Alice Capsey: England all-rounder called up to T20 squad for South Africa tour after initial omission

Alice Capsey has been called up to England’s T20 squad for the upcoming series in South Africa after her initial omission.

Having been a surprise omission from the original panel, the 20-year old joins up with the group on Monday following a couple of minor injury concerns within the squad.

England are playing three T20s and three ODIs before a single four-day Test on the tour of South Africa, which begins on November 24 and runs to December 18, live on Sky Sports Cricket.

Capsey, who was initially a notable absentee from the T20 squad, has not scored more than 25 in any of her last five T20 internationals and was run out for a single in England’s dismal six-wicket loss to West Indies on October 15 that knocked them out of the World Cup.

Head coach Jon Lewis said the 20-year-old had been “trending in the wrong direction” with her game and had called on her to find more consistent form.

“What I do know about Alice is that she’s incredibly strong-willed and really determined to be the best player she can be,” said Lewis after announcing his white-ball squad last week.

“I’m really convinced that over a period of time this will be a line in the sand for her to look back and say ‘actually, I just need to adapt my game and play slightly more consistently when I pull on an England shirt’.

“There is no doubt in my mind that over time she will play lots and lots of games for England in all formats of the game, but at the moment she is just trending in the wrong direction and we need to have a little reset, to be honest.”

Capsey took her first five-wicket haul but was dismissed for a first-ball duck in Melbourne Renegades’ defeat by Perth Scorchers in the Women’s Big Bash League earlier this month.

The Surrey youngster took 5-25 in 3.5 overs, with three of those wickets coming in the final over.

England in South Africa fixtures – live on Sky Sports

T20 series

Sunday November 24: South Africa vs England – Buffalo Park Cricket Stadium, East London
Wednesday November 27: South Africa vs England – Willowmoore Park, Benoni
Saturday November 30: South Africa vs England – SuperSport Park, Centurion

ODI series

Wednesday December 4: South Africa vs England – Kimberley Oval, Kimberley
Sunday December 8: South Africa vs England – Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium, Durban
Wednesday December 11: South Africa vs England – JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom

Test match

December 15-18: South Africa v England – Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein

Watch England’s three-format tour of South Africa live on Sky Sports Cricket from November 24 until the run up to Christmas. Get Sky Sports to watch cricket and lots more live.