ELIZABETH BOTCHERBY: Capsey's breakout innings at Lord's caught many off-guard; a fairytale debut at the home of cricket; a teenager, unknown beyond the most dedicated followers of the women's game, stealing column inches from World Cup winners
Sunday, July 25, 2021 was a day Alice Capsey will remember for the rest of her life.
Four days after dispatching 2017 Cricket World Cup winner Alex Hartley for four with her first bat swing on national television, this precocious talent scored a half-century for Oval Invincibles against London Spirit in The Hundred. At Lord’s. Seventeen days before her 17th birthday.
Deandra Dottin, Deepti Sharma, Heather Knight, Charlie Dean... no one was spared as the teenager went about her business, as she crafted a 41-ball 59 with patience and youthful bravado in equal measure.
At the other end Dane van Niekerk – a 194-cap South Africa international – stood relatively unneeded, relegated to junior partner by a player who, at the time, was still waiting to collect her GCSE results. Together they scored 80 runs off 59 balls; 47 came from the bat of Capsey at a strike rate of 167.85, van Niekerk scored 27 off 31.
It was an innings which caught the majority of the cricket-watching public completely off-guard; a fairytale debut at the home of cricket; a teenager, unknown beyond the most dedicated followers of the women's game, stealing column inches from World Cup winners and seasoned internationals.
One week after her eye-catching half-century, I watched Capsey in action as Oval Invincibles took on Northern Superchargers at Headingley. On that occasion she didn't impress with the bat, scoring eight runs before being sent packing by Alice Davidson-Richards. With the ball, however, it was an entirely different story.
Alice Capsey enjoyed a breakthrough season with South East Stars and Oval Invincibles
In the Invincibles' previous two outings, Capsey bowled a grand total of zero deliveries; for South East Stars, she had bowled 17 overs from a possible 52 in 2021 and all the signs said part-time spinner.
Yet, when faced with an opening duo of Lauren Winfield-Hill and Jemimah Rodrigues, van Niekerk tossed the ball to the teenager to kickstart proceedings – and boy, did she deliver.
Ten balls bowled in the powerplay, five runs conceded – consider my puzzlement swiftly abandoned for awe. Returning to the attack in the second half of the innings, she picked up two wickets in three balls, dispensing with Laura Wolvaardt and Bess Heath in the blink of an eye.
It was all in vain – Northern Superchargers would go on to win by four runs – but after recording figures of 2 for 9 from her 20 deliveries, Capsey had once again muscled her way into the headlines. Her performance at Lord's was no fluke, here was a player with a bright future ahead.
Of course, she didn't arrive out of nowhere. Jonathan Batty knew enough about the young allrounder to offer her a contract while journalist Raf Nicholson, having seen a 15-year-old Capsey in action, tipped her for future England glory well before Lord's.
In 2020, she was South East Stars' leading run-scorer in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, making 141 at 28.20 and finishing the season with a quickfire 75-ball 73 against Sunrisers.
ALICE CAPSEY IN 2021Heyhoe Flint Trophy: 142 runs, ave 20.28, 5 wickets, ave 32.20Charlotte Edwards Cup: 203 runs, ave 40.60, 7 wickets, ave 15.00The Hundred: 150 runs, s/r 126, 10 wickets, eco 90
And prior to The Hundred, she had been ever-present for the Stars in both List A and T20 cricket in 2021, amassing 93 runs and four wickets in seven appearances – by no means standout numbers but hey, what were you doing when you were 16?
Her half-century at Lord's, however, was something of a watershed moment.
Granted, she didn’t reach the same dizzying heights again during The Hundred, but she remained an integral component of the Invincibles XI.
One hundred and fifty runs flowed from her bat, including a timely 20-ball 26 against Birmingham Phoenix in the eliminator, while her right-arm offbreaks yielded 10 wickets, with Knight, Sarah Taylor, Wolvaardt, Danni Wyatt and Georgia Elwiss (twice) among her victims. Only Hayley Matthews and Invincibles teammate Marizanne Kapp produced better all-round showings in The Hundred – elite company for one so young – and to cap it all off, she finished the tournament as a champion.
On her return to South East Stars, she was electric, scoring 139 runs and taking four wickets, including back-to-back knocks of 38 (28) and 61 (46) to help her side reach the Charlotte Edwards Cup final and a player of the match-winning innings of 40 not out (26) at the Ageas Bowl to secure her second winner’s medal in 16 days.
Three Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy outings brought the curtain down on the season, with highlights including a half-century against Lightning and figures of 2 for 32 against Thunder, and the 17-year-old finished 2021 with 495 runs and 22 wickets in 23 appearances.
The personal accolades, too, have come thick and fast: Cricket Writers' Club emerging player of the year, PCA young player of the year, PCA women's team of the year, a professional contract with South East Stars and, come January, a spot in the England A squad to tour Australia.
Capsey has been selected to tour Australia with England A
But in the end, it all comes back to that unexpected 41-ball innings at Lord's. A breakout knock which, without The Hundred, either wouldn't have happened or would have joined her 50-over effort against Sunrisers in 2020 in the depths of cricketing anonymity.
A special player blossomed prematurely during the summer, catapulted into the limelight to offer fans a taste of what women’s cricket has to look forward to for the next two decades.
However, it is important to remember that Capsey is still a teenager. She is not a complete player – her consistency and List A game, in particular, require work – and we cannot afford to mismanage or overburden Laura . Those charged with her development must heed the tales of Sam Robson, Jofra Archer, Jack Wilshere and many, many more.
Summarising that famous day at Lord's, Alison Mitchell needed just nine words: “Alice Capsey is going to be quite a star.”
For now, though, she should be allowed to just enjoy her cricket and as the watching public, we should be privileged to be invited along for the ride.
THE CRICKETER'S PEOPLE OF 2021 (links open in external window in app)
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