OLD COLFEIAN SUSIE ROWE REPORTS FROM SOUTH AFRICA 2011
Friday 2nd December 2011
I’m writing from one of our team camps up at Loughborough University and realised I’ve left you all on the edge of your seats as I haven’t yet updated you on how the Twenty20 series went in Potchefstroom!
South Africa batted first in all three games and got off to good starts scoring regular boundaries. However, crucial wickets enabled us to claw back control over the games and overall we bowled and fielded well to restrict them to 128, 110, and 118. These scores could have been competitive totals but on a quick outfield and with our top order batters in phenomenal form, we were able to knock the runs off relatively comfortably in two out of the three matches. Unfortunately however, the second game had to be abandoned during our batting innings as we found ourselves in the middle of a typical African electrical storm which flooded the pitch and was probably some of the worst lightening I’ve ever seen.
I was lucky enough to be picked in all three Twenty20s and put in the batting order at number 7. Unfortunately we lost just enough wickets to warrant getting my pads on, but not enough to mean I was required out in the middle. Nevertheless it was a fantastic tour to be part of and our 2-0 Twenty20 series win coupled with our 3-0 ODI series win made it a very successful undefeated tour.
Selections have just recently been announced for the February tour to New Zealand and I am over the moon to have been included in this touring squad. The tour will be one month long and consist of three ODI’s and five Twenty 20s held in different cities all over New Zealand with three of the Twenty20s to be aired live on Sky Sports before the SA v NZ men’s matches so set your sky plus boxes to record! You can read more about it here
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For now it’s time to meet up with the squad as we begin our training weekend in preparation for New Zealand which will consist of lots of batting, bowling, and fielding with a few team meetings thrown in for good mix. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and will bring my next update from a sunny and warm New Zealand!
As always, if you fancy finding out what I’m up to on a more regular basis follow me on twitter @susierowe6
Wednesday 26th October 2011
Since I last wrote, we have had a very successful ODI series winning it 3-0. Unfortunately I wasn’t selected in the playing 11 for any of them and have been 12th man. However, I was required to field in the first game when two of our opening bowlers had to leave the field with injuries. We posted big totals in the first two games scoring 297 and 315 which proved too big a target for South Africa as they could only manage 235 and 219 respectively in reply. Yesterday was the third and final ODI match and we bowled South Africa out for 181 and knocked the runs off with seven overs to spare to complete the whitewash and 3-0 series win. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the first of our 3 match Twenty20 series which I am excited to get underway and hoping my name is in the playing 11 as this shorter format of the game leans more towards my strength of running quickly between the wickets and also hitting boundaries.
Off the pitch there isn’t too much to do where we are staying in Potchefstroom, and coupled with the fact that we have quite a hectic playing and training schedule means we have spent most of the time in and around our accommodation. There is good parental support here and many girls’ parents have flown over to watch and support the series. My Mum and Dad (recently retired maths teacher Mr Rowe) have also come over and will hopefully see me play for England live in the flesh for the first time in the upcoming Twenty20 series. We had some free time the other day and spent a couple of hours with them driving around a 28km game reserve track in their hire car. It was a fantastic experience and we were able to see zebras, bison, impalas, ostriches, wilderbeast, and many different types of deer looking animals which unfortunately I wasn’t able to identify with my basic English farm animal knowledge, although I am informed that we saw the native springboks. I was very upset to miss the giraffes and rhinos that inhabit the game reserve and I’m baffled how we missed the giraffes in particular, it’s not as though they can hide easily with their long necks!
Will write my next blog after our Twenty20 series to let you know how it went. We play Thursday, Saturday and Sunday so it’s quite busy for the rest of the tour and not much time to transition to the different tactical and technical approach required for the shorter format of the game. To help us adjust, training today consists of range hitting which is basically where you try and hit boundaries every ball to get a gauge of how far away the boundary rope is. I’ve never done it before, and sounds right up my street so I’m quite excited. Can’t wait to get my slog sweep hockey shots out!
Follow me on twitter at @susierowe6 to see how we get on for the rest of the tour
Posted Tuesday 18th October 2011
Greetings from Potchefstroom, South Africa! We arrived yesterday morning and I have just about got my energy levels back to normal after our 11 hour night flight out of Heathrow. It’s spring time here and the weather is much the same as England and can’t make its mind up. Yesterday was a warm and sunny day so we relaxed by the pool and had a leisurely swim to get the flight out of our legs. Whereas this morning I awoke to the sound of gale force winds! Luckily the wind died down but was still a presence at our afternoon training session which made high catches interesting. It was good to feel bat on ball again and get some overs under our belt bowling wise as there’s obviously been quite a few weeks since the English cricket season ended. We have two more days of training before our first ODI on Friday. The tour lasts a little over two weeks, but during that time we manage to cram in three ODI’s and three Twenty20s. Unfortunately we’re located in Potchefstroom for the duration of the tour so we don’t get to travel around the country. However I’ve managed to squeeze in a three day mini-break at the end of the tour to Cape Town, so I’m looking forward to that!
