Shrubsole, Ismail and Kapp conduct “pace clinic” in St.Lucia

Both matches followed a similar pattern with the lower-ranked team struggling to come to terms with the conditions while batting, bouncing back hard with the ball, but failing to close out the game.

Here are a few talking points from day four of the tournament:

1. Pacer paradise

In stark contrast to the rather slow, low pitches in Guyana, the surface in St Lucia provided a lot encouragement to the fast bowlers. A healthy covering of grass, aided by the moisture in the pitch, thanks to the rain, meant the pacers found some lateral movement both in the air and off the surface.

Anya Shrubsole, England’s right-arm seamer, kicked off proceedings when she dismissed Shamima Sultana in the third over with her trademark big, booming in-swinger. Through her three-over spell with the new ball, Shrubsole hit good areas, generated a lot of movement and got the ball to kick off a length. The Bangladesh batters got into a tangle against her, getting hit on the glove and elbows a few times.

Later, it was South Africa’s pace duo of Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail who put on a “pace clinic” and had Sri Lanka trouble. Kapp moved the ball both ways, beating Yasoda Mendis on both the outside and inside edges, before she trapped Chamari Athapaththu, the Sri Lankan skipper plumb in front with a lethal in-swinger. Ismail, on the other hand, was bowling a hard length, pushing the batters on the back foot with her pace, which sometimes touched 120 kmph, and then pitching it up and getting it to swing— she shattered Mendis’s stumps after the latter was pinned on the crease. Arguably they best new-ball pairing in the world, they finished with combined figures of 8-0-23-4 and were backed up well by Masabata Klass, Moseline Daniels and Tumi Sekhukhune who took a wicket each.

The Sri Lankan pacers too, did a wonderful job with the new ball. Udeshika Prabodhini, the slight left-arm seamer, got the ball to swing prodigiously all through her four overs. She encouraged the batters to drive, constantly honing in on the stumps. Prabodhani had Laura Wolvaardt bowled in her first over— the teenager playing all around a very full, swinging delivery— before she almost dismissed Kapp as well. Sripali Weerakkody, who shared the new ball with Prabodhani, dismissed the dangerous Lizelle Lee with her very first delivery. Coming wide of the stumps, and falling away slightly at the point of delivery, the right-arm seamer gpt the ball to hold its line and sometimes nip away, surprising the South African batters.

 

2. The day of the debutants

Katie Gordon recorded England’s second-best bowling figures on T20I debut with 3 for 16 against Bangladesh. The left-arm spinner, one of England’s three debutantss— Linsey Smith and Sophia Dunkley the other two— bowled with good control, keeping the Bangladesh batters quiet, forcing them to reach for the ball and create all the power on their own. With an orthodox action and high-arm release, she is a good prospect for England— someone who has control of her variations and more importantly, of her nerves as well.

“If you’ve bowled to people like Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt, week in week out – and we’ve also had experience of bowling to people like Suzie Bates and Smriti Mandhana – so when you come to these big competitions, you know you’ve done it before, and you know you can bowl at these people,” Gordon had said before the game.

 

3. Batting collapses

On Monday, both Bangladesh (76 for 9) and Sri Lanka (99 for 8) struggled with the bat, scoring frantically in their last few overs to inject some momentum into their innings. Their top-order batters played with a very similar approach— unsure of whether to attack or just survive, they got stuck at one end. Ayasha Rahman’s 52-ball 39 for Bangladesh, although was attractive, underlined that confusion. Through a large part of her knock, Rahman struggled to rotate the strike, but when she chose to go big, the right-hander planted her front foot straight down the pitch and cleanly swung to the leg side.

Just as they had done against Windies, Bangladesh collapsed in a heap— three of their top four dismissed without scoring. While England bowled well, Bangladesh’s lack of application and intent to score, except for Rumana Ahmed and Jahanara Alam, was troubling.

Sri Lanka too suffered from the same problem— the top order unable to score freely and then folding without a fight.

Both chasing teams suffered mini-collapses at the top of the order, and it was the calm head of an allrounder that pulled them out of the hole.

All through the course of the day, the batters struggled to get a measure of the pitch— they often found themselves feeling for the swinging ball, or lunging for deliveries that were not in their reach.

 

4. Subcontinent spinners

It is well known that subcontinent teams often come well stocked with a variety of high-quality spinners. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were no different.

Salma Khatun, the Bangladesh captain, took the new ball and struck immediately, dismissing Danielle Wyatt with her first delivery. Her opening burst produced two wickets and gave Bangladesh a ray of hope. The offspinner gave the ball a lot of air, drawing the England batters on to the front foot, and used her arm-ball as a change up. She was up and about, determined to lead by example, and her fiery attitude rubbed off on the rest of her team. Ahmed and Khadija Tul Kubra also proved to be tricky. The lack of pace in their deliveries caused England to mistime the ball more often than not.It is a lesson other teams can learn from.

Defending 100, Sri Lanka too relied heavily on their spinners. While the pace bowlers did well to reduce South Africa to 6 for 2 in the second over, the spinners were expected to change the game. Shashikala Siriwardene, bowled at a tantalising pace, varying her release point to keep the batters guessing. She conceded 12 runs in her four overs, picking up the wicket of Kapp, but none of the other spinners in her team exhibited the same control.

 

5. Calm allrounders to the rescue

Calming allrounders played big roles in both the chases. For England, Natalie Sciver’s entry helped to compose Amy Jones, who until then seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. The allrounder immediately struck a couple of boundaries to help settle the nerves, and put England back in front. Her presence seemed to give confidence to Jones who played some delightful shots as she anchored England’s chase.

With South Africa two down, van Niekerk and Kapp joined, becoming the first married couple to bat together in an international match. Two of the most competitive characters in the team, the pair, rotated the strike and deflected the pressure on to Sri Lanka. Kapp, in particular, looked solid from the very start. She was lucky to survive against Prabodhani, but the allrounder put that hiccup behind her and continued on her merry way. She chose the right moments to attack, making sure South Africa were always ahead of the dreaded DLS score.

 

6. The curious case of Manodara and Khatun

Both Dilani Manodara and Salma Khatun are the fourth highest run-getters in T20Is for their respective teams. They are busy players, close to being the best or most effective batters in their teams, but in the recent past, both have ben languishing at the bottom of the order.

Khatun, who has batted as high as No.3 for Bangladesh, is one of their more technically efficient and solid players. In the 2016 World T20 in India, the Bangladesh skipper batted at No. 5, even scoring an unbeaten 30-ball 32 against England. She used her feet well against the spin, hit straight against pace and generally looked a cut above the rest of her teammates. Even as Bangladesh collapsed in a heap against Windies in the opening match of this tournament, Khatun looked solid against Dottin. She confidently got behind the ball, tried to get on top of the bounce and nudge it into the gaps. With Bangladesh batters struggling to both survive and score runs, it may be a good idea to move Khatun up the order— after all, sometimes form with the ball, translates to confidence with the bat.

Manodara too, is on the same boat. One of Sri Lanka’s more busy and inventive players, the wicketkeeper batter has been shunted up and down the order between No.3 to No.10, and most recently batted at No. 8 against South Africa. The right-hander, who likes to sweep, scoop and cut, is a wonderful player of spin. On Monday, she showed how unorthodox and effective she could be with a quick-fire 20.