Cricket women

Heather Knight may have played only four matches for Western Storm this season, but it seems she is still inclined to look first to her West Country teammates as the key to success in the Women’s Ashes series which begins with a Test at Trent Bridge on 22 June. The big surprise in England’s Test squad, announced on Monday, is the inclusion of Storm’s 22-year-old fast bowler Lauren Filer, who has leapfrogged a number of centrally contracted players in the race to replace the recently retired Katherine Sciver-Brunt. Read more Filer’s Storm teammate, all-rounder Dani Gibson, is the only other uncapped player in the squad, though Alice Capsey is also in line to make a Test debut, after firmly establishing her place in the white-ball side last summer. Gibson is Storm’s joint-highest run scorer and top wicket-taker in this season’s Charlotte Edwards Cup, and logically next in line to earn her cap after being named as a travelling reserve in England’s World Cup squad over the winter. As well as her seam bowling, she also offers an aggressive option with the bat, in line with England’s recent “Jon-Ball” tactics. “We’re very keen to disrupt the flow of Australia’s game by playing the game the way that we want to play it,” coach Jon Lewis said. “That’s our best chance of beating them. Dani [Gibson] for me is one of the in-form cricketers in the country. She’s a really dynamic player. By contrast, Filer’s inclusion comes more out of left-field: her best return this season was three f...

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