March 4, 2007
Karaoke and a rather sumptious steak
Posted by Charlotte Edwards on 03/04/2007 in England Women in India
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Isa Guha....covered in powder
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The day of the game against Australia dawned and I lost the toss. They put us in to bat and we got a really good total of 268 for 8 - probably our best batting performance of the whole tour. Sarah Taylor hit her maiden ODI century – a very mature innings and she was well-supported by Claire Taylor who made 54.
Although we gave a brave bowling performance Australia reached the target in the 46th over. Again there were a lot of positives to take from the game, but we’re definitely missing our strike bowlers – Katherine Brunt and Nicky Shaw and that area is proving to be our downfall.
That night we went for dinner at The Crown restaurant, situated on the top floor of our hotel with views right across Chennai. I finally managed to get my hands on a fillet steak, which filled a hole! It was quite an eventful evening with Claire Taylor spilling a round of drinks down her neck and me getting up to sing along with the Indian entertainment! (a man and his keyboard singing old classics). We requested a few songs which he did for us, but the favourite of the evening by far was “Alice, Alice, who the heck is Alice”, which we all joined in with to the entertainment of the whole restaurant!
Fellow Kent player Lynsey Askew also got up and did a fantastic rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic and it was so good, she got a standing ovation!
Continue reading "Karaoke and a rather sumptious steak"
February 28, 2007
Now we are fighting for pride
Posted by Charlotte Edwards on 02/28/2007 in England Women in India
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Hold on tight!
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On Sunday we were all up and raring to take on the Aussies in our third match. I won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that we thought would break up. It didn’t start too well for us with Caroline Atkins pulling a quad muscle in the first over. A good bowling attack reduced us to 37 for 4, but a great innings from Claire Taylor of 113 off 115 balls guided us to a respectable 216.
We started well after the break with an early wicket, but the Australians’ powerful hitting took them to the target in 40 overs, earning them the first bonus point of the competition. This was our worst performance of the tour to date and we knew we’d need to improve if we want to have any chance of making the final.
Continue reading "Now we are fighting for pride"
February 24, 2007
Tough to take narrow defeats
Posted by Charlotte Edwards on 02/24/2007 in England Women in India
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Charlotte Edwards hands Ebony Rainford-Brent her first England cap
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The day of our first game dawned and we were all up at 6am to get some breakfast in before leaving at seven. We arrived at Mac A and were escorted to our plush dressing room complete with leather seats. The day started well with me winning my first toss and electing to field.
The Indians got off to a great start with their opening pair putting on 121, but we fought back really well to restrict them to 231 from the 50 overs. We were really happy we’d kept them to that and were confident we could chase it down as it was a good pitch and a quick outfield.
Our reply started well being 82 for 2 off 20 overs. However the loss of key wickets at key times, coupled with Claire Taylor not being on top form and therefore batting lower down the order, we fell 18 runs short. I was bitterly disappointed as we were in a great position and the target was always achievable. Everyone was really disappointed but there were many positives to come out of it and there were still five more games left.
Continue reading "Tough to take narrow defeats"
February 20, 2007
The tension and excitement mounts
Posted by Charlotte Edwards on 02/20/2007 in England Women in India
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A gentle warm-up ahead of a big game
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We were looking to train early in the first week to get the girls used to getting up early and playing in the conditions. All our ODIs start at 9.30am because it gets dark quite early here, so we’re just getting used to the earlier starts! This means we’ve had some quite long afternoons, so on Friday we organised a trip to the local supermarket where we all stocked up on crisps, sprite, biscuits and chocolate éclairs!
That night we went to an official meeting at the main stadium where we went over the logistics of the tournament – all very amicable. On Saturday morning we held a light training session and gave the bowlers a rest. So instead we had a group of Under-17 schoolboys bowl at us in the nets. It was a great experience for both parties, but unfortunately they came off worse because I hit one of them in the back! I felt awful, but he got some treatment from physio Sue Hughes, so he was happy!
In the afternoon a group of the girls went to a local orphanage to meet the kids. The players were all moved by what they saw and it’s a shame the schedule is so tightly packed because we would all have liked the opportunity to go. That evening was our big night out as we headed over the road to Pizza Hut. Having had rice, noodles and curry all week, it was a welcome change! We all pigged out on garlic bread and “country feast” pizzas! Then we all had an early night in preparation for our first of two practice matches against India ‘B’.
Continue reading "The tension and excitement mounts"
February 17, 2007
From the fridge to the furnace
Posted by Charlotte Edwards on 02/17/2007 in England Women in India
Our preparations for this tour started two weeks ago at the National Cricket Centre in Loughborough, with all the girls eager and raring to go. We had some good indoor practices over the weekend and did some fine tuning to our fielding with our specialist fielding coach, Richard Halsall. It was the first time we had the whole squad together as we were rejoined by Beth (Morgan) and Jenny (Gunn), who have spent the past four months playing cricket in Australia. On the Sunday evening we had a really nice team meal, finished with a piece of birthday cake for our Manager Neil Rider.
On Monday we headed down to Heathrow, after our official weigh-in with all our bags. We each had a limit of 50kg and unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, I weighed in heaviest due to my tour ketchup supply! (and maybe a few jars of jam…) We stayed in a hotel close to the airport as we had an early start on Tuesday morning to catch our flight.
Continue reading "From the fridge to the furnace"
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