Team Preview: Germany

Popularly known as the ‘Golden Eagles’, Germany are on a bit of a roll at the moment, with 14 T20I wins on the trot. Skipper Anuradha Doddaballapur and her team whitewashed all of Oman, Austria and France, breaking a string of records along the way.

Only in their third European region qualifiers, Germany are keen to put in some improved performances through the tournament and really challenge the top teams. Ahead of her team’s departure for Spain, Doddaballapur admitted that her side will be faced with an uphill task of having to beat several higher-ranked opponents, “but we’re going to go all guns blazing every game, because we want to emerge on top as well”.

Team talk: Despite the pandemic, Germany have been one of the more active squads, playing as many as three series since February 2020. Doddaballapur believes that pandemic has been a bit of a blessing in disguise for the team – allowing individuals to work on their skills, and the team to get fitter as a whole.

“Previously, with Covid around for a while, there hasn’t been as much cricket as one would have liked, but we’ve tried our best to kind of keep our fitness routine going, training as often as we can and getting together in groups with all the restrictions and precautions in place,” Doddaballapur explained. “But last year we managed to get a few series in as well. Although it’s a while back, we had a successful tour to Oman early last year, as well as to Austria in August last year. So, it was a fair bit of games considering the last 18 months have been pretty difficult globally. I’m really happy that we’ve been able to take a lot of positives from that going into the qualifier.”

“We’re super excited for the tournament, and can’t wait for it to get underway.”

Key player: Germany’s impressive run in the last 18 months has been headlined by the contributions of their opening batters Christina Gough and Janet Ronalds – both of whom went on a record-breaking spree against Austria last year. The pair scored their maiden T20I centuries, and also shared record opening stands, both unconquered, of 191 and 198 on consecutive days. Since June 2020, Gough (334) and Ronalds (261) occupy two of the top three run-scoring positions – the former’s runs coming at a Bradman-esque average of 111.33.

“We’ve got a pretty good batting line up. I think that’s one of our strengths as well. Some of our top batters – according to statistics at least – are Tina, Janet, (Anna) Healey. They’ve been very consistent for us over the last couple of years,” added the skipper.

One to watch: On 13 August 2020, Emma Bargna became the first German player to register a T20I five-fer. Opening the bowling, the teenager ripped through Austria’s line-up to finish with incredible figures of 4-0-9-5. She currently sits second on the list of Germany’s top wicket-takers with 15 scalps in 15 games.

Doddaballapur, showered praise on her young teammate, saying Bargna has shown great potential in her short career, but what has impressed her more is the youngster’s consistency over the last couple of series.

“Emma is our youngest… She is something else!”

Squad: Anuradha Doddaballabur (c), Emma Bargna, Milena Beresford, Anne Bierwisch, Staphanie Frohnmayer, Christina Gough, Anna Healey, Bianca Maes Loch, Suzanne McAnanama-Bereton, Antonia Meyenborg, Janet Ronalds, Sharanya Sadarangani, Karthika Vijayaraghavann (wk), Peris Wadenpohl