A captain’s dream: England’s spin attack produce special start to World Cup
Media release
Linsey Smith’s World Cup debut could not have gone much better with a wicket off her second delivery.
The 30-year-old first made her England debut in 2018 in a T20, but only achieved her first ODI cap in May of this year.
She has since taken her maiden international five-fer and now produced figures of three for seven on World Cup debut to bowl England to a 10-wicket win over South Africa.
“I am really delighted with how we went. To get that start was pretty special,” she said. “Most importantly, we got a big win today.
“Yesterday, Lottie [Charlotte Edwards, England head coach] spoke to me and told me I would be opening the bowling, which I was excited about.
“It is obviously a tough challenge, but conditions were really suiting me today, so luckily I could do well.
“I think I have just been backing myself and not over-complicating it too much. Just keep it pretty simple and try and bowl at the stumps as much as possible, and it came off today.”
Smith was given the honour of opening the bowling alongside fellow World Cup debutant Lauren Bell.
The pair of them cleaned up the Proteas top order, Marizanne Kapp was Smith’s third wicket of the day and saw South Africa slip to 19 for four.
Sophie Ecclestone and Nat Sciver-Brunt then took over, each picking up two wickets before Charlie Dean followed her spin triplets Ecclestone and Smith with the final two wickets of the innings.
For Smith, the ability of England’s spinners, with Sarah Glenn on the bench, is what is pushing them to be greater.
She added: “There is huge talent in the squad and everyone is pushing for places, which is always good.
“We all offer different things, offer different parts of the game, so for us, hopefully, we can keep learning and growing as a unit.”
England have enjoyed a difficult few months since an Ashes whitewash and defeats on home soil to India.
However, captain Sciver-Brunt, taking charge in her first Cricket World Cup, was beaming as England got off to the perfect start.
The all-rounder said: “I’m massively pleased, it just seems like everyone was on it in the field. We had a few first-ball wickets as well, so it was a captain’s dream.
"Linsey just stuck to her strengths. She is a left-arm spinner but can swing the ball, so we knew she was a really good match-up to those two opening batters, who obviously have scored a lot of runs in the lead-up to this tournament, so we knew it was an important partnership to break.
“Sarah Glenn is on the bench as well. We are really blessed that we have got so many talented cricketers in our squad, it is making selection very difficult.”
For her opposite number, South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt, the result in Guwahati must be forgotten about before they take on New Zealand on Monday.
“It is not the way we would have wanted to start the tournament,” she said. “It was not our best work with the bat.
“In saying that, I don’t think we have become a bad batting unit overnight.
“We have found a lot of resilience in the past. There is still a long tournament ahead of us, and we’ll be looking to put this behind us as quickly as we can and move on to the next game.”
ENDS