England sealed victory in their one-day international series against Ireland with a straightforward six-wicket win at Derby on Thursday, after seamer Issy Wong took a career-best five for 33.
Wong, again handed the new ball in the absence of Lauren Bell, bowled with accuracy and control to knock over the leg stump of the Ireland captain, Gaby Lewis, then ran through the lower-middle order as they tried to hit out, but were dismissed for 165.
Wong said: “Any time you get to represent England is a really proud feeling, and any time you do well in a cricket match is also a proud feeling, so to put the two together probably for the first time in my international career, if I’m being honest with myself, is really nice.”
It was in marked contrast to her performance in the first ODI, when she sent down four consecutive wides in her opening spell and sparked hopes she may be recovering some of the mojo she lost when discarded by England three summers ago.
Wong credited her performance to a recent decision to embrace wobble seam, as advised by the head coach, Charlotte Edwards. “It’s something I’ve bowled for six or seven years,” Wong said. “The switch in mindset is that it probably now sits as my stock ball. Previously I was trying to swing it out, try and find the edge, whereas I guess that little flip is actually trying to wobble it and keep really tight to the stumps.”
Ireland’s Orla Prendergast described Wong’s wobble ball as “challenging”. “It’s hard to see and it’s hard to pick,” she said.
The 20-year-old Amy Hunter anchored the Ireland effort with a battling half-century but eventually became Wong’s fifth victim, caught at deep midwicket on 64 in the final throes of the innings.
In reply, Maia Bouchier ran out her opening partner, Sophia Dunkley, and then holed out to short fine leg five runs short of a half-century, while Alice Capsey was trapped lbw by Kia McCartney’s fizzing off-break. Jodi Grewcock struck a patient 24 but lost concentration and pulled Cara Murray straight into the hands of Lewis.
Grewcock, though, was praised by Wong after holding on to two catches on the ring off her bowling. “It was like prime Kevin De Bruyne out there from Jodi,” Wong joked. “I said to her: ‘Thanks for the assist.’ And she said she was just threading through-balls for me and I was running on and tapping them in.”
Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson then showed a glimpse of England’s ODI future by firing England to a rapid win. Far from holding back, they attacked: Gibson wrapped things up with two sixes over Murray’s head in the 23rd over to seal the win with more than half their overs to spare.
In comparison with the first ODI, this was a much more convincing all-round performance by England, albeit in bowler-friendly conditions with an outfield made squelchy by overnight rain. The England captain, Charlie Dean, fell victim to the conditions, slipping over in her follow-through while trying to stop the ball and badly grazing her knee. Her absence from the field, though, only lasted for one over – just long enough to change out of the pair of trousers she had ripped at the knee.
England squandered their two DRS reviews after poor communication between Dean and Capsey, who also put down an edge off Louise Little – a move which will do nothing to decrease the scrutiny of her keeping role.
But Dean’s bowling changes proved effective, with off-spinner Mady Villiers taking wickets in consecutive overs in her first spell, including the key scalp of Prendergast, who – for the second game in a row – misjudged the boundary size and was caught on the rope.
Prendergast said: “We left runs out there, we probably could have rotated better through the middle and maybe taken the game on a little bit earlier.”
Earlier, Dunkley celebrated her 50th ODI with the direct-hit run out of Alice Tector from mid-off, as Ireland’s innings began with a stutter. Dunkley’s stay at the crease, though, ended prematurely when she was run out by Prendergast from cover after a poor call from Bouchier. The series concludes at Worcester on Sunday.
