State of women’s cricket in this country must be questioned after England’s woeful exit

England crashed out of the T20 World Cup after being beaten in dramatic fashion by West Indies
England crashed out of the T20 World Cup after being beaten in dramatic fashion by West Indies - AP/Altaf Qadri

I have loved watching the T20 World Cup in the UAE and was disappointed to see England go out with such a whimper on Tuesday evening against West Indies.

I always want to see England do well, and until that point in the tournament they looked good, and were the best-placed team to challenge the Australian juggernaut. But it was a really worrying performance that raises a lot of questions about the state of women’s cricket in England.

There are times you can understand and accept a defeat in a major tournament, which are cut-throat events. If England had got to the final and lost to Australia, we would be lamenting a missed opportunity but could accept it.

But this was a defeat to a side they had beaten 13 times in a row, dropping a series of absolute sitters in the field, and struggling for tactical direction and focus. That is not acceptable for a well-resourced professional cricket team. They had one bad night and it cost them dear, but ultimately they failed to get out of a group that did not feature either Australia or India, their two biggest rivals. They have not won a world event or the Ashes since 2017 and have failed to reach the knockout stages of a T20 World Cup for the first time since 2010.

I am loath to compare too much with the men’s game because the two are at different stages in their maturation, but a performance like that would trigger a major post-mortem on the men’s side. Matthew Mott lost his job after a limp England title defence at the T20 World Cup this year. I am not saying jobs should be on the line and heads must roll, but in a professional set-up it cannot be ruled out.

Women’s game evolving quickly

From the outside, things look quite cosy in the women’s set-up. Heather Knight, whose injury was a real blow to England, and the director of cricket, Jonathan Finch, have been in their jobs for a long time, while Jon Lewis appears to have made positive changes as head coach. However it is not showing when it matters most. I would be surprised if there is change now, because the Ashes Down Under are only three months away. That looks an even bigger challenge now, against one of the greatest sports teams of all time. Change could follow that series.

In England, the women’s game has come on so much in the past five years. With the Hundred and the new domestic structure next year you would say it is evolving as fast here as anywhere except perhaps India, who have the highly lucrative Women’s Premier League now. Both countries are chasing Australia.

England’s women are rightly paid the same match fees as the men now, and receive the equivalent resources and benefits. For instance, they had a long camp in Abu Dhabi before this World Cup that I am sure many of their rivals could only dream of. With that professionalism comes an increased level of expectation and scrutiny and I am not convinced every member of the squad has fully grasped that.

England succumbed in the face of relentless hitting from the West Indies batters, who won by six wickets with 12 balls to spare
England succumbed in the face of relentless hitting from the West Indies batters, who won by six wickets with 12 balls to spare - AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

I follow most of the players on social media and it looked like they had great fun at the World Cup, and enjoyed the sights of Dubai. I do not mind players having fun on tour, of course. Cricketers always have, and you need to get away from the game and relax. But maybe some could be a bit smarter in the way they use social media, remembering what they are there to do.

Important lessons should be learnt

In the West Indies game, they did not look like a side prepared for the challenge. When it came to the basics of the game, they were well behind West Indies. The standard of fielding across the tournament has been surprisingly poor. I do not know whether that is down to the floodlights, but England in that game were as bad as any team. They were not dropping tough catches. It looked to me like both a technique and training issue, as well as a mentality issue. They froze on the big stage. To field so badly in a must-win game shows you are fearful and worried under pressure. Perhaps it is no coincidence that they froze when Knight was off the field, because she is a good leader.

I heard Alex Hartley question the England players’ fitness on the radio. I listen to Alex on the women’s game because she has seen it all. Everyone is built uniquely, and cricket does cater for different shapes and sizes, which is one of its strengths. But as a team, fitness is a great way to drive the culture and sets the tone for a lot of what follows. Just look at Ben Stokes. He has his fun off the field but drives standards on it.

It frustrated me to hear Lewis and Knight talking about how close and committed the team are after the defeat. That should be an absolute non-negotiable. Rare is the England team who are not doing absolutely everything for the badge.

I hope these issues are addressed by England immediately, because the noise and scrutiny around the team are only going to rise the further into the professional era we get. It will hurt, but there is no time like in the aftermath of a painful defeat to learn important lessons.


