Heather Knight may have played only four matches for Western Storm this season, but it seems she is still inclined to look first to her West Country teammates as the key to success in the Women’s Ashes series which begins with a Test at Trent Bridge on 22 June.
The big surprise in England’s Test squad, announced on Monday, is the inclusion of Storm’s 22-year-old fast bowler Lauren Filer, who has leapfrogged a number of centrally contracted players in the race to replace the recently retired Katherine Sciver-Brunt.
Filer’s Storm teammate, all-rounder Dani Gibson, is the only other uncapped player in the squad, though Alice Capsey is also in line to make a Test debut, after firmly establishing her place in the white-ball side last summer.
Gibson is Storm’s joint-highest run scorer and top wicket-taker in this season’s Charlotte Edwards Cup, and logically next in line to earn her cap after being named as a travelling reserve in England’s World Cup squad over the winter. As well as her seam bowling, she also offers an aggressive option with the bat, in line with England’s recent “Jon-Ball” tactics.
“We’re very keen to disrupt the flow of Australia’s game by playing the game the way that we want to play it,” coach Jon Lewis said. “That’s our best chance of beating them. Dani [Gibson] for me is one of the in-form cricketers in the country. She’s a really dynamic player.
By contrast, Filer’s inclusion comes more out of left-field: her best return this season was three for 60 against South East Stars in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, although that did include an in-ducker which bowled Capsey first-ball.
“Lauren Filer is a point-of-difference bowler, someone who bowls with more pace than anyone in the country. She really swings the Dukes ball, so she could be a big wicket-taking threat,” Lewis said.
England are also persisting with Issy Wong, despite her poor returns for Central Sparks so far this summer. A cynic might suggest that Wong’s inclusion is partly to avoid embarrassment, given her central role in the ECB’s dual-Ashes marketing campaign: alongside Heather Knight, Ben Stokes and Jimmy Anderson, her image was last week projected on to Tower Bridge.
“You always approach young fast bowlers with a bit of trepidation because you’re never quite sure what they’re going to deliver. We’ve got a big job to replace Katherine,” Lewis said.
An England A squad has also been named: final selections for the Test will be made after two concurrent three-day warm-ups between England and Australia A and Australia and England A, which begin on Thursday at Derby and Leicester respectively.
England Ashes Test squad to face Australia: H Knight (captain), T Beaumont, L Bell, A Capsey, K Cross, A Davidson-Richards, S Dunkley, S Ecclestone, L Filer, D Gibson, A Jones, E Lamb, N Sciver-Brunt (vice-captain),I Wong, D Wyatt.
England ‘A’ squad to face Australia in warm-up: L Winfield-Hill (captain), M Bouchier, A Davidson-Richards, F Davies, C Dean (vice-captain), S Glenn, K Gordon, E Gray, B Heath, E Jones, P Scholfield, G Scrivens, D Wyatt.
