however was reserved for Charlie Dean, with that early wicket of Gunaratne, who had no answer to one that pitched outside off before turning in between bat and pad to take the top of the leg bail.
With Linsey Smith finishing the day with an Economy Rate of 2.5 from 8 overs, plus the last wicket, it was a fantastic day for England’s specialist spinners, which is good news for everyone except possibly Em Arlott, who looks set to be the 2025 version of Beth Langston – one of only two members of England’s winning squad in 2017 to not get a single outing in the tournament. (Pop Quiz: Who was the other? Answer at the bottom!)
The one caveat with England’s bowling remains filling in those extra overs that Nat Sciver-Brunt can’t bowl. NSB bowled 5 overs today, briefly leaving the field after her first spell – we were officially told this was for a “bathroom break”, but the timing was “interesting” and if she accidentally bumped into the physio whilst she was back in the dressing room, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Alice Capsey again filled-in those additional overs, and did so competently, but if England really want her to be a proper, front-line spinning all-rounder, there is still work to do with the bowling coaches.
Earlier in the day, England had posted a decent total, but once again it was almost wholly reliant on a huge slice of luck, and one player – NSB on this occasion – taking advantage and going on to score almost half their runs. Sciver-Brunt was horribly dropped by Udeshika Prabodhani at midwicket when she was still in single-figures; and if that catch had been taken, the game could have turned out very differently, with no other England batter making more than Tammy Beaumont’s 32.
Beaumont and Amy Jones both looked unconvincing again. Jones was doubly-guilty for her own run out – ball watching as Beaumont called her through for a quick single, and then failing to dive in as she was run out by 6 inches; whilst Beaumont danced down the wicket and was far too early on a ball which she ended up toe-ending to extra cover.
With Heather Knight inexplicably pulling out a reverse sweep and oh-so-predictably being caught at short third, there was a lesson to be learned, and NSB learned it – keep it simple, and run hard.
NSB’s boundary percentage in international cricket has been falling for the past couple of years, and it was even lower than normal at just over 9% today; but it was what the situation demanded – efficiency was the watchword, and she watched it like a hawk. The 6 that brought up her century was typical – it wasn’t a Big Shot but it went far enough, safely enough, to get the job done.
As we’ve seen a few teams do in this tournament, England waited and waited before going big at the end, sacrificing wickets in the last 5 overs to put on 49 in that final push. They finished 9 down, but wickets at that point are worth very little compared to runs on the board. With Athapaththu having already said in her pre-game interview that she felt Sri Lanka could chase 230, the implication was that much more would be tough to get. And so it proved.
This was far from the perfect England performance – I’d give it 7½ out of 10. The bowling was solid; but England really need their batting line-up as a whole to find some form, and with just one “easier” game remaining – their next outing against Pakistan – there isn’t much time to do it.
The other member of the 2017 squad not to play a game? Georgia Elwiss.
