Day 61: Hit your way into form

When you are out of form, it can feel like nothing you try works. You can, of course, go back to the drawing board and start from the basics with a coach. There is another course of action just to go out there and play some shots.

To feel bat on ball is the ultimate confidence booster; you might get lucky early on a lofted shot evades the fielder a ball that you might have chopped on misses the stumps by inches. The innings then feels like you can do noo wrong. This helps to bring back the old you, and five games down the line, you are back in the swing of things.

One player that might benefit from such an approach is Danni Wyatt. In the recent ODI series, Wyatt was struggling for runs. What is glorious about the T20 format is how those early powerplay overs can reward a batter who throws everything at them. When you are out of form, you feel like there is nothing to lose. It also feels like it is Wyatt's best format, and it will be good to see her get through those early overs and kick on.

There was good news for Wyatt's opening partner Tammy Beaumont, who moved to the top of the ODI rankings. A super ODI series against New Zealand was able to showcase her abilities.

Beaumont has become a consistent player since the 2017 World Cup and had the 2021 World Cup had gone ahead around this time, and she would have been in peak touch.

It will be interesting to see who England select in the T20 series with the Commonwealth Games and a T20 World Cup to come next year. England will want to look at some of the players on the fringes, as it could be that with such a busy year, England's first-choice side may not always be available.

It might be time to look at some of the batting slots, not because there is much wrong with the top order, but to give players a run of games will help develop younger players and provide them with a taste of international cricket.

I would imagine that Maddy Villiers will join Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn in the starting line up. It will be interesting where Sophia Dunkley fits in. It would be a shame if she was in the squad and didn't get a game.

The T20 series should be closer than the ODI series, but I wouldn't bet against a similar scoreline. Let's hope for a few fireworks from the bat of Sophie Devine as well.