Classic series on the cards

Report: Southern Stars win first match

Ding, ding, ding. Round two of the ICC Women’s Championships sees the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars take on the athletic West Indian team.

Even though the West Indies Cricket Board and their men’s team are currently involved in a dispute which has stopped the men touring, Australian cricket fans need not worry as we can still enjoy Caribbean cricket with the West Indian women on our shores again.

It will be the first time in history that the teams will meet outside an ICC World Cup event. During those tournaments, the teams have met in two semi-final clashes in the World T20 and in the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup in India.

Although the Southern Stars have won all matches between the teams other than a One-Day international in 2013, the players know the contest between the two is always a lot closer than the statistics suggest.

Throughout my career, when ever we played against the West Indies since, there was a sense of the unknown. Having spoken to some current players, there still is.

The Windies team possesses some of the biggest hitters in the game, and boasts a deceptive spin attack, which causes the top sides to faulter if they are not on their game that day.

Notwithstanding the ability of the individuals within the team, they are also extremely well led by their coach, Sherwin Campbell. His experience at an International level (52 Tests and 90 ODIs) has developed the West Indian women’s side into a dominant force in world cricket.

The West Indies are currently ranked first on the ladder in the ICC Women’s Championships, after beating New Zealand three-nil in the ODI matches that counted towards to championship.

While the Southern Stars have the same amount of points, they are behind in the net run rate by .355. Therefore, this series should be an exciting exhibition of the skills the modern-day cricketer.

So where will the game be won?

According to Southern Stars all-rounder, Erin Osborne, "the first six overs are pretty crucial, especially for our bowling team. If we are able to come out of that with a few wickets, it will hold us in good stead".

The Southern Stars certainly have the depth and experience to overcome the unpredictable West Indies, but I am looking forward to an exciting series and particularly seeing the all rounders in both teams go head to head ... although maybe I am a little biased having been an all rounder myself.

The current ICC rankings in both the T20 and ODI contain a number of players from both teams in the top 10, but you get a sense that the likes of Stefanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin are the key if the West Indies are to challenge the Stars.

A lot has been said about Dottin and her ability to hit the ball a long way and I can surely attest for that being hit for plenty of sixes by her in my time. I am not so impressed that my former teammates still have a chuckle about my battles with her, but in the end I had the last laugh, picking her wicket up in my last ever match for the green and gold.

Taylor, more compact than Dottin, compiles her innings well, plus has the ability to find the boundary with regularity. The other string to her bow is her off spin deliveries. While not a huge turner of the ball, she will try to keep the batters on their crease and frustrate them into giving their wicket away.

Another key player within the West Indian team is Shanel Daley. A left arm orthodox bowler, Daley is similar to Taylor in that she doesn’t give the ball a huge rip, but uses her angle and slight changes in pace extremely well.

Although her stats may not show this with (she has an average of 21 in ODI cricket), she is handy with the bat and if she teams up with either Taylor and Dottin, she could provide the necessary partnership to challenge the Southern Stars.

From an Australian perspective, Meg Lanning is currently in destructive form (although I am starting to wonder to myself, when isn’t she?!) Lanning will lead the Southern Stars well and I am expecting a lot of runs in this series from our number one batter.

No doubt Australia’s top all-rounder, Ellyse Perry, will impose herself throughout the series also. Given Perry’s current record with the ball against Dottin, and especially Taylor, the use of pace will no doubt feature heavily as a tool that the Southern Stars will turn to in order to remove the dangerous and destructive batters.

It has been well documented that the last 10-12 months, Perry has come into her own, in regards to her batting. Her recent form against the Konica Minolta Queensland Fire and against the West Indies for the Cricket Australia XI, indicates that she will be amongst the runs.

The other strength of the Southern Stars ,which often gets overlooked in commentary about the team, is the depth of their batting stocks.

Osborne, Coyte, Perry and Jonassen (to name just a few) are part of a long list of players that batted at the top of the order in youth cricket - dominating U15, U17 and U19 National Championships with the bat, but once faced with the challenge of being selected in their State’s open team, all were selected for their skills with the ball. 

This means Australia boasts one of the longest batting orders in women’s international cricket and the majority of players being seen as all-rounders in the sense they can provide the team with both skills.

I hope the series lives up to its potential, and delivers us some of the most skilful and exciting cricket matches we have seen in Australia for some time.