Knight defends England team after World Cup exit

Knight has insisted she wants to continue as England captain and that her team does not have a “pressure problem” after they were knocked out in the group stage of the T20 World Cup.

It was the first time since 2010 that England had failed to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup after they were beaten by a West Indies side they had defeated in their 13 previous fixtures.

England won the 50-over World Cup in 2017 under Knight, but have not won any of the six major tournaments since.

Asked whether she wished to continue in the job after eight years as captain, she said: “Definitely.”

Despite winning their first three matches of the tournament, England had still required victory in their final group stage game, before a series of dropped catches allowed West Indies off the hook as they made small work of England’s total of 141.

It is the third major tournament in a row that England have lost in dramatic fashion from either a winning position or against a theoretically weaker opponent, prompting concerns that the team struggles in knockout cricket.

Telegraph Sport analyses England’s key problems and looks at where they should go from here.

After crashing out of the World Cup, Heather Knight insisted she wanted to keep her England captaincy
After crashing out of the World Cup, Heather Knight insisted she wants to keep her England captaincy - Getty Images/Alex Davidson-ICC

Trait of losing high-pressure matches

Ahead of the tournament, head coach Lewis had identified dealing with pressure moments as the key takeaway from the 2023 World Cup, only for England to succumb to West Indies as soon as they were put on the back foot.

“I don’t think it’s a pressure problem so to speak,” said Knight. “I think it’s something we’ve looked to be better at for sure. I think we do have quite a lot of young players, which is forgotten sometimes, and they’re still finding ways to deal with different pressures.

“Obviously last night was pretty brutal…and it’s something that myself and Jon have talked about pretty openly about wanting to be better at communicating under pressure and how to grow more leaders in the group.”

After the match yesterday, Lewis was critical of his side’s response to facing early pressure in the field.

“It’s not a reaction you want as a coach when you’re on the sidelines,” he said. “You could see a lot of the players starting to drift off, especially in their energy and the tempo we like to play at.”

Poor in the field

England had the second worst catch completion rate in the tournament, taking just 41 per cent of their chances. On Tuesday night, they dropped West Indies opener Qiana Joseph five times across her match-winning innings of 52.

Dubai Stadium is famous for its “ring of fire” style floodlights, with some players commenting that they make it more difficult to pick up the ball during night matches.

On whether the floodlights played a role in England’s poor catching, Knight said: “I’ve played at that ground before and it can be a little bit hard to field, but I’m not entirely sure. Sometimes when one goes down it can become contagious.

“It is not where we want to be and not where we should be. We’ve got some outstanding fielders in this group… Unfortunately it wasn’t a performance that’s representative of who we are as a team and how we want to play.”

Jon Lewis criticised his team for 'drifting off' after facing early pressure in the field
Jon Lewis criticised his team for ‘drifting off’ after facing early pressure in the field - Getty Images/Alex Davidson-ICC

Are Knight and Lewis the right people for the job?

Both Knight and Lewis are keen to continue and there have not been discussions over the past 24 hours about the status of their jobs.

They are well respected within the set-up and are considered forces for good. While it is seven years since Knight’s England won a trophy, her value was displayed by her absence in the field on Tuesday.

“I suppose it showed how much we missed her with her not being out there,” Lewis said. “Because I think she might well have been able to help the bowlers in particular a little bit more than Nat [Sciver-Brunt] was able to in that situation.”

On whether she remained the right person for the job, Knight said: “Definitely. I’m still really enjoying it, I feel like I’m contributing massively to this team and still trying to help it grow. That’s something for you guys to discuss rather than me.”

Will there be changes to the team?

It is unlikely that there will be sweeping changes following this defeat, with Knight keen to stress that a one-off loss should not define a group that until this point had enjoyed a highly successful year.

“It’s obviously really frustrating and there’s a hell of a lot of things we can do better,” Knight said. “But I guess looking at how we’ve performed as a whole, I think we’ve got the right people in place.

“I think it’s really important as individuals that we learn from what’s gone on and find ways to better deal with different things and being in pressure situations and managing our emotions and things like that when we’re under the pump…But I think we’ve got a huge amount of talent in this group.”

On the criticisms that the group is not fit enough, Knight said: “I don’t think it’s a reason we lost yesterday because of our fitness levels. I think we’ve got some brilliant athletes.”