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2017 Diary

A Ramble on Women's Cricket
 - with diversions -

This diary will be updated erratically throughout the year.

Previous Page  (World Cup 2017)

Jan Brittin Dies

It was with a very heavy heart that I heard of the death of Jan Brittin aged just 58.

[Jan Brittin © Don Miles

Just three years after watching my first women's cricket match I decided that a day at a Test Match starting at Guildford would re-introduce me to the sport. Little did I know that two of the people I would watch that day would be instrumental in my watching hundreds of matches thereafter. The World Cup Final of 1993 played at Lord's had whetted my appetite but it was this match that made me a convert.
Walking out to bat, following New Zealand's first innings of 362/5 declared went Jan Brittin ("JB") at left and a young Charlotte Edwards making her Test Match debut.

[Jan Brittin and Charlotte Edwards] © Carol Salmon

Jan Brittin and Charlotte Edwards open for England -- photo © Carol Salmon
A rather younger me, complete with binoculars, at left, unaware the picture was being taken

Jan made a half century and Charlotte a creditable 34.
I was to watch Jan a number of times after that, both at club and international level. On the field she always seemed cool, composed, and thoughtful. She always acknowledged my presence on the boundary, and encouraged me to keep watching the sport. She was in a class of her own in both skill and courage.
Reading her stats, impressive as they are considering the very small number of games played in her era, will not give you a picture of JB. She was as elegant and complete a batsman as you will ever watch, and dogged in defence and unflappable in any situation. Her courage was limitless.
One of her fellow 1993 World Cup winners summed up JB more accurately and succinctly than I ever could.
"She was great as a player and as a person. So unassuming about her immense ability. [She was] intelligent and always supportive"
A former Indian captain : "I used to adore her... I had the good fortune of playing against her"
On Twitter:
Barbara Daniels "The best I ever played with or against, and a truly lovely person"
Anya Shrubsole "Someone whose skill and passion for the game inspired many including me"
Surrey Cricket, her county, have paid this tribute - and this from the ECB - from CricInfo - from The Guardian - from The Independent
For myself, it is hard to realise we will never meet on a boundary again. I owe her more than I was ever able to tell her.

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A Diversion

 

I have described this blog frequently as a "Ramble with Diversions" - and since we haven't had a diversion for a while, and to distract me from the awful news above this note - here is one.

 

On my way to KSL Finals' Day at Hove a week or two ago I decide to park in a multi-storey nearby. That in itself was something of a diversion as by the time I reached the top open-air level it wasn't just my head that was spinning. Anyway I managed to locate a spot there and went to pay at the machine. In front of me a family with a couple of kids, and patently on their way to the match too, were struggling. I noted their western hemisphere accent and the Canadian flag on one of their number's clothing and they finally managed to pay. They paid using a credit card. Stepping up to the machine, coins in hand, I noted the LCD screen displaying the instructions. It was telling me what to do but not in English. Having passable, but very schoolboy, French I recognised the language and figured what I was supposed to do. During the process, which included typing in my number plate, it continued in that language.

 

This rather intrigued me. I was left with a couple of possible scenarios and would be fascinated to know which might be true. If you can figure this out, please press the 'contact button' on the menu above left and let me know.

 

1. The machine has simply glitched.
2. The couple in front of me were French Canadian and the machine was clever enough to work this out from the credit card they inserted. If this was the case then that might be excellent technology except that it should also be bright enough to know that the next customer probably wouldn't be French or speak it as their main language. At the end of the transaction it should revert to English. Since I wasn't inserting a card, but paying in cash, it happily ploughed on in French.
3. An explanation I haven't thought of...

 

As I departed with my ticket I warned the people next in the queue and should have stopped to see how it went from there. I failed to do so, so the mystery remains.

 

Even telling this rather odd story, can't, I'm afraid, divert me from the news about 'JB'. In fact it reminds me that the last time I had a conversation with her was on the very level at the ground that I spent most of my time photographing on Finals' Day. Visiting Hove will never be quite the same again.

 

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ECB Press Release

 

Ecclestone Included In Ashes Squad

 

England Women announced their squad for the Ashes tour of Australia today with Lancashire’s left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone named as part of the 15.

 

The ICC Women’s World Cup champions depart for Brisbane on October 7, where they’ll attempt to regain the Ashes across a multi-format series that takes in three one-day internationals, a Test match and three T20 internationals. In 2015 in England, Australia ran out 10-6 winners after winning two ODIs, the one-off Test match and one T20I.

 

The inclusion of Ecclestone is the only change from the squad that triumphed in front of a sell-out crowd at Lord’s on July 23. It’ll be the first time that Heather Knight has led her side into an Ashes series.

 

Heather Knight (captain, Berkshire)

Tammy Beaumont (Kent)

Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire)

Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire)

Georgia Elwiss (Sussex)

Jenny Gunn (Warwickshire)

Alex Hartley (Lancashire)

Danielle Hazell (Yorkshire)

Laura Marsh (Kent)

Anya Shrubsole (Somerset)

Nat Sciver (Surrey)

Sarah Taylor (wicketkeeper, Sussex)

Fran Wilson (Middlesex)

Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire)

Danni Wyatt (Sussex)

 

Coach Mark Robinson said: "It's a hugely exciting tour and one we are really looking forward to. Australia on their home soil will be a further test of the progress we have made.

 

“We said before the World Cup that the final at Lord's was never going to be our destination, it was just part of the journey, and that journey continues with this tour.

 

“Sophie Ecclestone has finished school now and has had a great summer domestically. Her selection will provide another option to our attack.”

 

Captain Heather Knight said: “Ashes tours don’t come around all too often so it’s always a special opportunity. Australia are going to be very strong opponents on their home soil so we’ll have to be at our best, across all three formats.

 

“Winning the World Cup was a dream come true but it doesn’t get much bigger than the Ashes. We weren’t able to win in 2015 so I know that the whole group will be intent on regaining the trophy this time round.”

 

October 22

1st ODI

Brisbane - Allan Border Field

00:15 BST

2 points

October 26

2nd ODI

Coffs Harbour

04:40 BST

2 points

October 29

3rd ODI

Coffs Harbour

00:15 GMT

2 points

November 9-12

Only Test (d/n)

Sydney - North Sydney Oval

03:30 GMT

4 points

November 17

1st Twenty20 International

Sydney - North Sydney Oval

08:10 GMT

2 points

November 19

2nd Twenty20 International

Canberra

03:35 GMT

2 points

November 21

3rd Twenty20 International

Canberra

08:10 GMT

2 points

 

 

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