Former England men’s team captain Nasser Hussain praised young seamer Lauren Filer’s performance in the ongoing Women’s Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, and was impressed by her having an extra yard of pace in a young hosts’ bowling line-up.
In her Test debut, Lauren nearly picked up the scalp of Ellyse Perry with her very first delivery, only for the lbw decision to be overturned. But the tall pacer impressed with her raw pace and ability to extract extra bounce in taking out Beth Mooney and Ellyse for 99 as Australia made 473 in their first innings.
In reply, England reached 218/2 at the end of day two’s play. Hussain also felt it’s a very encouraging sign for England to unearth a youngster like Lauren in preparing for life after retirements of pace bowling stalwarts Anya Shrubsole and Katherine Sciver-Brunt.
“She bowled really well, she’s got a yard of pace. Obviously Katherine Sciver-Brunt has retired, there’s no Anya Shrubsole, and they have been opening the bowling for England for a decade, they have been the equivalent of the (Stuart) Broad and (James) Anderson in the women’s game.”
“So England need someone. You’ve got Lauren Bell at the other end as well, you’ve got Izzy Wong coming through. So there’s a bit of pace around, but I also thought Filer was very skilled,” said Hussain on ICC Review Show.
Hussain added that though he’s on England’s side, he wanted Ellyse to get to triple figures at Trent Bridge, which she missed out by just one run. “I would have loved her to get an Ashes century actually. I don’t think any England fan would have begrudged her one more run because that innings deserved a hundred.”
“She’s been brilliant. We’ve done ICC tournaments where we’ve seen her in 50-over World Cups. We’ve seen her reinvent herself in T20 cricket when her strike rate was dropping and the likes of Tahlia McGrath and everyone was coming through and their strike rates were going through the roof.”
“She’s always been an exceptional red-ball cricketer. With the ball she’s been all over England, swinging that new ball at pace, and with the bat, technically she’s so gifted – the pull shot she plays, the drive, everything. She got every shot in the book.”
Hussain further believed that there is still plenty of time for either team to claim a victory and start multi-format Ashes on a bright note. “It will be tough because it’s mind games. There are still lots of points on offer, but we all know what a fantastic white-ball team Australia are. Commonwealth Games, 50-over and 20-over World Cups, they hold it all.”
“It will be tough and it is an important five days and a draw will probably be taken out of the equation because of that fifth day. They can always come back, but mentally that’s the key. Having been beaten by Australia for a while, if they can win (the Test) that will be such a mental boost,” he concluded.
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