Sophia Dunkley using England omission to work on tweaked technique away from limelight

The England opener, who has been left out of the squad for the series against Pakistan, was the latest guest on the Under The Lid - Inside Pro Cricket podcast

Nick Friend | 09/05/2024 at 09:20

Sophia Dunkley has admitted that her performances for England "in the last nine months" haven't been what "I've needed" after being left out of the T20I and ODI squads to face Pakistan.

Dunkley was left out for the upcoming series, which begins on Saturday at Edgbaston, after a wretched run in international cricket, which dates back to last summer's Women's Ashes series.

Since a half century against Australia at Edgbaston, there have been just two scores above 15 for Dunkley in England colours during a tough run of form, and Maia Bouchier overtook her in the pecking order during the recent New Zealand series.

Almost an ever-present over the last couple of years, though, Dunkley confessed while speaking to the Under the Lid podcast, which is produced in partnership by the Professional Cricketers' Association and The Cricketer, that her omission had still come as a major disappointment.

"It is a pretty gutting thing to hear, it hurts a lot," she said. "But I think ultimately I haven't put in the performances in international cricket that I've needed to in the last nine months. So, I think right now it is a good opportunity for me to play domestic cricket and work on things to come back stronger.

"Ultimately, my ambition is to play for England and to impact games for England. I think one of the main reasons was that they didn't want to bring me on tour to sit on the bench and not play cricket. That in itself is quite a positive thing, so I can go and play."

dunkley090501

^{Sophia Dunkley has rediscovered her form for South East Stars (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)}

The early signs have been positive: in the two games since Dunkley was left out, she has made scores of 67 and 130 for South East Stars, grappling at the same time with a technique that she has been tweaking and road-testing on the international stage, with little space to workshop it elsewhere.

"I've spent a lot of the last six months changing a lot of my batting technique, changing a lot of my mental approach to cricket," she explained. "I'm still tweaking things today in the nets.

"I guess on reflection I kind of underestimated how hard that might be in international cricket, because the last six months I've played in the Big Bash, which is quite a big competition, and international cricket, so it is pretty hard to be working on things while having the pressure of playing for England at the same time.

"So, while it is pretty gutting and it still hurts now, in the long run hopefully it is going to be for the best and will give me some time to play and hopefully come out the other side."

Jon Lewis, England Women's head coach, added: "The message I have sent to Sophia is I'd like to see her back playing her best cricket. When she's playing her best cricket she's one of our best cricketers.

"So we've decided to give her the space away from the biggest limelight in terms of the Pakistan series to go and find the rhythm of batting and get back to your best and come back to us and seeing if you can make an impact again in international cricket.

"I still have a really strong belief that Sophia has a big future playing for England. I think her talent is incredible. She just needs a bit of space to get back to her best cricket and work out how to cope with the situations she's been put in."

The Under The Lid podcast, a collaboration between The Cricketer and the PCA, aims to highlight the realities of being a professional player with weekly episodes featuring personalities from across the circuit.

Join The Cricketer's brand new Whatsapp channel for the latest breaking news, comment and features - click here to become a member