Wicketkeepers' standing is more tested in women's games, where the speed of possession is less. Photo: Getty Images/Mike Hewitt
This summer, the England Testing team resumed a debate that sometimes involves more than just one choice. but the whole ideology: Johnny Barstow, the best batsman, against Ben Fawkes, the excellent wicket-keeper.
Both are outstanding cricketers, highly capable in every discipline, who have occasionally played on the side. But this time it was Burstow who won, which made us think about the changing priorities of the game and the lost art of the wicket.
However, there is still room for the wicket in the game, which forms the team without taking into account their shots . abilities: women's home cricket and, specifically, the women's 100.
There, Rhianna Southby received the number 10 card from Southern Brave and ducked in her only serve of the tournament, but held up brilliantly. Against the Northern Superchargers, she won the Man of the Match award despite not hitting the ball because she landed two accurate catches (one from Anya Shrabsol's seam and one from the bottom hem) and delivered two electric shocks.
For the Manchester Originals, Ellie Threlkeld is great with gloves, but she also managed to hit the ball with only 16 runs in the tournament.
The internet is full of outstanding doubles videos as well as Amy Jones and the retired Sarah Taylor who have dominated England's gloves for over a decade.
Storage Workshop 🔥
Rihanna Southby take a bow 🙌#TheHundred | @SkyCricket pic.twitter.com/zh3BhMPRga
—The Hundred (@thehundred), August 6, 2023
There are some female goalkeepers — like Liesel Lee or Lauren Winfield-Hill — whose batting ability is considered their main skill, but it's not at all like the men's 100, where wounds are still the currency of goalkeepers.
There, in contrast, the only goaltender to hit outside the top three is Sam Billings of the Oval Invincibles. Half of the permanent wickets — Joe Clark, Tom Banton, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Devon Conway — in the competition can be described as «part-time» as they do Twenty20 work but not top-notch cricket. . The best wickets in the area — Fox, John Simpson and Ben Cox — don't even have 100 deals anymore.
Michael Bates is no stranger to this debate. Bates, now 32, was one of the best glove players English cricket has produced this century, but batting saw him play his last county game at age 24. the T20 Cup in 2010 and 2012 and the 2012 Pro40, and the same England under-19 team as Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler (unsurprisingly, Bates kept the wicket). He is now coaching wickets and fielding with the women of England and the women of London Spirit during the Hundred.
He believes that keeping the wicket is more important in women's cricket than in men's. That's because, at least for now, it's a paced game, with a lot more spins, and the goalie also has to contend with a lot of kickers. It is not unusual for a wicket-keeper in the women's 100 to hit 80 out of 100 balls per innings, while in the men's 100 the opposite is not unusual either. At the time of writing, the women's 100 have had 20 losses (four each to Southby and Threlkeld) and just nine to the men's.
This is a mischief from @EllieThrelkeld 😱
pic.twitter.com/c2vXpgpJrd
— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93), July 2, 2023″In a men's game with more speed bowlers, you can definitely get away with using more part-time goaltenders,» Bates tells Telegraph Sport. “Standing behind is the easiest part of being a goalkeeper. The goalkeeper really shows his value in the ability to create chances out of nothing or use half chances to the end. This is the sign of a good goalkeeper. There are many very capable goalkeepers in the women's game.”
Taylor has been an outstanding goalkeeper for England and Jones has carried the baton since his retirement. Given what Bates has to say, it's perhaps unsurprising that he, John Batty and Chris Reid, other great goalkeepers in the men's game, are coaching the women's 100 this year. Bates also believes there is room for specialized goaltenders in the 100 because there are so few balls in an inning that there is room for smaller batting teams. Since the need to take wickets is so important, it is worth having a goalkeeper who creates chances.
So far, this has only been observed in the women's tournament, and not in the men's. Charlotte Edwards, the former England captain who is now the most in-demand T20 women's coach, certainly signed on to form her regional team in the Southern Vipers and her Southern Brave 100 team this year. She went straight to Southby.
«She traveled around England as a teenager, but because she didn't hit the ball, she was a bit overlooked because everyone wants their wicket to be hit these days,» says Edwards. “She caught my attention last year because our gatekeeper Carla Rudd was about to retire. I just wanted to find the best goalkeeper. She joined us last winter and I was blown away by how good she is. Selection for the 100 has become easy. We had bowler Anya Shrabsol and a lot of spinners, so she could be held to the stumps, and I needed the best goalkeeper. That's how I put the team together, knowing that she would be a specialized goaltender and bat at number 10. You can't compromise in this position, especially since lower-level players bat very rarely.
Bates and Edwards note that «goalkeepers in the women's game develop in the opposite way than men.» Women spend their early years almost exclusively standing on tree stumps because bowling is slower and pitches are often worse. Often they learn to stand with their backs to the seamers only when they are already professional and the pace is higher. It is much more difficult for men to stand on stumps.
Bates believes that the women's game will evolve in the same way as the men's game, and we won't see number 10 goaltenders for many years to come. He notes that at international level «goalkeepers have to shoot higher in the order, which is one of the reasons Bess Heath has been called up to the England squad to face Sri Lanka next month ahead of the likes of Southby and Threlkeld». Bates compares Heath to Battler in that «if she didn't hold on, she'd still be picked for her punch.»
«The women's game is still in its infancy in terms of professionalism,» — He says. “Probably we will see that this will follow the pattern of a man's game. I'd love to say there's room for the purist custodian, but I think it's out of the game now.
“That doesn't mean everyone can do the job. We had a period [in the men's game] where we had real part-time goalkeepers and they were exposed. Players are now expected to be really good in both disciplines and act like true all-rounders, which is golden sand. We have reached this stage in the women's international game, and I think we will achieve this domestically as well.”
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