Annabel Sutherland lived out a childhood dream on Friday. She should not have been given the chance. If fielding standards provide a snapshot of the spirit of a cricket team, then England are broken.
The visitors turned in one of the most deplorable performances in the field seen on these shores for many a year. Any hope the beleaguered visitors had of averting the seemingly inevitable 16-0 whitewash this weekend was all but dashed when they gave Australia 10 chances. Sutherland’s 163, followed up by an unbeaten 98 to Beth Mooney, has put Australia, on 5-422 with a 252-run lead – a near unassailable position with two days left to play in the day/night Test.
England’s display was that of a side that cannot get into the departure lounge soon enough. Airport hospitality would be well advised not to serve the visitors a cup of tea. They’d probably spill that as well.
In all, there were eight dropped catches, another to which they did not lay a hand because they had made a complete hash of a sky ball, and a missed stumping. Granted, some were difficult, but several were easier than regulation – so simple that even the local park cricketer would be red-faced to let go. Take Maia Bouchier’s drop to a ball that was travelling to gully at no great speed.
What should have been a comfortably pouched chance went in both hands and out, as if she was handling a cake of soap. That blunder, the most embarrassing in a comical catalogue, was the third England gave Mooney in the fir.