Megan Schutt keen to keep getting better

Megan Schutt is known around the world for her ability to swing the new ball. Even in the most unfavourable conditions, Schutt finds a way to get the white Kookaburra to hoop around corners, and if it isn’t doing as much as she would like, she pulls out her deadly leg-cutter that has batters often feeling for the ball.



On Thursday (September 5), in Australia’s opening game of their tour of the West Indies, when Schutt took the ball, she got into the act immediately. Off her very first delivery, the right-arm seamer got a delivery to jag back in and trap Natasha McLean, who was caught on the crease, plumb in front of the stumps. It was a dream start to the tour for Schutt, who is generally slow to get off the mark.



“It happened on both innings, so I’m not really sure how many times that’s happened,” Schutt said on Friday (September 6). “Normally first hit-outs (are) a bit of an average one for me, so it’s nice to start off well.”



Schutt’s strike triggered a dramatic top-order collapse for West Indies as they fell to 23 for 4 in 7.3 overs. It severely derailed the chase, as the hosts were dismissed for 130, crashing to a 178-run loss at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.



Generally one to rely on swing, the 26-year-old has more recently started to use the leg-cutter and cross seam deliveries in conditions that are not as helpful. During the Ashes series in England, the right-armer picked up ten wickets at an average of 15.40, on rather slow pitches.



On this tour too, Megan Schutt has quickly realised that it is her change ups that will bring the wickets, since the ball isn’t quite hooping around corners.



“(There’s) not as much swing as I’d like, but it just makes more use of the leg-cutters and things like that. I’ve got to adjust my lines accordingly.”



One thing that has stood out about Schutt has been her constant desire to evolve as a bowler and find new ways to pick up wickets. Someone who started off as a threat largely with the new ball, she has developed herself into someone who can deliver a wicket or dry up the runs at any point in the innings. However, this has not stopped her from added a new string to her bow.



“At the moment I’m looking to come around the wicket and still trying to swing the ball to the left-handers,” she said. “I didn’t really get the opportunity to do it yesterday, and I’m not sure how much swing I am going to get here, so that’s a work in progress for the future.”



Despite their dominant performance in the first game— which included typically blistering hundreds from Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning— Australia are aware that they need to be at their best to win the series. While the hosts have been struggling with injuries— as many as four of their best players out of the series, and Kycia Knight the latest entrant to that group— Schutt said that the visitors will not let up. With ICC Championship points at stake, the incentive to keep pushing for a win is never in doubt.



“I think every game is important obviously, but I think now that we have those championship points on the line, it’s incentive to play better cricket the entire time,” she explained.



“To see two centurions go out there was obviously really special. Obviously the first hit out’s normally the tough one, so it’s nice to have a win first up. (It’s now about) repeating the same thing, to be honest. I think there were some pretty crisp things that happened out there and I think it’s just trying to do the same thing over and over.”



The second ODI will be played at the Sir Vivan Richards Stadium in North Sound on Sunday (September 8).