REPORTS FROM SRI LANKA 2010
Posted Monday 13th December 2010 by Susie Rowe
Since I last wrote from Sri Lanka, I have received the great news that I have been selected for the upcoming tour to Australia this winter where we will be defending our Ashes title. The Australia Ashes tour is the pinnacle of any player’s career and I can’t believe I am going to experience it so early on in mine!
After not being selected for any of the one day matches in Sri Lanka I was delighted to make my Twenty20 international debut in the first match of the series. I wasn’t needed to bat in the first game as we won easily and I was disappointed be run out for five in the second game which again we won. However, in the third game I scored 24 not out from 18 deliveries, putting on a 43 run partnership with my teammate from the last five overs. This gave us a score of 160 which was a total Sri Lanka failed to reach and we bowled them out for a mere 71.
The taste of my first international tour was a fantastic experience and one that I will cherish forever. I am now back in England and training hard for the upcoming tour to Australia. We have an early Christmas present of fitness testing on December 23rd but I will be passing the bleeps thinking about how amazing Australia will be!
We fly to Perth on December 28th for the three match ODI series held at the WACA. Then on to the Adelaide Oval on 12th January and then the MCG in Melbourne on 14th January for the first two of our five match Twenty20 series. Both of these games will be televised on Sky Sports and will be held right before the men’s Twenty20 matches. From Melbourne we travel to Canberra to complete the Twenty20 series and then on to Sydney for the four-day test match that determines who will walk away with the all-important Ashes!
I would love to play in the Twenty20 matches out in Australia and obviously love to make my ODI debut. However, we have a much stronger squad going to Australia and the seriousness of the tour may mean I don’t get as much of an opportunity. At the moment I am still learning an incredible amount just by being part of the squad. I plan to learn as much as I can out in Australia and any opportunity I might get to play will be a bonus!
If you are interested in following our progress out in Australia you can follow me on twitter @susierowe6
Posted Tuesday 16 November 2010
Greetings from hot and humid Sri Lanka!
We have been training every day but for the first two days we had to train indoors despite the 30 degree and humid heat as they had the worst storm here in 18 years. The very night we got here all the grounds were flooded! This caused our two ODI matches to be pushed back a day but the 20/20s will stay on the same days. I didn’t play in the first ODI yesterday and had the incredibly hard job along with two others of making sure everyone's drinks were filled with the right sports drink or water requirements, and constantly kept cold in the cool bag along with delivering water to the boundary fielders. This was gruelling work on its own in the weather conditions and I cannot imagine what it was like to play in them for the whole day. The girls said they were the hardest weather conditions they have ever played in as they sweated so much because of the humidity which made it feel unbearably hot.
We ended up winning yesterday by a narrow margin of five runs. We batted first and didn't get off to the best of starts only reaching 192 which was less than we should have got. They got off to a flying start not losing a wicket for the first 60 odd runs and were well on task to knock the runs off, however some good spin bowling caused a mini collapse and it looked like we would bowl them all out easily. But the lower order put together a good partnership and put SL back in a winning position and they ended up needing 11 off the last over with 2 wickets remaining. Some good death bowling meant that we got a wicket with the penultimate ball meaning they needed 6 off the last ball which you wouldn’t think they would do, but they managed to hit a 6 a few overs prior to that so we didnt know....luckily she only managed a single so we won by 5 runs phew!
Another ODI tomorrow and hopefully we don't make it that close again. Unfortunately I'm not playing tomorrow either which is disappointing but hopefully I will play in a 20/20 match!
Other than that there is not that much to report as we don't really do much other than light training during the day as it is so hot we don't want to do too much. The hotel has everything we need and an adjacent shopping centre so there is no need to step outside the hotel! Have spent some relaxing time by one of the 2 pools - either the outdoor main pool with pool side bar or the more secluded roof top outside pool! Service here is a phenomal; everyone is so helpful and we get everything on a plate for us!
Today those that wanted to did a charity visit to a deaf school in the afternoon. There were hundreds of kids of all ages and they all knew how to play cricket and some were very good! We played a bit of cricket with them and tried to communicate with them which was very frustrating as we obviously couldn't talk to them, and they couldn't lip read. In a way it didn't feel like we were able to do much as we couldn't communicate with the kids although I did learn some sign language! Think they loved having us there, and at the end we handed out these signed team photos which they were literally fighting over as we didn't have enough!