You may have seen them on your commute to work: vibrant posters of five stars of international women’s cricket. Flanked by Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Dan van Niekerk (South Africa), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) and Ellyse Perry (Australia) stands the England captain, Heather Knight, in the foreground. “It was actually a bit of a shock when I saw a larger-than-life version of myself,” Knight admits. While scattered sparsely around London’s 270 tube stations, there happens to be one at Knight’s local stop, providing a constant test of the limits of her ingrained humility. Eventually, when out in London with a group of friends, she was goaded into posing in front of it.
That the posters are advertising 2017’s Women’s Cricket World Cup, which is to be hosted in England for the third time and first in 24 years, says much about the progression of the sport. Next year’s standalone competition, complete with a punchy ad campaign deliberately carried out in the Lord’s Long Room, where women were barred until 1999, is another call to arms that women’s cricket need not be regarded as a sideshow to the men’s.
Could the sport have been so confrontational this time last year? Probably not. An uninspiring Ashes defeat at Canterbury, beamed out on Sky Sports, fuelled the misconceptions of women’s cricket as dull, unskilled work. Even into the new year the manner of England’s World Twenty20 defeat by Australia jarred, as they fell short of their 133 target through an embarrassing middle-order collapse. The occasion and physical toll brought about either hot-headed heaves or nervous prods.
Something had to give and, to the shock of all, Charlotte Edwards’s tenure as captain, along with her 20-year England career, came to an end in May. Mark Robinson, barely six months into his job as head coach, had made one of English cricket’s biggest calls.
Appointed in November 2015, he met half of his squad in a South African airport, as those involved in the first edition of the Women’s Big Bash League flew in from Australia to meet the rest of the squad travelling over from the UK. Now with a year under his belt after a disjointed start, having overseen an emphatic series win against Pakistan, World Cup qualification with victories in West Indies and Sri Lanka, along with the inaugural Kia Super League – together, he and his assistant coach, Alastair Maiden, made sure at least one of them was present at each match – he has a better grasp of the personnel, mechanisms and attitudes of English women’s cricket. Improvement, “even in the last six months”, has been encouraging.
“It’s a bit like being a dad,” Robinson reflects. “You can do all your homework and research but nothing prepares you for a job of this magnitude – in my case, going into a system I wasn’t overly familiar with. But I’m a lot further down the line in terms of knowing what we’re dealing with, what the problems, strengths and opportunities are.”
On the field it was evident that England were not athletic or fit enough. Robinson used the press conference after the World T20 semi-final to point out as much. In his opinion, around half the squad were below the standards needed for international cricket at the time.
“The whole squad have made huge strides,” he says now. “That’s not to say we can’t get any better. But from a World Cup where our fitness got exposed, we played in extreme heat in Colombo and the Caribbean and outran both Sri Lanka and the West Indies. Some of the West Indies players were pulling up with cramp and our girls weren’t. They were able to push for extra runs. In low-scoring games on tough decks, they were game-clinching extras.”
Crucially it was an element the players bought into. One-on-one appraisals resulted in Knight, along with other senior players, agreeing that changes were needed – and they backed up their words by driving the changes themselves. Katherine Brunt, for example, who shares a house Loughborough with a handful of England team-mates, spent many a morning dragging her housemates out of bed to do early morning hill runs in the lead up to the Pakistan series.
If one player summed up this new England side, it was Tammy Beaumont. After years in limbo she seized her chance at the top of the order, scoring 611 ODI and 306 T20i runs in the calendar year (at an average of 55.54 and 30.60 respectively). In the ODI series against Pakistan she became the first Englishwoman to hit back-to-back centuries. The breakdown of the second, 168 at Taunton, quantified the shift in fitness: a GPS monitor worn by Beaumont recorded that she had covered 19km during her innings, which included 1,400m of high-intensity running (over 18km/h).
Lauren Winfield was another to cement her place; so, too, Amy Jones, while Nat Sciver’s clean striking spoke of a renewed sense of confidence within the playing group. Former players, who had felt how cold the atmosphere had become, were struck by the warmth this summer. Even minor tweaks such as incorporating more academy players into the full side’s training sessions have created a sense of camaraderie throughout the set-up and a less elitist feel. Impressive debuts from the left-arm spinners Sophie Ecclestone and Alex Hartley suggested it was a comfortable dressing room to come into and feel welcome. That has not always been the case.
