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England starlet Alice Capsey will pay the price for poor form and her team’s shock exit in the T20 World Cup group stage by being dropped in two formats for this month’s tour of South Africa.
England play three T20s, three ODIs and a Test in South Africa, a tour which poses both a serious challenge against a Proteas side who were losing finalists in last month’s World Cup, as well as a timely preparation for January. Ashes Series Down Under. The series against Australia is a defining moment for a team that has not won the Ashes since 2014 and missed a golden opportunity at this year’s World Cup.
Capsey was reportedly left out of the T20 and Test squads for the tour, but retained her place in the ODI squad. Although she made her debut at the age of 17 in 2022, she had a difficult run of form and had a best score of 19 in three rounds at the World Cup. In the Women’s Big Bash (WBBL) following the World Cup, she had 27 runs in five innings for the Melbourne Renegades (but took 11 wickets with her off-spin, including a maiden five-fer on Thursday).
Having been left out of the T20 squad, she is expected to stay in the WBBL for longer while her teammates travel to South Africa. She is yet to make her Test debut (England have not played a match in this format since last December), but has been part of teams before as well as being a regular in white-ball formats. At 20, time is on her side but being dropped in T20 represents a moment of reflection before the Ashes.
It is understood that in her place, Surrey teammate Paige Scholfield has made the T20 squad, while young all-rounder Freya Kemp is in all three squads. Sarah Glenn is believed to be out of the Test squad, while all-rounder Danni Gibson is nursing an injury that will rule her out of the tour. The team should be named early next week.
Durban-born Scholfield, 28, made her ODI and T20 debut during the tour of Ireland in September, but a good season for Oval Invincibles and South East Stars sees her selected for the first time in a squad England in its own right.
England have been heavily criticized after being knocked out in the group stage of the World Cup in Dubai thanks to defeat to the West Indies, with former players Alex Hartley and Lauren Winfield-Hill questioning the players’ fitness.
Head coach Jon Lewis dismissed this criticism in an interview with The cricketerstating: “We are working incredibly hard on our physical preparation, the players are in really good shape. We adapt very well to people’s programs.
“I wish Alex in particular would quantify exactly what she means by that, because I just don’t see it. She needs to be more specific about what she says. There are many aspects to fitness and you need to be careful when calling a team unfit – we are not an unfit cricket team.
“I have seen the team training at Loughborough and we are making progress in all areas. There are many different elements to fitness. That was a very general statement and I completely disagree with what she said. I’m more than happy to discuss this with her and get more specific.
