Day 26: England's women have questions to answer

Less than a day after it was announced that New Zeland's men would travel for a series with England, similar plans have been revealed to bring over New Zealand's women as well.

With England's women currently in New Zealand, it will be great to see how both teams continue to progress with a 50-over world cup next year.

New Zealand has world-class players in captain Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates, Any Satterthwaite, Leah Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr. Together, they can beat any side in the world, and when New Zealand is on top form, they are a delight to watch.

England is on the rung of teams just above New Zealand and are also prone to the occasional off day. The top order's capability to plunder runs has to an extent shut out any potential new batters in the ranks.  

It can be argued that the Kia Super League and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint has not produced someone with the weight of runs to replace them. Georgia Adams has raised her hand as someone who could force their way into the England squad in the next year.

Tash Farrant's inclusion has also proven that the door to England selection is closed to no one. That gives hope to the new raft of full-time players. Some of those names are further off than others but now with an opportunity to practice every day. With the chance to play on pitches that have been served up by county cricket, England is hoping their problem is not having enough players to pick from but having too many.

Lisa Keightley may have been in the England job for over a year now the pandemic means she still hasn't had a real opportunity to see everyone play. How much that might dictate England's selection for the year ahead is yet to be determined. With bubbles still a real possibility for a long time, it may necessitate more rotation despite England's schedule relatively light.

The fringe players will also need to be on hand in case of injuries, and other consequences mean that they will have more nets and warm-up games to impress the England selectors.

I would like to see England start to take a specialist wicket-keeper as back-up for Amy Jones. I know that Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield-Hill would argue that they are wicket-keepers, but I feel they should concentrate on their batting, especially in ODIs.

In the warm-up games that England's contracted players played in at Derby last year, Michael Bates donned the gloves for one of the teams. It felt like an opportunity missed.

Ellie Threlkeld would be one of the favourites to take that next step up, although others would have a good argument for their inclusion.