Women’s Ashes 2015: England soak in 436 dot balls out of 508 legal deliveries

Matthew Mott who is Australia’s coach says that his team will play positive cricket and with loads of optimism for the rest of the series. He adds that even though England are playing very slow and their run-rate is dismal (whatever be their strategy) the Australian women’s team wont buckle down under pressure. He promised that his side will bat positive cricket in Canterbury. At present Australia are dominating the Test with a first innings lead of 106 runs. They had earlier bowled the English out on bleak score of 168 runs. The English soaked 436 dot balls in their innings which had 508 legal deliveries. That means they scored runs on only 72 balls. Their run-rate was a paltry two runs per over. READ: Women’s Ashes 2015: Anya Shrubsole eyes Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry; calls Heather Knight the prankster in team

According to cricket.com.au there were 34 maiden overs bowled which is one of the most maiden overs bowled by any side in an innings in women’s cricket. 11 of these maiden overs were bowled by the young swing sensation Megan Schutt. Prior to the series both the teams had said that they will strive for a result and wont play to force a draw. However, this has not been shown on the ground by the English team. But that is being practical also since England are already trailing 2-1 in the series.

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Mott said that Australian bowlers showed resolve, “England did say they were going to come out and play an aggressive brand of cricket, but sometimes you’ve got to give credit to the bowlers. What we did really well today that we spoke about was use the slope well. Meg Lanning captained the team extremely well. She changed the bowlers around at really good intervals and they did have as many scoring options as we got yesterday. We’re going to go out there and try to push the game out of their reach and play positively in the second innings. With the potential rain around it’s in our best interest to continue to play in that fashion.” ALSO READ: England Women ODI squad for Women’s Ashes 2015 announced

England’s extremely defensive tactics can be judged from the way Anya Shrubsole played. She faced 46 balls without a run and finally got out on a duck on her 47th ball. Mott added, “We did what we spoke about which was make early inroads and put them under pressure,” he said.

“We were fortunate with the partnership that Beamsy and JJ put together. It added a few more runs that England expected. That magnifies the issue (of lower-order runs) when you get a few early ones up top. Initially we bust through and made the breakthroughs then they went in their shell a little bit. You expect teams to do that for a period of time but I don’t think we ever relented which was the key to getting wickets in patches.”

“We found yesterday it is a hard wicket to bat on when you first get out there. It’s about shutting down the board in between those times and when you get an opportunity at a new batsman make them play as much as possible which we did really well,” Mott concluded.