Painful to lose three out of three

Ebony-Jewel Rainford-Brent © ECB

Well what can I say; we have played three and lost three. Not a good start from a team capable of winning this tournament!

Friday saw us face the Kiwis at the Chemplast Ground, a lovely scenery and a batter's paradise. The Kiwis batted first and I got to open the bowling for my first international cap....and a wicket thrown in for good measure!!!

We bowled fairly well to them early on, but wickets in hand, coupled with hard hitting from Browne and Tsukigawa adding over 100 runs in the last ten overs, led the Kiwis to an impressive score of 291.

We were confident with the way the ground had played that it was a comfortable total to get on such a good track. But we got a poor start as we lost a wicket on the first ball but Tails (Claire Taylor) and Sarah (Taylor) both steadied the ship.

We were well on course with Lottie (Charlotte Edwards) continuing on good form and other batters batting well to support her. However, we consistently lost wickets in the middle of the innings and Lottie dismissal proved to be crucial as we fell short by 19.

This felt equally as painful as the India game because again we had got ourselves into a good position to win but just didn't finish the job.

Sunday and we had the Aussies. Our aim was to win so we could stay in the contest to win the series. We batted first and the top order batters struggled to make runs except for Tails who showed her class by batting with both aggression and discipline.

The middle order supported her well especially Lyd (Lydia Greenway) and Beth (Morgan). Yours truly also figured in a 51-run partnership with Tails! Although I struggled to start with, I managed to hang in and we took the total to a defendable 216.

Tails overall had an amazing performance finishing up with an unconquered 113 off 115 balls, a strike-rate of 98%!

The Aussies came out all guns blazing and I got punished for not bowling a consistent enough line and length. The wicket of Karen Rolton saw an opportunity to capitalise and put pressure on the Aussie batsmen but inconsistent bowling and powerful hitting from Bulow and Sthaleker meant that they were let off the hook.

Saying this, Lor (Laura Newton) bowled well to finish with two for 34 from her quota of 10 overs. So another disappointing result and the Aussies finished up in 40 overs to get a bonus point which rubbed salt into the wound.

That evening all the teams attended an official function which was a great opportunity for all the players to mingle. The BCCI showed us great hospitality and provided excellent Indian food and music.

So now we have had two rest days and training to reflect and analyse our performance over the three games. We are definitely up for the challenge and now we are fighting for pride and reputation in view of the next World Cup...come on the BLUE LIONS!

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