England’s batting performance against spinners raised alarm bells about their ability to bat against spin bowling, especially with Women’s T20 World Cup happening in Bangladesh next year, a place where slower bowlers majorly call the shots.
“I think it will be a bit of a wake-up call for how we play spin. You can see it on the girls’ faces, whenever you play for England you have a lot of pride in that and are desperate to win the game,” said Tammy to Sky Sports Cricket after the decider game ended.
In the series, England rested key players like Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophia Dunkley, with young left-arm pacer Mahika Gaur and wicketkeeper-batter Bess Heath given maiden call-ups to the side.
“They will certainly be disappointed. Yes, they’ve given people opportunities. Personally, these players will be gutted to have not taken those opportunities and stuck their hand up with what’s to come in the future. The girls will look in the mirror and know they will need to do some work when it comes to playing spin and come back stronger for it,” added Tammy.
She was also appreciative of Sri Lanka’s performance in the series. “Their plans got better each game, they are getting smarter and you can see that having professional contracts is bringing better (performances) out of them. They stuck with spin – which has been England’s weakness.”
England head coach Jon Lewis admitted the team need to improve its batting against spin, but felt giving exposure to younger players was needed too. “Off the back of The Ashes and from what I saw in the World Cup, it is pretty clear that the way we play spin bowling is a big area of development for us and that has been highlighted here.”
“It is brilliant exposure for our players to understand where they are at in their cricketing journey. These are the bits we need to improve. People will watch us play spin and say, ‘this is where we think we can exploit them’ so I am really keen to work with the girls on playing spin and the options they have.”
“There are lots of areas for growth. We will make sure we surround our players with lots of support and coaches and experiences that will help them develop,” he elaborated.
Sri Lanka and England will now meet in a three-match ODI series, starting at Durham from Saturday.
–IANS
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