Sunday 23 October 2016 11:11, UK
In the latest of HPE's data series in partnership with Sky Sports, Richard Isaacs looks at the transition of the England Women's cricket team since the seismic change in captaincy...
When Heather Knight was appointed as England Women's captain back on June 5, 2016, it ended an era of huge success under the universally popular Charlotte Edwards, with many wondering whether those successes would continue.
It was deemed to be a controversial move by the incumbent coach Mark Robinson to cull the career of one of the leading women's cricketers of all time and give the new breed of young talent the opportunity to bed into the international game under his and Knight's steer.
But a record of nine wins in 11 one-day and T20 international matches is a decent start to their reign, especially as it includes a fine away 3-2 series win over the ICC World T20 champions West Indies which concluded this week.
There was much made of a need to be more attacking with the bat and the figures have supported that. Though it should be added at this point that three of the matches were against a distinctly poor Pakistan side and, in many ways, used as 'experimental' games with shorter boundaries and more emphasis on high scoring.
When you consider than in the 62 one-day internationals England played from the start of 2010, they averaged 4.41 runs per over with the bat, in the eight games in the 'new era', that rose to 4.85 runs per over.
But, maybe more telling is that fact that in those 62 games prior to the summer, England's batsmen hit just 16 sixes - of which lower order hitter Katherine Brunt accounted for six of them. In the eight games since, the tally of maximums stands at 15, mainly courtesy of Nat Sciver's unshackled hitting of eight.
Compare those figures with the other nations in the women's game in the same time frames and, while England hit more boundary fours, their sixes tally was the least.
Since the start of 2010 up until the commencement of the Pakistan series in England, Edwards' side's sixes made up just 0.85 per cent of the total runs scored, whereas West Indies' maximum clubbing totalled 5.24 per cent of their runs - 98 sixes in 69 games.
So, since the Robinson and Knight axis commenced, that percentage has now climbed to 5.52 - a marked difference!
With players like Surrey Stars' all-rounder Sciver in the ranks, England have the power to start building large scores, for she is one of only two players since mid-June to register a strike-rate of over 100 having scored over 100 runs.
Sciver's 310 runs in 287 balls at an average of 51.66 and a strike-rate of 108.01 just about beats Irishwoman Clare Shillington's 121 runs in 113 balls (strike-rate of 107.07).
Of course, as mentioned earlier, it is very easy to bounce these statistics off when they are against lowly opposition. England hit three centuries, an average of 72.50 runs per wicket and a strike-rate of 109.70 against the keen but ultimately well beaten Pakistani ladies.
Pakistan, in reply, averaged 15.06 per wicket with a strike-rate of just 54.45 and Bismah Maroof's 61 and Sidra Ameen's 52 were the only half-centuries to applaud from their balcony.
England were tested more against West Indies, although they came through the test with a 3-2 series win, knowing that one more victory on their forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka, who are eighth out of eight teams in the ICC Women's Championship, will book their place in next year's World Cup, which is to be held in England.
The West Indies trip was a decidedly low scoring affair with neither side's batting average climbing above 20 per wicket, and the runs per over trickling along at three-and-a-half runs per over.
But England did just about get the edge with an average of 18.17 and a strike-rate of 3.65 while West Indies could only manage 16.91 and 3.42 respectively.
However, not since their January 2002 5-0 series loss to India have England's batsmen recorded a lower team average in a bi-lateral ODI series, when under Clare Connor's leadership, they averaged just 13.07.
This will not overly concern the coach and captain however, as young talents such as Alex Hartley and Sophie Ecclestone have come to the fore, especially with ball in hand.
Slow-left-arm Lancastrian, Hartley, returned two four-wicket hauls in the West Indies series and that is a decidedly rare feat - in fact, she is just the second to do it in a bi-lateral series after Rosalie Birch in 2005 against Sri Lanka.
There is much to be encouraged about. A series against lowly Sri Lanka to come will give this set of players - the youngest England ODI side for just shy of three years, with an average age of 25 years and 79 days - more building time ahead of bigger challenges ahead, including the World Cup which kicks off on June 26, 2017.
And with the continued success of the KIA Women's Super League, there are many more players bubbling under the radar, waiting for the chance to pounce.
England women's cricket is in very good hands - the future is bright indeed.
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