Alice Capsey leads charge for much-improved England over New Zealand

Alice Capsey steered England to a comfortable seven-wicket victory to get their preparations for next month’s T20 World Cup off to an impressive start.

Capsey’s unbeaten innings of 74 from 51 helped England overhaul New Zealand’s 136 for seven with 16 balls to spare in the first of six T20s which will act as preparations for their T20 World Cup campaign, which begins on June 12.

The 21-year-old Surrey all-rounder opened the batting in the absence of the usual opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge who is absent due to the imminent birth of her first child. In one of her most fluent T20 innings, on a sticky Derby pitch, Capsey led an excellent chase after an efficient all-round bowling and fielding effort against the world champions.

Capsey believes her game has improved since she had the opportunity to spend time working on her skills, away from the pressures of playing. “That three-month block at the beginning of the year was amazing, just to get some proper skills development, which I’ve probably not had for the last couple of years,” she said.

“I’ve worked on quite a few different areas of my game, I feel really comfortable at the crease, really calm — I think it showed today, I think I was two off eight, and just that composure to know I can catch up and really believe that as well.”

England are sweating on the fitness of the captain Nat Sciver-Brunt for the World Cup after she was ruled out of this three-match series and the next one against India after a scan this week revealed she still needs to recover from a calf tear sustained last month.

In the absence of Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt-Hodge, Maia Bouchier had been brought in, but both she and the regular opener Sophia Dunkley fell cheaply. Capsey, though, hit ten boundaries to seal the win while Freya Kemp’s fluent cameo of 31 from 20 contributed to a fourth-wicket partnership of 64.

After a rain-affected ODI series this month in which England’s fielding was sloppy and the batting lacklustre, this was a much-improved performance.

Lauren Bell set the tone and further demonstrated her credentials as one of the world’s best new-ball bowlers, taking a wicket with the first ball of the match. Another fell in the powerplay when Melie Kerr chipped tamely to Bell off the left-arm spinner Linsey Smith. A third fell four overs later when the opener Izzy Gaze was bowled by Charlie Dean for 12 off 19.

Only the experience and power of Sophie Devine gave New Zealand’s innings any impetus and the 36-year-old, who will retire after the World Cup, took a particular liking to Sophie Ecclestone’s bowling, dispatching three sixes off the left-arm spinner’s first over, motoring to 45 from just 22 balls before being bowled by Dani Gibson.

Eng­land’s bowling remained accurate and they conceded only a further 66 runs from the next 11 overs. Smith was particularly impressive, getting dip and drift, and conceding just ten runs from four overs. The return to bowling for the all-rounder Kemp was more good news for England. She had not bowled since the Ashes in January last year due to a back fracture.

England have not played a T20 match since July last year — the women’s international schedule is the opposite of the men’s, not enough cricket rather than too much, and it will have been a relief to have stepped back into the format with ease. They will face far tougher matches than this one — New Zealand looked concerningly toothless — and the series against India that follows this one will give a clearer indication of exactly where this England team are.

However, the head coach Charlotte Edwards will, rightly, be very pleased with a much-improved fielding effort and a pretty ruthless performance overall. England’s fielding and fitness have come under intense scrutiny in the last 18 months, and when it comes to the World Cup, any weaknesses in those areas will be exposed by the likes of Australia, South Africa and India.

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