European Cricket Network will again showcase the best women’s cricket in the world this summer with Germany hosting neighbours France in a five match T20i Series at the National Performance Centre in Krefeld.
International Women’s cricket returns to the European Cricket Network as Germany Women host France Women in a five-match T20I series between 8 and 10 July at the National Performance Centre in Krefeld.
Hosts Germany are ranked 25th in the world and the five-match T20I series against Austria at the Seebarn Cricket Ground in Vienna in 2020 was the very first international women’s cricket broadcast since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Germany Women routed the opponents 5-0 and managed to script several records in the process. The Golden Eagles are currently on a magnificent unbeaten run of 12 T20Is following their three dominant wins over France Women on Day 1 and 2.
France, on the other hand, are ranked 30th and have struggled to match Germany Women in the first three games of the series. The French Women’s team hadn’t played international cricket in almost two years until the opening fixture against Germany Women. France played a couple of matches each against Austria Women, Jersey Women, and Norway Women in 2019. France Women won five of those matches and only lost once against Jersey Women. FR-W were thumped in the first three games by Germany, with their batting notably struggling to compile competitive scores.
Teams
GR-W Germany Women (3-0)
FR-W France Women (0-3)
GR-W vs FR-W 2021 Batting Stats
GR-W vs FR-W 2021 Bowling Stats
GR-W vs FR-W 2021 Fielding Stats
MATCH 4
GERMANY WOMEN (GR-W) v FRANCE WOMEN (FR-W)
0900 GMT |1100 CET | 1430 IST
MATCH 5
GERMANY WOMEN (GR-W) v FRANCE WOMEN (FR-W)
1300 GMT |1500 CET | 1830 IST
GR-W Last Five Matches: W W W W W (Avg score For 116, Avg score Against 60)
FR-W Last Five Matches: L L LW W (Avg score For 82, Avg score Against 95)
GERMANY WOMEN (GR-W)
Captain: Anuradha Doddaballapur
Wicketkeeper: Karthika Vijayaraghavan
Projected Top Order: Anna Healey, Christina Gough, Anuradha Doddaballapur, Sharanya Sadarangani
Projected Opening Bowlers: Emma Bargna, Anna Healey
FRANCE WOMEN (FR-W)
Captain: Emmanuelle Brelivet
Wicketkeeper: Maelle Cargouet
Projected Top Order: Tara Britton, Alix Brodin, Jennifer King, Poppy McGeown
Projected Opening Bowlers: Emma Chance, Thea Graham
Germany Women Key Players
Anuradha Doddaballapur is a cardiovascular scientist and was in great form again on Thursday. She had set a world record in fourth T20I against Austria with her spell of 5 for 1 last summer, becoming the first woman to take four wickets in four balls in T20Is! On day one, she picked up 3 for 4 with the ball in the second T20I. In the third, she made 25 with the bat before being run out, but returned with the ball to finish with figures of 4-1-3-4.
With 239 runs from five matches against Austria Women, Christina Gough finished as the top-scorer in the series last summer. She has made scores of 19*, 24* and 22 in the ongoing series against France and looks to be in great touch. Germany’s Janet Ronalds also scored an unbeaten century against Austria and she finished the series with 200 runs at an average of 200! She was in fine form in the third T20I against France, smashing 35 off 31 balls to help Germany pile up a big total. Ronalds also scalped two wickets with the ball.
The bowling department of Germany Women is led by Emma Bargna and Anuradha Doddaballapur. Bargna finished the series with 10 scalps to her name and she had a bowling average of 3.70 and an economy rate of 2.46. She has, however, gone wicketless in the first three T20Is against France.
Sharing wicketkeeping duties for Germany will be Sharanya Sadarangani and Karthika Vijayaraghavan. Sharu, as she’s commonly known, boasts a unique record as the first female player to appear in the European Cricket Series when she kept wicket last summer for Kummerfelder Sportverein (KSV) in the ECS Kummerfeld in Germany.
France Women Key Players
Jennifer King finished as the highest-scorer for France Women in 2019. She recorded 101 runs across six matches at an average of 50.50 and had a highest score of 46 not out. King also picked up seven wickets in six matches. She has been one of the better players with the bat for France in this series, crossing double digits twice.
The list of highest wicket-takers for France Women is topped by Emmanuelle Brelivet who picked up 10 wickets across six games. Her bowling average was 10.60 with an economy rate of 4.60.
Cindy Breteche picked up four of the seven wickets to fall in the first three T20Is against Germany and is France's strike bowler, evidently one to watch out for.
After comfortable wins in the first three matches, Germany Women are clear favourites to wrap up . France will hope to sneak a win at least to redeem their reputation.
