Nottinghamshire spinner Kirstie Gordon has received her first call-up to the England Test squad ahead of this week’s must-win Ashes Test.
The 21-year-old, England’s leading wicket-taker in last year’s ICC Women’s World T20, further impressed the selectors by taking eight wickets in the warm-up fixture between Australia and England Women’s Academy.
England trail the multi-format series 6-0 after suffering defeats in all three ODIs, with ten points still to play for.
Four of those will go to the side which wins the only Test, taking place in Taunton, meaning England’s hopes of claiming the Ashes will disappear should they fail to win.
"It's obviously a very important match for us and we need to win it to stay in the series,” said England captain Heather Knight.
"The beauty of the multi-format points series means we're still very much in the battle – a normal bilateral series that finished like the ODIs would have been finished, but we can get back to 6-4 with a win in the Test match and that's exciting.
"The warm-up at Millfield was ideal. We saw batters get runs and spend time in the middle and the bowlers performed well to bowl out the opposition twice on a flat one. We're raring to go again to get back into the Ashes."
Gordon’s county team-mate Jenny Gunn will remain with the England Women’s Academy for their T20s against Australia A and Ireland.
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A Notts Outlaws squad brimming with international talent will commence their T20 Vitality Blast campaign against Worcestershire Rapids at Trent Bridge on Thursday 18 July, with adult tickets priced at £10. Secure your seats…