Lauren Bell says India contests stand England in good stead for World Cup

South Wales Guardian

6 hours ago

Under new head coach Charlotte Edwards, England completed a clean sweep against the West Indies before falling to defeat against India.
England were beaten 3-2 in the T20 series and 2-1 in the ODIs, but with the World Cup fast approaching, Bell insisted there is plenty to learn from this summer.
She told the PA news agency: 'We've obviously had two fairly different series this summer. We had the West Indies that everyone performed really well and India challenged us a little bit more.
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'It's exciting seeing that we're going to come up against some of the best teams and I think situations like the India series we just had is great preparation really. You learn so much more when you play against top teams.
'It's really exciting where we're at as a team, where we're going and obviously we're working super hard. We've got a few things that everyone, I guess, is going to work on moving forwards to that World Cup.
'It's an exciting time to be part of this team.'
This year's World Cup takes place in India and Sri Lanka and England open their campaign on October 3 with a clash against South Africa in Bengaluru.
The tournament is England's first under Edwards, who has just completed her first summer in charge and Bell has enjoyed working with a familiar face.
'It's been great, I've worked with Lot for a number of years because she was down at Hampshire and the Southern Brave,' Bell added.
'She's been great, she's got this ethos of winning and performance-based selection, which obviously takes a bit of getting used to with a new coach and the way she goes about things.
'She's obviously got a vast amount of experience and a really successful start to her coaching.
'It's been great, the way she manages everyone and speaks to us is really exciting. It's really cool to be a part of what she's hopefully pushing this team to do and to succeed.'
England face a busy 12 month period with the 50-over World Cup and home games over the summer before the T20 World Cup starts next.
Next year's tournament follows the 2022 European Championship and the upcoming Women's Rugby World Cup as another major women's sporting event being held on British soil.
Looking ahead to the T20 World Cup, Bell said: 'Super excited, I think any player wants to play at a home World Cup. I think it's so cool with family and friends around and hopefully (can) put women's cricket on a platform at home.
'It's so important bringing it to the home venues and getting them hopefully sold out and people being able to see the sport.
'The more we can get it accessible to people to watch, the more they'll be like 'this is pretty cool, I want to get involved' and start playing. It's such a massive opportunity for cricket in England.'