In Charlotte Edwards’s first press conference as England head coach back in April, she was pretty clear about her priorities: “I think we’ve got to look at our ODI game. I think that’s probably an area that we’ve underperformed in for a while.” Perhaps nobody epitomised that more than Amy Jones, who in 12 years of international cricket – including 97 ODIs – had never scored a century.
On Friday at Derby, with Edwards grinning away on the dressing-room balcony, Jones punched through the off-side for the boundary which finally broke that duck. They say the years are short, while the days are long: the five overs which Jones spent in the nervous 90s felt almost as long as the 12 years which preceded them.
First, the umpires called for drinks; then Jones offered up two nervy return catches to Jahzara Claxton and Karishma Ramharack, which were both shelled; and finally her opening partner Tammy Beaumont got impatient and decided to beat Jones to the milestone, having played second fiddle for almost the whole of their record-breaking partnership. When the vital boundary from Jones finally came, the celebrations were partly just relief to have got a very big monkey off a very senior back.
Jones’s and Beaumont’s centuries, combined with a second half-century in three matches from the captain, Nat Sciver-Brunt, at a healthy strike rate of 144, provided the platform for England’s formidable total of 345 for six: their eighth-highest in history. In reply, West Indies came out with intent, led by another chaotic innings from Qiana Joseph, who pulled off the same trick as in last October’s World Cup, scoring 62 from 74 balls simply by swinging and hoping.
But Capsey eventually bust one into Joseph’s stumps, and with Hayley Matthews already long departed – a decent maiden ODI wicket for Em Arlott – Sciver-Brunt belatedly, in the 23rd over, introduced her second debutant, Linsey Smith. The left-arm spinner – who made her 20-over debut in 2018 but had astonishingly never previously featured in this format – proceeded to turn the ball just enough on a good length to bamboozle the tourists’ middle order. Finally, Sophia Dunkley pouched two good catches in the deep – the second off the final ball of Smith’s 10-over allocation – to ensure her teammate (just) achieved her five-fer.
From there it wasslow death for West Indies, who clung on until the 49th over but were eventually all out for 237, handing England a 108-run win.
In the light of Thursday’s news that Heather Knight is out for the rest of the summer with the hamstring injury she sustained at Chelmsford, this was a good time for the remainder of England’s senior batters to stand up and be counted. Edwards could hardly have asked for more: Jones and Beaumont put on 222 runs for the first wicket, vindicating the coach’s decision to promote the England wicketkeeper to the top of the order for the first time since 2019.
In her first two months as head coach, Edwards has kept a close eye on county cricket, which may explain England’s new-look opening partnership: Beaumont and Jones have scored 237 runs together for The Blaze in seven One-Day Cup matches this season. While the pair started sedately at Derby, there was a dramatic acceleration in the 26th over: Beaumont came down the track to Matthews, fired the first six of the day over long-on, and proceeded to add another 50 runs in just 22 balls.
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The highlight was a 25-run over against Claxton, during which the diminutive Beaumont leapt into the air as if she had launched herself off a trampoline and somehow reached a ball a metre above her head, uppercutting it to the boundary.
Spare a thought for Emma Lamb, who after a two-year absence from international cricket and a 36-over wait to assume her new position at No 3, was adjudged caught behind to Matthews after just three balls. Oddly, she opted not to review the decision, despite replays suggesting the ball had come off her forearm. She will be hoping for a chance at vindication when the two sides go again, at Leicester on Wednesday.