Introducing the Young Guns... Meet England Women's debutants

After Katie George’s whirlwind entry to England colours, JAMES COYNE spoke to two other new names in the squad about the step up to international cricket

James Coyne | 21/03/2018 at 06:34

Mark Robinson has taken a bit of a calculated gamble by picking three debutants in the England women’s squad for India.

But the success of Katie George in a warm-up for the T20 international triangular – she took 4 for 6 against India A, including a hat-trick – suggests the selectors' hunch is already paying dividends. Robinson wants to have back-up options for England’s T20 plans, eight months out from the Women’s World T20, after declared last week that “what we’re doing at the moment in T20 isn’t going to win us a World Cup”.

The selectors’ response was to drop experienced campaigners Lauren Winfield, Laura Marsh and Georgia Elwiss, and bring in George, an 18-year-old left-arm seamer, batsman Bryony Smith, 20 and 23-year-old allrounder Alice Davidson-Richards. George, Davidson-Richards and Freya Davies have all benefited from ECB rookie contracts, a deal first introduced for Beth Langston last winter.

Robinson spoke of the moment he realised George could be an option at international level. It was last summer’s Kia Super League final at Hove, and George, playing for Southern Vipers, was running to bowl at Stafanie Taylor and Sophie Luff of Western Storm.

^{George claimed a hat-trick against India A}

“She was getting it through at good knots,” said Robinson. “The wicket had juiced up a little. And I watched her race in and bowl quick. She travelled, she really did [3-0-34-1], and was probably upset, and then her team lost. So she probably had no idea how much I was enjoying it, to see her bowl quick.

“But live on TV, with 5,000 at Hove. That wasn’t a player shrinking; that was a player having a go. Katie can bowl a reasonable pace, is a very good fielder, and has the potential to bat. So she’s a new Katherine Brunt, without giving her any burden. Potentially she’s an allrounder.”

Smith has played two Super League tournaments for Surrey Stars, opening in the first year. Should she get a chance in the T20s, she will be encouraged to play her natural game. Smith is taking a break from teaching at Nonsuch High School for Girls in Cheam in order to take on India and Australia.

“They’ve been great with giving me time off,” she said. “They’ve allowed me to have time off to come up to Loughborough every week, and have four weeks away [in India]. If you miss two days, you’re trying to catch up on those two days, so it’s a bit of a juggling act.

^{Smith has played two Super League tournaments for Surrey Stars}

“I teach Year 7 through to Year 11. I think a few of them thought I was lying when I told them I was a cricketer, to be honest! When I first joined I think I was wearing some old kit. They googled my name, and some of the Year 7s ran up to me and said ‘Miss, you aren’t lying – you are a cricketer, you’re actually quite good!’

“It is my second year at the school. In my first year I ran a cricket club and we had some good numbers. But this year we’ve had girls coming up saying ‘Miss, can we run a club during the winter, can you link us up with a club? They can see the Super League on TV now, not just international cricket.

“One day I’m sat in front of 30 kids, the next day I’m with 18 international cricketers. But after a few months of training you feel a lot more comfortable.”

Davidson-Richards, who struck a brisk unbeaten 26 in England’s opening warm-up, has been up at Loughborough so much this winter that she has had to cut down her hours as a personal trainer in Kent. She has been on a training camp to Mumbai, which will give her an insight into the conditions.

^{"I’ve sworn at him so many times. He means well!"}

“You can talk to our strength and conditioning coach,” she said of the training at Loughborough.

“We’ve been pushed. I’ve sworn at him so many times. He means well!

“The jump up from academy to England used to be fitness level, but now I think it’s everything. In the academy we’re expected to have a really high fitness level. We’re expected to be just as fit as they are, because how do you make that transition when you get the call up? There’s been a massive push to get fitness levels up in the academy.

“It was a really big step up for me. I worked since I came back from [travelling in] Australia, five days a week as a personal trainer down in Sevenoaks. I still do one day a week then drive up here. It’s really weird. I just sit around in the evenings thinking that I’m meant to be working, because that’s the time a personal trainer would be beginning. Now I’m fairly used to it.

“Fortunately three of us got given rookie contracts to help out with that transition, and that really helped us out.”

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