South Africa Women's first Twenty20 against England postponed

South Africa’s first Women's Twenty20 against England has, like the men’s match at Riverside, been called off a day early due to a waterlogged field. The female sides will, weather permitting, have the chance to replay the tie, originally scheduled for this Wednesday at Chesterfield, on Saturday at Northampton.

The rescheduled match will precede the Twenty20 fixture already taking place at the ground on Saturday, providing a double-header.

The team faces a powerful and highly experienced England side in the second Twenty20 (of a series of three) on Friday 22nd August at Northampton.
Although not officially rated as the number one women’s side in the world (as a result of their semi-final loss to Australia in the 2005 World Cup) the England team will approach the encounter with the confidence that comes from being widely recognised as the best team in the world after their recent successful tour of Australia in which they retained The Ashes, then beat New Zealand in a one day series - after drawing a one day series in Australia, and, of course their 4-0 whitewash of South Africa in the one day series.

The England team are far more experienced in all forms of cricket than their South African opponents.

The South Africans have a total of less than fifty Twenty20s among them, mostly against lowly rated opponents. The England squad, by contrast, has hundreds of Twenty20 caps between them, many of them against strong opponents like Australia and New Zealand.

England's head coach Mark Lane recently commented on his squad for the series against South Africa and India this season: "We have made a few changes to the squad, bringing in the very exciting talent of Ebony Rainford-Brent and Anya Shrubsole as well as the ever-reliable Lynsey Askew. These changes mean that we have only one specialist spinner in Holly Colvin, although Charlotte Edwards' leg-spin is more than useful.”

England’s captain Charlotte Edwards is confident England can continue where they left off against the tourists and continue their unbeaten run this year. Edwards said: “It’s great to win another series – it gives us huge confidence going into the NatWest Women’s Series against India and the three Twenty20s which are coming up. It’s a perfect preparation ahead of the ICC Women’s World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 next year. We were disappointed to have the last two games rained off, especially at a lovely ground like Chesterfield. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed for better weather and a good game on Friday when we play the next NatWest women’s International Twenty20.”

Commenting recently on his side’s performance on the tour to date, SA coach Noor Rhode said: “I am happy with our team’s progress. We are slowly closing the gap between the two teams. Although we lost the ODI series, our main objective in coming here has been achieved as we now know that we have to improve in every department to be competitive on the world stage. We look forward to the Twenty20 series with confidence.”

Perhaps the most significant difference between the two teams is the professional status of most of the English players, as against the South Africans who are all amateurs who have to hold down jobs outside cricket to earn a living.

There is simply no substitute for experience in international cricket of any kind, and England’s massive advantage in caps, plus the status of most of their players as paid professionals makes them strong favourites to continue to dominate the series.

Teams:

South Africa from: Cri-Zelda Brits (captain), Claire Terblanche (vice-captain), Olivia Anderson, Susanna Benade, Trisha Chetty (wk), Dinesha Devnarain, Shandre Fritz, Ashlyn Kilowan, Marcia Letsoalo, Sunette Loubser, Analie Minny, Alicia Smith, Magdalena Terblanche, Charlize van der Westhuizen.

**England from:**Charlotte Edwards (captain) Lynsey Askew, Caroline Atkins, Katherine Brunt, Holly Colvin, Lydia Greenway, Isa Guha, Jenny Gunn, Laura Marsh, Beth Morgan, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Nicola Shaw, Anya Shrubsole, Claire Taylor, Sarah Taylor (wk).