The emergence of new faces led nicely into the KSL. The word on the street was of a fairer crack for county players for higher honours. Bryony Smith (Surrey Stars), Emma Lamb (Lancashire Thunder) and Georgia Adams (Southern Vipers) are an example of three players whose stock rose as a result of the tournament.
As a competition as a whole, it was difficult to judge, not least because it was tricky to follow.
Given the England and Wales Cricket Board’s existing deal with Sky, which, essentially, covers all cricket (including new tournaments) till 2019, TV rights for the KSL were unable to offered to others when it became clear that Sky would not be broadcasting the competition. The BBC provided radio commentary for some but not all matches as they were spread too thin with the England men’s Test series against Pakistan and the knockout stages of the NatWest T20 Blast taking place at the same time. At Haslegrave, homeground of the Loughborough Lightning, no ISDN line meant no broadcasts whatsoever.
There were sentiments that the lack of coverage may be a blessing because it would allow a first run-through, away from critical, unempathetic eyes. A shame, though, because the standard of cricket deserved recognition. The allocation of overseas players based on needs, while frustrating for some teams, led to well-matched, entertaining cricket.
Attendances were modest, culminating in a disappointing 1,353 for the final at Chelmsford, a ground that has established itself as a fortress for the England Women but felt more like an upscaled family barbecue, with friends and families of the three teams taking part – Western Storm, Loughborough Lightning and the eventual winners, Southern Vipers, led by Edwards – accounting for most of that figure. When set alongside the WBBL, the KSL felt watered down.
Still, for a women’s competition starting from scratch, there is enough to suggest the ECB is on to something. There is appetite, too, for a KSL-style 50-over competition.
From the players’ perspective 2017 will be about finding balance. The treadmill of professional cricket is slowly starting to pick up pace in the women’s game and the effects of the grind will be felt in 2017. An element that England have tried to drum into their players is the need to take breaks from the game. Previously women’s international cricket popped up intermittently, allowing players to take large breaks away from the game. Now high-intensity series and tournaments occupy most of the calendar year.
Take Knight’s workload, for instance. From the end of 2015 Knight captained the Hobart Hurricanes in the first WBBL, travelled to South Africa for an ODI series in January, then on to the World T20. After a bit of a break in April preparation began on the series against Pakistan, before the KSL and then further preparation for a tour of the West Indies. Following 10 days back in the UK it was back on the plane, this time to Sri Lanka, before a second stint in the WBBL, which started on 10 December.
Knight and others must seize breaks with both hands when they pop up. They also need to be aware that the packed schedule will have negative effects on their techniques. It did not go unnoticed by Robinson that players lapsed back into bad habits during the KSL.
The Guardian also understands that, should Edwards want to move into coaching, Robinson would be keen to help her develop within the England set-up. The two agreed to speak about any potential opportunity upon Edwards’ return from a winter in Australia, where she is representing South Australia and the WBBL side Adelaide Strikers, while also taking on some coaching responsibilities. The 37-year-old has recently switched counties, ending a 16-year association with Kent to move to Hampshire, where she recently took a position as a non-executive board director.
There will hopefully be a return to action for Sarah Taylor in 2017. In June Taylor stepped away from cricket to battle anxiety. Having undergone Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, she recently took to social media to boast about “kicking anxietys [sic] ass”, posting a video of herself walking through a crowded shopping centre – something she has not been able to do since April.
She is committed to returning to the game and has been training with the full England and academy sides at Loughborough. While England currently do not have a series before the World Cup, they are hoping to organise a tour against international opposition in April, with an intense training camp in Abu Dhabi a likely alternative. Whatever ends up coming through, it is hoped Taylor will be able to make the trip.
Her health, above all else, remains the priority. The ECB wants Taylor to recover at her own pace. For cricket fans, however, the thought of seeing Taylor back playing in an England shirt, in a home World Cup is one worth entertaining. Even with 2017 expected to show further acceleration in the professionalism of women’s cricket, there will still be scope for a fairytale return for one of the game’s most natural talents.
