Charlie Dean Captains a Changed England Side for the Ireland ODIs
Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amy Jones, Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Bell all miss out. Three one-day internationals at Leicester, Derby and Worcester in early September.
England have named a 15-player squad for three one-day internationals against Ireland in early September, with Charlie Dean of Somerset captaining.
The fixtures
1 September at Grace Road, Leicester, 1pm. 3 September at the County Ground, Derby, 1pm. 6 September at New Road, Worcester, 10:30am.
The squad
Charlie Dean (captain), Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kira Chathli, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, Sophia Dunkley, Lauren Filer, Dani Gibson, Jodi Grewcock, Freya Kemp, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Charis Pavely, Grace Potts, Mady Villiers, Issy Wong.
Who is missing, and why it is not one story
Four absences, four different reasons, and they are worth separating rather than reading as a single selection statement.
Nat Sciver-Brunt misses out while managing fitness and recovery. Danni Wyatt-Hodge is also managing fitness. Amy Jones is rested deliberately, to widen the pool. Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Bell are simply not selected.
A squad that is missing its most established all-rounder, its first-choice wicketkeeper and its best spinner at the same time would normally read as a crisis. Here it reads as a decision: head coach Charlotte Edwards has an eye on a longer horizon than this series, and three matches against Ireland at home in September is close to the safest place to look at players you have not looked at.
Dean's second turn
Dean has captained England before, standing in for the New Zealand one-day internationals earlier in the season. This is a continuation rather than a debut, which matters: leading a rebuilt side is a different job from leading a full-strength one, and she has already done the easier version of it.
Tilly Corteen-Coleman's summer
One name in that list arrives on form. Corteen-Coleman finished the recent Hundred as one of three players tied at the top of the women's wicket-taking list on 13, alongside Samantha Bates and Deepti Sharma. A short-format wicket tally does not automatically transfer to fifty-over cricket, but a bowler who has just spent a tournament being trusted at the hard moments is not an unknown quantity.
Ireland's side of it
Ireland get three one-day internationals against England at home in England, which is a fixture list they do not often receive, and they get it against a side with four regulars missing. That is a genuine opportunity rather than a consolation. The gap between these two teams is real, but it is narrower against this England squad than against a full one.