Anya Shrubsole looks back at the last World Twenty20 and ahead to the coming one
By Rob Barnett
Anya Shrubsole is relishing the chance to lead England’s attack at the World Twenty20, an opportunity created by Katherine Brunt’s back injury.
Brunt has been an England stalwart for almost a decade but will miss the World T20, having undergone surgery on Wednesday to help address symptoms associated with a chronic disc bulge.
Shrubsole, still just 22, is therefore the most experienced seamer in Charlotte Edwards’ squad that arrived in Bangladesh yesterday.
However, having made her England debut in 2008 and played regularly in limited-overs internationals since, Shrubsole is ready to take the responsibility.
Speaking to ecb.co.uk, she said: “When I came back into the squad, having missed the West Indies tour (last autumn), I was suddenly an experienced player and I was thinking this is pretty crazy for someone who’s 22.
“But I’ve been around for a while, played a fair bit and I know that especially with Katherine injured for this tour that I need to take a role in trying to lead this attack - a job that she’s done previously - and it’s one that I’m looking forward to.”
Shrubsole helped England win the 50-over World Cup in 2009, but injury prevented her playing the World T20 triumph later that year.
She featured in the 2010 and 2012 World T20s plus last year’s 50-over showpiece. The latter two tournaments were in Sri Lanka and India respectively, so she knows what to expect of sub-continental conditions.
“Thinking about the last (Twenty20) World Cup - obviously (it was in the) sub-continent as well in Sri Lanka - (for) seamers on the whole it’s a case of bowling your four overs and just doing a job for the team,” added Shrubsole, who played in both Ashes series wins over the last year.
“I think everyone knows generally the sub-continent’s a spinners game and a batters game on the whole. Seamers, we’ve got a little bit of dog work.
“We showed last summer [sic] in India the ball swung around quite a lot so hopefully there’ll be a little bit of that, but it’s just a case of doing the job I need to do for the team.”