MacDonald-Gay receives first England call-up

Ryana MacDonald-Gay was part of the South East Stars team that was beaten by The Blaze in the final of the Charlotte Edwards Cup on Saturday

Bowler Ryana MacDonald-Gay has received her first call-up to an England senior squad, as a late addition for their one-day international series against New Zealand.

The 20-year-old will join the squad in Durham on Tuesday before the series opener on Wednesday (13:00 BST).

MacDonald-Gay is the second-highest wicket-taker in this year's Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy with 11 wickets in four games, at an average of 11.75.

She has represented England A and was on their tour of New Zealand in March where she took six wickets in two 50-over matches.

"Ryana has been a standout bowler in domestic 50-over cricket and had a good 50-over tour of New Zealand with our England A team," said head coach Jon Lewis.

"We have brought her in at this point as we have a couple of niggles in the squad. We have been really impressed with her skill level and accuracy.

"She is an exciting young talent and we look forward to having her in the squad."

England captain Heather Knight added: "She’s a good young cricketer and she’s got good skills.

"It’s nice to have her here and it shows that a strong performance in domestic cricket shows that there’s opportunities to go higher."

MacDonald-Gay also impressed for Oval Invincibles in last summer's Hundred competition, taking eight wickets.

Ball-by-ball commentary of all three ODIs will be available on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, with live text and in-play video clips on the BBC Sport website and app.

England squad for New Zealand ODIs

England ODI squad: Heather Knight (captain), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones (wk), Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt.

Knight targets consistency

While the T20 series that follows the three ODIs may be more important in the short term for England before October's World Cup in that format in Bangladesh, the matches give Knight's side a rare opportunity in the 50-over game.

England have played just 13 completed ODIs since the start of 2022 and are yet to finesse their attacking approach under Lewis in the longer format.

The 50-over games will play a pivotal part in the Women's Ashes in Australia in early 2025, before a World Cup in the format in India next autumn.

"I want to see a bit more consistency from batters and bowlers," said Knight.

"The batting group putting those performances a bit more consistently and going on and getting those big scores like Nat [Sciver-Brunt] did in that last game [against Pakistan in May].

"With the ball I want us to be a bit more relentless and ruthless in how we execute what we’re trying to do and how we prolong that in ODI cricket.

"We’re trying to build the kind of side we want and to play how we want.

"The performance at Chelmsford was a blueprint for how to we want play our ODI cricket and hopefully we’ll see more of that in this series."

England v New Zealand schedule

First ODI: 26 June, Durham (13:00 BST)

Second ODI: 30 June, Worcester (11:00 BST)

Third ODI: 3 July, Bristol (13:00 BST)