International Cricket in the South West Women's ODI
By Grockle
June 7 2025
Grey and dull at Taunton on the big day for women members especially as England host the West Indies for an ODI on a Saturday in June - who would have thought the weather would have vacated the summer and left us with the possibility of rain if not thinder storms!! England have won the toss and have elected to bowl first. There are 3 changes for England and 2 for the visitors (who must be finding a 'summer' in England "challenging")
England Women v West Indies ODI 3 @ Taunton Saturday 7 June 2025
It's 10:30 in the morning and the lights are on for this lovely June day!! The covers are sort of on, though the groundstaff are loitering suggesting they hope to start on time.
England won the toss and have put the West Indians in to bat. Amy Jones was awarded her 100th ODI cap by Kate Cross before the game The team is;
Amy Jones (w), Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver-Brunt (c), Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Alice Davidson-Richards, Em Arlott, Charlie Dean, Kate Cross, Sarah Glenn, Lauren Filer
As this is the effective 'dead rubber' of this series, England are resting, Beaumont, Bell and Smith for this one
The West Indians have gone with;
Qiana Joseph, Realeanna Grimmon, Zaida James, Stafanie Taylor, Shemaine Campbelle (c w) Shabika Gajnabi, Jannillea Glasgow, Aaliyah Alleyne, Jahzara Claxton, Karishma Ramharack, shmini Munisar (taking me back to taking the register in Saltus Grammar School in Bermuda - the names are wonderful!!)
Despite Heather Knight being the front picture of this report, she will not play on her home ground today. Her team mate Charlie Dean does along with ex West country star Lauren Filer who left for Durham before the season started.
As 11:00 arrives the weather is suggesting that we may not be out for long. The umpires come out and immediately take a light reading but the sides are out and the game will start on time with a fairly decent mattering of fans in the seats.
Grimmond and Joseph open against Cross from the River end. The second ball shapes away to Grimmond, she has a waft and is on her way without scoring. A shame because she played really well in her debut last game but will be watching the first half of the game from the dressing room. In comes James and the Windies are 1 for 1 after 1.
Arlott takes the first from the MT. After a fairly decent LBW shout from her third (probably going over) she produces a slower ball that James misjudges and she is skittled through the gate without scoring also. Windies are 2 for 2 in 2. The next bat to the crease is Taylor and in the third over from Arlott she is squeezed and the voices go up for LBW. Taylor reviews but the DRS says it was pad first (she was well forward) and it is umpires call so she is on her way and it is 4 for 3 in the third with Taylor out for 1. Arlott is 5 for 2 from her 2. Cross at the other end is 1 for 3 from hers.
Campbelle comes out to partner her skipper and produces the first real class scoring shot with a straight drive to the boundary back past the bowler for four. Joseph follows suit with a =glance to the same boundary to finish the 5th at 12.
The three replacements for England are Charlie Dean, Em Arlott and Sarah Glenn
A little loose bowling by Em Arlott in hber next lets the bats off the hook a little as Campbelle takes consecutive fours from the start of the 6th and they finish it on 21 for 3.
Lauren Filer replaces Arlott at the MT for the 10th and the score moves n to 38 for 3 with Campbelle on 15 and Joseph starting to move on 20. Charlie Dean takes over at the other end and goes for 2 in her first. Filer has the Windies captain in a bit of trouble in her first spell but she survives a couple of mistimed scares however the bowler is showing why she was such a loss to the West Country.
Then the light reading comes back to haunt us as the teams go off at 43 for 3 halfway through the 13th at 43 for 3. Then the rain comes down and the sheets start to appear. With 10 overs com[pleted for England the possibilities of a result are still there if the game is reduced. It's a shame for the fans presently but they are at least 17 balls inside the full refund line if there is no more play for the day. England really have not beenlucky wit the weather in the West Country!!
At 2:35 the umpires come out to have a look. It is certainly brighter but they all have umbrellas up so it is unlikely that the rain has ended yet. It also is lighter but still there. All the rain sheets are on the playing area so even if they decided play could start, there would be 45 minutes to an hour before it could actually start. It IS still raining so this might be a discussion about whether the game will continue at all.
If there is no more rain there will be a pitch inspection at 3:10 so there may be cricket before 4pm... as long as the rain stays away. At the appointed time, the umpires come out, still sporting their umbrellas to have a chat about the conditions. The 'Super Soaker' is not presently looking to clear the sheets of rain, though it does start now, suggesting there may be some possibilities. Unfortunately, not all the officials are gong back inside which also suggests a confident decision to start has been reached. There will be a further inspection at 15:40 though it is still raining.
The question now is what kind of 'meaningful' game can exist starting at somewhere like 4pm? The series is already won so will there be some kind of co-operatin to get someting competitive played or will we follow the usual ECB regs that mean nothing really achievable comes to pass? Can't say past experience suggests anything significant will happen.
Another inspection at 3:40 decides that IF there is no more rain, the game will continue at 5pm. What structure the game will take is yet to be decided. At 5 pm the game resumes as a 21 over a side contest and Campbelle is stumped by Jones off Dean from the very first ball of the restart. Gajnabi and Glasgow do not really put up much more resistance and only Alleyne with 27 helps Joseph (34) set any kind of target.
After 21 overs West Indies have pushed to score to 106 for 8 with the skipper top scoring and Glenn taking 3 for 21 at the end of the innings.
England open with Dunkley and Sciver-Brunt and they push along at 7 an over in the first 4 racking up 30 for no loss by the end of the 4th. They move that up to 8 an over with 40 at the end of the 5th. Sophia Dunkley taking the 'lioness' share of the runs with 26 from 21 while Nat Sciver-Brunt is supporting with 9 from 10. However, that is all Dunkley contributes as she is LBW to Ramharack at the start of the 6th at 40 for 1 with Alice Capsey taking her place in the middle.
The new pair push the score over halfway to the target at the start of the 7th by passing 50. West Indies have already used 4 bowlers with James, Glasgow, Claxton and Ramharack all having 2 overs. Only the last one has yet to see some success and by the end of the 8th England have moved to 65 for 1 with Capsey pushing on during the 8th as she doubles her score to 14.#
It's a pretty professional job the two experienced bats are doing. They need do very little to reach the score after ripping the front 5 out of the Windies batting line-up for very little. At the 10 over point the England pair have moved within touching distance of the victory with 94 - 12 away from the win. The only real question is whether Nat Sciver-Brunt can reach 50 before the 106 is passed. She manages it with a four from the 4th ball of the 11th. 53 from 32 balls with 8 fours and a 9th wins the game moving her score to 57 not out while Capsey added 20 from 11. A 9 wicket tthrashing to be honest despite the D/L total. England cleared it with just less than half the overs allocated left. People were hoping to see a resurgent west Indies in this series but they really haven't been the level of oppositiojn that was hoped for.
But you can only beat what is in front of you and England have certainly done that. Sad for the West Country fans that the game had a 5 hour gap in it but to be honest, had the sun been belting down it is pretty doubtful that the game would have been much longer. It might have been over by 3 in the afternoon with a first innings of about 25 overs and 15 to clear the score.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:06:08:10:17:45 by Grockle.
They are not very lucky with the weather for their trips down to Taunton and this one has started on time but may not be going very long before they are off for some kind of weather. If they can get through the lunchtime predictions they may be more lucky but it is not looking hopeful.
However, Windies are in first and were 1 for 1 from 1 and 2 for 2 from 2 so England may not need all that long unless there is some spirited resistance from the Ladies from the Caribbean early on.
