But after six defeats against the Aussies England were glad of any sort of victory

But after six defeats against the Aussies, England were glad of any sort of victory.Connor, who took over last week when Karen Smithies resigned the captaincy after the 220-run trouncing by Australia in Newcastle, said: “A win is a win is a win.”We needed to get that one under our belts. Now we can go on from there in the five one-dayers against New Zealand.”England were still patchy in the field, several catches going down as Wellington drew nearer to their victory target of 197.Neither was England’s batting as solid as it might have been and it took opener Claire Taylor, who scarcely figured in Australia, to boost them to 196 for eight in their 50 overs with 83 off 84 balls including 10 boundaries.Connor said: “She will give us a selection problem after that But it is a nice sort of problem to have.”. Clare Connor celebrated her debut as captain of the England women’s team with the first win of the tour down under as they beat Wellington by 11 runs at the Basin Reserve.
It was not the best team Wellington could put out as three of their top players were in Melbourne playing for New Zealand against Australia. Clare Connor celebrated her debut as captain of the England women’s team with the first win of the tour down under as they beat Wellington by 11 runs at the Basin Reserve. If he can acquire some runs, preferably against Zimbabwe tomorrow, the drum kit may become superfluous.. “It was a little overconfident, I was looking for the gap,” he explains.Maddy is self-critical, endlessly grateful to his dad and thinks that if England win this trophy the game will receive a big lift just before the summer.

He was attacking with something nearer aplomb than cockiness and it was annoying when he played a gentle lazy shot to midwicket. We still do not know if he can play at this level.Now that he is in the starting XI, Maddy has been asked to bat in the middle order At Leicester he is an opener. “I open when we use the red ball but when the white one is on the go I’ll bat anywhere: four, five or six I like to think I’m very flexible. I’m very happy to be part of the team because it’s been a long time coming.”When he made 22 the other evening in East London it was the first time he had looked cosy at international cricket.

While it would not be a bundle of fun to be in Mullally’s company if he is left out of the side for tomorrow’s match, another who has taken his continuing omission with considerable reserve and dignity is Gavin Hamilton. Such play fills bowlers with hope and expectation.Maddy made his one-day debut in 1998 and his Test debut last summer at The Oval in the final Test. The fact that he was the man in possession when the tour began cut no ice Never did he show that it was getting to him. Other players not being selected let things fester and will tell anybody who cares to listen that that they should be playing and become embittered.England have been blessed in this regard.

It has sometimes been a bit flabby and irresolute and has led to his downfall. “I’ve never felt out of my depth playing for England and I’ve always felt comfortable at the crease,” he said, though some of his defensive play has seemed to betray otherwise. He is the sort of player who has usually taken time to adjust to the next level of cricket All that hyperactivity hides a bundle of nerves But he has always done it. I’ve been to gigs and been backstage and actually I’ve swapped a couple of tickets with a bloke I met the other day for a couple of lessons. I don’t know if it will just help me fill in the time here but when I take up something I tend to throw myself in to it.”Maddy has almost three weeks left to show that he deserves to be considered again for the Fletcher-Hussain England team next summer. When he is around, there is usually a little grin not far behind.He is in the one-day team now, given an opportunity at last because of Chris Adams’ persistent failures, but it was the drumming which received most of the attention when he spoke yesterday.”There’s only so much gym work you can do and when Alan Mullally got a guitar I thought of drums,” he said “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

Maddy is the enthusiasts’ enthusiast, a jack in the box, never-sit-still young man whose chin would not recognise a floor. He is now contemplating the purchase of a drum kit – if he can also work out a way of transporting it home.This new hobby, which he revealed yesterday, was perhaps instructive of the long days which must envelop touring cricketers who are not in the team. This was something because he is an assiduous netter and a gym visitor bordering on the fanatical. But thumb twiddling it was and Maddy decided there was something else he could do with them, to wit, hold drum sticks.Maddy has converted a frisbee-type contraption into a percussion instrument which he hits with a stick and has acquired a Teach Yourself Drumming book. He played two Tests but there was an element of afterthought about it and he was not in the one-day side at the start of the Standard Bank triangular tournament.There have been big runs in some of the up country one-day matches but there was a policy about the batting order for the big matches and the selectors, strangely for England selectors, stuck to it Maddy was left twiddling his thumbs. His drumming has definitely improved.
Actually, he had never drummed before this tour and, while he has always had a yen for it, he has finally taken it up only because of the lack of batting. From the start back in October, he has had trouble getting selected.