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Before travelling to Dubai for their pivotal final group match of this T20 World Cup against the West Indies on Tuesday, England put their speed and spin combinations to the test with devastating results.
The captain of England, Heather Knight, stated before Sunday’s 10-wicket thumping of Scotland that although their team had benefited greatly from an excellent attack featuring four frontline spinners, seam had been efficient at both sites.
Throughout the competition, seam bowling has shown to be more successful than spin, as seam bowlers have claimed wickets at a rate of two balls less and three runs less than spinners.
As a result, Lauren Bell replaced Linsey Smith, who was exceptional with the ball in England’s opening victory over Bangladesh. Bell’s team shared the wickets 3–3 between seam and spin, taking 1 for 16 from her four overs.
With two wickets for thirteen, Sophie Ecclestone, Smith’s fellow left-arm spinner, was the only other player to take multiple wickets. Charlie Dean, an offspinner, and seamers Dani Gibson and Nat Sciver-Brunt each contributed one wicket.
To test their notion, it was the ideal match. Despite a courageous showing against Bangladesh in the tournament opener, Scotland had found it difficult to mount a challenge in their previous three games.
Scotland had a decent start to the tournament, managing to survive a scant powerplay and achieving their highest score of 109 for 6, but they were unable to gain momentum as England’s bowlers held them.
On a slow and low Sharjah surface, Smith’s low trajectory had proven especially problematic for opposing hitters, and facing South Africa with two left-arm spinners was a strong match-up. But the facts backed England’s shift as the field appeared to be getting more favourable for seaming.
To the satisfaction of teammate Maia Bouchier, Bell had worked with fast bowling coach Matt Mason during the English summer to revamp her action while playing series against Pakistan and New Zealand. Now, after missing the first two games of this World Cup, it was her turn.
“We’ve seen so many improvements from her,” Bouchier said. “She’s worked really hard on her outswing as well, changing her action completely really. She’s put a lot of time and effort and spoken with Lewy (head coach Jon Lewis) and Mase about what she can do to be better and she’s actually taken that on herself, which has been really cool to see.
“Working on all these variations, which are really key in these conditions, it’s so important that she’s doing it and lots of the other girls are doing it as well, but she’s put in a really good performance today.”