It’s rare that it’s a shock when a player, having been picked in a squad for the game, also makes it to a starting XI, but a shock it was when Issy Wong’s name appeared on the team sheet for England’s second T20I against Sri Lanka.
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Despite being a breakout star of 2022, this was Wong’s first game for England in 2023. Though she has been a regular in their squads, she has been reduced to the role of drinks carrier, as struggles with her run-up and rhythm came to the fore. In The Hundred, those were compounded, Wong was restricted to just 30 balls, with her bowling in the nets before games under the close eye of the coaches a regular sight.
“There are two ways of looking at Issy’s situation,” head coach Jon Lewis said before the series. “One is, she’s not bowling particularly well so we don’t select her and we push her away from us. My view is that surrounding her with good support, knowledge and help is a better way to get the best out of people.”
So when she was recalled, there was a sense of trepidation, but also anticipation. Maybe all it had taken was a week with bowling coach Matt Mason to sort out whatever was wrong. Knight alluded to Wong “listening to quite a lot of different voices” as a cause of her issues. Perhaps England’s decision to keep her close had paid off in quick time.
It took one ball for it to be clear that this wasn’t the case.
At this point, the game was all but gone. England had already subsided for a record low total, and Chamari Athapaththu was doing her thing in reply. If England were to stage a comeback, it had to happen now. At her best, Wong is capable of the sublime. But Knight and Co. would have settled for an event-free, tidy over. That was not what they got.
Wong’s first ball could hardly have been worse, miles down leg, tickled past the keeper with no fine leg in place, and with replays revealing she had overstepped. This has been a frequent issue, with the margin of Wong’s misdemeanors a sign that her approach to the crease is not clicking as it should. Two more no-balls would follow, as well as a wide, a 10-ball over illustrating how far this child of The Hundred is from her best.
Speaking after play, Heather Knight laid out her defence of the decision to pick Wong, citing a couple of positive practice sessions and the desire to see how she might fare in a match, having been a non-playing reserve for so long.
“We wanted to get a bit of context of where she’s at,” the England captain said. “And Issy wanted a bit of context of where she’s at as well, in terms of playing her today. And after a couple of really good training sessions, she felt in a really good place.”
The fear is that this could snowball. Lack of confidence begets lack of confidence. One bad ball brings two. This will be a test of Wong’s capacity to come back. “She’s a pretty resilient character,” said Knight. “She’s a pretty positive person, so I don’t think it will affect her too much.”
That resilience was put to the test today. Wong came back with the game done, 13 needed from eight overs. “She’s been given five [balls] at a time in The Hundred,” said Knight. “She hasn’t had a chance to come back from spells.”
Eight of those runs were squandered in two balls. The first was a wide full toss, and smashed through cover, the second a long-hop carved behind square. Wong threw her head back and let out a howl. Three balls later, she erred full again, and was pumped back down the ground. Again she had gone for 12, and the only mercy was that no extra balls were needed.
There is an element here of Wong being slightly over-elevated. She is massively marketable, and was front and centre of England’s Ashes advertising. She has cultivated some of that herself, open in her aim of bowling 80mph, a feat not yet achieved in women’s cricket, and now appearing as a pundit as often as she does on the field. To an extent, perception has outsripped reality. She’s not, right now, as good as she’s been sold. What she is, is a hugely talented 21-year-old, who might just need a bit of time away from the spotlight to get back to the basics: bowling fast and accurately, with her foot behind the line. Instead, she was put under the glare.
Is this what international cricket is for? Some resting and testing is fine and necessary, and Knight insisted England had not underestimated Sri Lanka. It’s also true that their sides will skew young because of the number of players that have been brought through recently. Seven of this side are aged 24 or younger. Two are teenagers. Today, it showed.
“We all had a bad day at the same time,” Knight said. The hope is that, for Wong, whose promise is starting to slip away, that it doesn’t amount to anything more.
