England cricket ace Maia Bouchier lifts lid on World Cup woes as South Africa tour begins

The opener dropped 3 catches arsenic England were beaten by West Indies successful their last radical crippled successful Dubai, going retired of the contention connected nett run-rate arsenic a result

Maia Bouchier is the archetypal to admit that she overthinks things, truthful moving connected from the disappointment of past month’s T20 World Cup has not been easy.

The England women’s opener dropped 3 catches arsenic England were beaten by West Indies successful their last radical crippled successful Dubai, going retired of the contention connected nett run-rate arsenic a result. It was cruel for a squad who had won each crippled up to that point, with Bouchier smashing an unbeaten 50 successful the erstwhile triumph implicit Scotland.

A period on, Bouchier has joined backmost up with her England teammates successful Loughborough up of a circuit to South Africa – with a imaginable Test debut connected the cards. And from the disappointment of the World Cup, she explained that the full squad is doing their champion to look guardant alternatively than back.

“I’ve decidedly reflected astir that crippled and spoken astir it with a batch of people,” said Bouchier, speaking arsenic MCC launched its ‘Batting For a Better Future’ sustainability campaign.

“Those moments volition astir apt hap and I deliberation taking it successful your stride, determination volition ever beryllium ups and downs, that is 1 crippled successful your career. I effort to not overthink astir those moments arsenic overmuch arsenic possible, due to the fact that I americium an overthinker. The lone mode you tin framework it is what tin we bash amended adjacent time? That is what we’re trying to do, and what we are asking of everyone successful the team.

“The conversations going into the tour, radical are taking this grooming campy arsenic a accidental to reset and speech astir what we tin bash earlier we get to South Africa. I deliberation we person a week earlier our archetypal crippled erstwhile we arrive. So we privation to instrumentality vantage of talking arsenic a team, we’re doing a batch much enactment astir connection and being honorable with each different astir our games.”

MCC’s Batting For a Better Future run aims to usage the Club’s uniquely autarkic presumption wrong cricket to item the challenges that clime alteration airs connected the sport.

England instrumentality connected a South African squad who person reached the past 2 T20 World Cup finals, losing retired to New Zealand connected this occasion, having knocked retired defending champions Australia successful the semi-finals. Beating them connected their ain spot volition not beryllium easy, but Bouchier believes England are successful a bully spot for a circuit which has other meaning for her.

She said: “I emotion South Africa arsenic a spot and I’ve got fractional my household successful Cape Town. It mightiness beryllium a precise peculiar infinitesimal if I marque my Test debut. I’ve worked truly hard connected my crippled successful the past 2 years, mostly connected the intelligence level. I’ve worked hard connected the skills but the intelligence broadside is wherever I’ve made the astir progress.

“It volition beryllium a truly bully challenge, you person seen however good they person played, and however they deserved to triumph that contention but past New Zealand conscionable came retired of nowhere.

"It’s astonishing but it’s truly breathtaking seeing a crippled similar that successful a World Cup. South Africa are a precise bully squad astatine the infinitesimal truthful we request to person the conversations astir however we tin onslaught them and enactment unit connected them.”

Maia Bouchier was speaking astatine the launch of MCC’s Batting For a Better Future campaign. For much information, sojourn // // //lords.org/better-future.