Understanding the art of Ecclestone

SOPHIE Ecclestone stands at the top of her mark which is a tad ahead of the umpire. She is only a few feet away from the popping crease. That is all she needs to deliver the ball and make an impact. Her action is so minimalistic that she could do it all day, literally. In fact, that is what she does, more often than not, when Ecclestone takes the field for England in the whites.

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In the six Tests the left-arm spinner has played so far, Ecclestone has taken 27 wickets, averaging 30.85 while striking at 67.2. These numbers should not come as a surprise. After all, she is the No 1 ranked bowler in both ODIS and T20Is. If there was an ICC ranking for women's Tests, she would be at the top of it too. However, the thing that stands apart is the number of balls she has bowled. In 11 innings, Ecclestone has bowled 1815 legitimate deliveries. To put these numbers into context, only three players in the history of women's Tests have bowled more overs per innings than Ecclestone (27.3) Jill Saulbrey (31.5), Catherine Campbell (28.1) and Neetu David (27.4).

Ask her how she has been able to do that whenever she plays a Test, Ecclestone will say her simple action, which came to her naturally from a very young age, plays a crucial role. "I'm quite lucky that I'm repeatable (action) actually. I keep repeating that and keep practicing my best ball and training with my spin coach, Gareth Breese," Ecclestone tells this daily.