The Shorter Wisden 2013 (69 page)

Carter, now 37 and still hoping for a final fling with Scotland, had come painfully close to signing off as a hero. And yet, a few balls into the match, he was looking dangerously like a
sympathy pick, as his gentle swingers were swatted away by batsmen eager to advance on a slow track. Warwickshire’s two spinners stemmed the flow, inadvertently helped by McKenzie who, after
a fortnight back home in South Africa, dawdled for 36 balls over 19. Ervine and Katich cut loose in the closing overs, but Warwickshire, conspicuously ragged in the field, were content to chase
245.

The match, as so often when graced by a player of such obvious supremacy, appeared to rest with Bell. He did not open – as he had been doing so successfully for England’s one-day
team – but instead appeared at 53 for one. By the 26th over, Bell had advanced that to 137 for two, and the options for Adams – who had earlier held Hampshire together – were
dwindling fast. His first-choice spinner, Danny Briggs, was away at the World Twenty20, and Dawson was already bowled out. Wood pleaded with his captain to return to the attack, and with his second
ball unleashed a rising leg-cutter which was top-edged by Ambrose, playing the day after he went public with his battle against depression; Bates, by now standing up to everyone bar Griffiths,
clung on.

When Clarke was bowled by Wood to make it 193 for five, Bell knew it really was up to him. Reading the length masterfully, he converted four of his next six deliveries into boundaries. But when
Griffiths served up a full toss on his pads, this most feline of players caressed when he should have clobbered – and the ball flew to Carberry, the best fielder in English cricket, waiting
in the shade beneath the Mound Stand. Warwickshire still needed 27. And without Bell, that was one too many.

Man of the Match:
J. H. K. Adams.
Attendance:
17,808.

Carter 8–0–63–1; Woakes 8–0–59–1; Blackwell 8–0–42–1; Wright 3–0–14–1; Patel 8–0–32–0;
Maddy 5–0–31–1.

Dawson 8–0–39–1; Kabir Ali 8–0–50–1; Wood 8–0–39–3; Ervine 6–0–46–1; Griffiths
8–0–43–1; Katich 2–0–20–0.

Umpires: R. K. Illingworth and N. A. Mallender. Third umpire: J. H. Evans.

WOMEN’S CRICKET, 2012

Proof of the subtle, but palpable, transformation in the standing of women’s cricket came when England’s Sarah Taylor walked out to face Stafanie Taylor of West
Indies in the penultimate Twenty20 international of the summer at Hove. Sarah made a typically inventive 43 before Stafanie stopped her in her tracks but, as they were sparring out on the field, an
email dropped, announcing the two Taylors had cleaned up the women’s one-day and Twenty20 Player of the Year prizes at the ICC awards in Colombo – the first time women had been
recognised in both limited-overs formats. Stafanie, who collected the 50-over award, had also been the sole woman among nine longlisted for the ICC Cricketer of the Year.

But no one was disputing it was Sarah’s summer. Still only 23, she dominated the English international season, scoring 510 runs at 36; her Twenty20 strike-rate was a phenomenal 127.
Taylor’s almost unique ability was to waltz down and loft the ball over mid-off, or inside out through extra cover; if a female batsman has an aggressive go-to shot, it tends to be over
mid-on or across the line. The one area she really needed to work on was the sweep.

“Hopefully in a few years we won’t need to say this about women players, but Sarah bats like a man,” said Clare Connor, the ECB head of women’s cricket, who had watched
Taylor’s development from a teenager at Brighton College. It was this uncommon power and placement that encouraged Mark Lane, the England head coach, to explore the idea of Taylor trying her
hand at men’s Second Eleven cricket with Sussex in 2013. The news, via an in-depth interview with
The Guardian
ahead of the Women’s World Cup, caused a minor media frenzy,
though it was not immediately obvious which format she might be best suited to.

In November 2011, the ECB had introduced incentivised appearance fees for the women – which rewarded the players three times as much for every match won. By a cute coincidence, England
went through the 2011-12 winter unbeaten, then won 12 of 15 matches over the summer. Remarkably, given the bad weather around, all their international fixtures were played to a result.

India were the senior touring side, and gave England a real fright in the one-day series. Since playing the last of their Tests in 2006, India have preferred 50-over cricket, even if their
tactics seemed to revolve around letting Mithali Raj bat for long enough to make up for lazy running and errors in the field. Raj, a classically trained Bharatanatyam dancer, had rarely shown the
same twinkle-toed nimbleness at the crease, but her powers of occupation were undiminished in her 14th year of international cricket. She was needed more than ever, after Anjum Chopra, the previous
captain, was dropped following two series defeats in the West Indies. India’s women could be forgiven for feeling the IPL riches had yet to trickle down to them. In March, the BCCI made
one-off payments, totalling $13m, to 16 former men’s players as retrospective reward for staying loyal in the poor old days of Indian cricket; Raj implored them to extend the generosity to
women too.

Raj’s unbeaten 94 led India to a first win at Lord’s, in the last over; but the flipside of the strategy was seen at Taunton, where she ground out an unbeaten 92 from 138 balls, and
India made an inadequate 173 for five. She scored 58 at Truro, where England came close to surrendering the series, but Jenny Gunn rescued them, and they went on to win the decider at Wormsley.

Pakistan arrived in September – from Dublin, where they had beaten Bangladesh and Ireland in two triangular tournaments – for several Twenty20 matches at the ECB Academy, including
their first bilateral series against England. Lane was pleasantly surprised by the physical and technical improvements they had made since the Pakistan Cricket Board introduced central contracts in
2011. But they were still no match for England.

