By Rob Barnett
Danni Hazell, her team’s senior spinner at the Women’s World Twenty20, says England are learning from the pitches in Bangladesh, where they had not played before the tournament.
The 25-year-old has opened the bowling during all of England’s five matches in Bangladesh, the latter three being competitive group games.
Hazell went wicketless in defeat to West Indies and victory over India, but yesterday took sublime figures of 3-4 from four overs against the hosts.
While that was not her Twenty20 international-best, it was her most economical format return and set up a 79-run triumph.
All the women’s group fixtures are taking place at Sylhet Stadium whereas the semi-finals, which England will reach by beating Sri Lanka tomorrow, and final are in Mirpur.
Hazell, whose Durham roots are clear from her accent, told ecb.co.uk: “Some of these pitches are quite conducive to spin and I think, especially with the new ball for the seamers, they're quite fair wickets and there's been some runs scored on them as well.
“Going into the next game, we've learned from this and what the pitches are starting to do now. So we're looking forward to the next game.”
Hazell, who has noted a change of pace in the Sylhet surface, yesterday bowled her four overs consecutively, striking in all but her first set of six.
“There was a bit of spin out there. The pitches are getting a little bit slower now they've been used. It's just about trying to put the ball in the right areas as much as I can,” she added.
“We'd never played Bangladesh before and never been here before but I think, learning from that, they're a really good team and they're a team to watch for the future. We'll see how they go next time.”
England’s attention is now firmly on Sri Lanka, who shocked them at last year’s 50-over World Cup and will be eyeing a repeat in search of a semi-final berth.
“That's going to be a massive game for us. It could come down to who goes back to Dhaka,” Hazell observed.
“We'll prepare like we have for every game - well - and we'll have our plans ready and our plans in place. Once the game comes round we'll be ready to go.”