World Twenty20: Anya Shrubsole looks to go all the way with England
In 2009 a back injury forced the then-17-year-old Anya Shrubsole out of the World Twenty20. She had already been part of one World Cup-winning team – England having come back from Australia that March as champions in the 50-over format – but she was forced to watch from the sidelines as the team, as hosts, took a second title of the year. She has not missed a World Twenty20 since but England have not won again.
Though in 2010 West Indies could claim joint responsibility, Australia have knocked England out of every World Twenty20 since the very first, beating them in three finals and a semi-final. Across the 37 Twenty20 internationals the two countries have played over the past 15 years England have an 18-17 advantage, yet when it really matters results have been, from an English perspective, depressingly predictable. At the 2012 event the teams met twice: once in the group stage with both teams already qualified, and again in the final. No prizes for guessing which of those games stands as England’s only victory against Australia at the World Twenty20 since the 2009 semi-finals.
All this history, and the added benefit of a psychology degree, should help Shrubsole to diagnose an inferiority complex if one exists, but she insists there is none. “They’re obviously a quality team and that’s shown by the number of titles that they’ve won, but I’ve always gone into those games thinking we’ve got the quality to win,” she says. “Between 2012 and 2014 we were having a lot of success against them in Ashes series, so there wasn’t a mental aspect or any kind of fear. We just came out second best on the day.” Days.
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On paper 2010 was the worst of Shrubsole’s five previous tournaments: “Hugely disappointing. We lost to an up-and-coming West Indies team and we lost to Australia on boundary countback and didn’t make it out of our group.”
To briefly summarise the others, in 2012 England lost in the final: “That was probably the most disappointing of them all. I felt we were the best team throughout the tournament, had played really well and won all our games but we didn’t pull it together in the final.”
Two years later came another final defeat, though Shrubsole had the consolation of being named player of the tournament: “We had our worst game of the tournament in the final, never got enough runs on the board and they chased it down easy, but with such a young, inexperienced side we did well to get that far.”
In 2016 they lost in the last four: “We played well all through the groups and then came unstuck in a game we really should have won. It was one of [the then coach] Mark Robinson’s first tours and there were lots of comments about our fitness and the need to be fitter, and that game exposed a bit of that.”
Finally, in 2018, another final: “We ended up losing to Australia again but we also played one of the most enjoyable World Cup games, against West Indies in St Lucia. The crowd and the amount of noise they made was just unbelievable. It’s one of those games you look back on and are glad you were a part of, even if the result didn’t go our way.”
Now the 2020 tournament awaits, with England’s first game against South Africa on Sunday, and Shrubsole says: “You obviously go in with hope. We believe we’ve got a team that can go all the way. We’ve got a number of new players who have no memories of past disappointments. But I think a lot changes in a couple of years, and I wouldn’t say you think much about tournaments past. We tend to go into tournaments thinking we can go all the way if we play our best, and this one’s no different.”
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Australia will inevitably start as favourites but England have the kinder group – three of the world’s top four sides according to the International Cricket Council rankings, including the hosts, are in Group A while the English, ranked No 2, are in the other half of the draw – and are optimistic. Their recently appointed Australian coach, Lisa Keightley, can teach it to them. Keightley’s only Twenty20 international as a player was the second ever staged, against England in 2005 (the day Katherine Brunt, now the senior player in the England squad, made her T20 debut), but she is hoping to make the team more aggressive, talking of bowling teams out and exerting pressure. “I’m planning to be in the final,” she says.
Lots of people are planning to be at the final. It is scheduled to be played at the MCG on International Women’s Day, 8 March, has the added attraction (arguably) of a post-match Katy Perry concert and with a fair wind and yet more Australian success organisers hope, not completely outlandishly, to break the record for attendance at a women’s sporting event, the 1999 football World Cup final with a crowd of 90,185.
Even without a record-busting conclusion there is a level of attention and anticipation around this tournament that hasn’t always been there – boosted by the unexpected qualification of Thailand, England’s opponents in Canberra on 26 February. “From what I can remember there wasn’t a huge amount of interest in 2009, and Lord’s wasn’t anything close to full for the final,” says Shrubsole.
“It’s amazing to be in some of the places the World Cup is being played and see the amount of posters, banners, things on the side of trams advertising the tournament. I remember being elsewhere at tournaments gone by and unless you already knew there was a tournament on you wouldn’t have a clue. Even the possibility of it being a realistic expectation to fill the MCG is absolutely incredible. It’s such an iconic venue. To get someone of Katy Perry’s standing, for her to be there playing at the game is amazing. I really hope it’s full – and that England are involved.”
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