For the first time since their 1979 tour, West Indies were awarded a lengthy international series against England, as preparation for the World Twenty20 later in September. Under their coach,
the former Test opener Sherwin Campbell, West Indies had penetrated the top bracket of women’s teams, but their overreliance on a few players was exposed by England’s all-round
professionalism. Stafanie Taylor’s arrival from Jamaica was delayed as she completed forensic science exams, and the hard-hitting Deandra Dottin came off only in the last game, when she
exploded with a barrage of 80-metre sixes at Arundel to end England’s 19-match winning streak (excluding one no-result and one abandonment) in Twenty20 internationals.

CRICKET IN IRELAND, 2012

I
AN
C
ALLENDER

It was ultimately a year of frustration for Ireland, who confirmed their status as the leading Associate team but made no impression on the Full Member countries. In a bid to
change that, Cricket Ireland produced a new Strategic Plan, with the aim of becoming a Test nation by 2020.

As part of the preparation, the inter-provincial championship returns in 2013 after eight years, and a first-class structure – a requirement of Full Membership – is projected for
2015. The ICC’s new Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme, which assigned Ireland an extra $1.5m until then, should help. Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands also began discussions
about a European 50-over and Twenty20 League – which may also include Denmark and the Channel Islands.

Across all formats Ireland played 33 matches in 2012 – a further five did not get started – and two-thirds of them were 20-over games. A ten-match winning streak in the World
Twenty20 Qualifier took Ireland to their fifth successive global event. In Sri Lanka in September, they lost to Australia, then went out when their second group game, against eventual champions
West Indies, was rained off at the halfway stage.

The weather was a constant spoilsport, with the game against Australia at Stormont abandoned after 10.4 overs. The other supposed highlight, a tour by South Africa A, was so badly affected that
they went home a week early. Ireland lost 3–0 in a home Twenty20 series against Bangladesh, but beat them in the warm-ups for the World Twenty20 in Colombo, where they also upset
Zimbabwe.

Qualification hopes for the 50-over World Cup in 2015 remained high, despite a shock defeat to Kenya. With 13 points out of a possible 16, and six matches remaining Ireland expected to confirm
their place in Australasia without the need of the qualification tournament early in 2014.

But they can no longer call on seam bowler Boyd Rankin who, under pressure from Warwickshire coach Ashley Giles (also an England selector), announced he would no longer be available for Ireland
after the World Twenty20. At the age of 28, and following 82 matches and 112 wickets for his country, he will be a big loss. There is no sign of an immediate replacement, despite recalls for Peter
Connell and Andrew Britton, and a debut for Max Sorensen, a 26-year-old South African who plays for The Hills in Dublin.

Sorensen, who took 31 wickets, was one of five debutants in 2012. The others were John Anderson, an Australian-born batsman who also bowls leg-spin; Stuart Thompson, 20, an all-rounder from
Limavady who followed his father Nigel into the Ireland side; Belfast batsman James Shannon; and Tim Murtagh, the Middlesex seamer who qualified through Irish grandparents.

Ireland’s year started in Mombasa, where they beat Kenya inside two days in a supposedly four-day Intercontinental Cup match. Only ten runs separated the teams after a match aggregate of
just 444; spinners Albert van der Merwe and George Dockrell took all the Kenyan wickets. Ireland struggled in the first of two 50-over World Cricket League games, which Kenya won comfortably, but
revenge was swift: Ed Joyce scored 88, and Kenya were rolled for 120. Ireland won all three Twenty20 matches (the last by two runs as they defended 107) to send them to Dubai for the qualifying
tournament in good heart.

Niall O’Brien missed the Kenya trip to play in the Bangladesh Premier League, in breach of his national contract. His punishment was to be left out of the Dubai trip, where Ireland made
their customary slow start, losing to surprise packages Namibia. But an emphatic ten-wicket victory over Kenya put them back on track, and their only scare en route to the final was against Italy
when, chasing 100, they lost eight wickets before scraping home with two balls to spare. The final highlighted everything good about Associate cricket. Afghanistan made 152 for seven but, despite
losing captain William Porterfield first ball, Ireland got home by five wickets thanks to Paul Stirling’s 79 from 55 deliveries.

It was three months before they returned to action, with the one-off game against Australia at Stormont. It was to the credit of groundsman Philip McCormick that there was any play at all after
persistent rain the previous day: Ireland were 36 for three, something of a recovery after losing two wickets in the first three balls, before it returned.

Rain ruined the first of two WCL games against Afghanistan, but Ireland won the second by 59 runs. The first seven sessions of their Intercontinental Cup match were then washed out, although
Ireland’s first-innings advantage meant they collected 13 points. After four rounds, their lead of 21 meant they could afford to lose one of their last three matches and still progress to the
five-day final at the end of 2013.

The first game in the Twenty20 series against Bangladesh was Ireland’s 800th in all, but celebrations were muted after a heavy defeat. They performed better in the other two, but lost one
by one run, and the other by two wickets off the last ball. The truncated South Africa A tour started with two four-day matches, both ruined by rain, but the tourists easily won two one-dayers
before the weather (and a terrible forecast) sent them home early.

For the first time in a calendar year since 2005, no Ireland batsman scored a century. Porterfield endured a miserable season, falling first ball five times and averaging 17. Dockrell, the slow
left-armer, was the leading wicket-taker with 37, and picked up the ICC Player of the Year award, as well as the Irish one. Domestically, it was a year of firsts: The Hills lifted the Irish Cup,
and CIYMS the NCU Premier League title for the first time, while Donemana became the first club to win the North West double since Limavady in 2000.