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BBC News
3 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Six games, six wins - but what have England learned?
Charlotte Edwards was tasked with rebuilding England after a brutal Ashes drubbing which resulted in heavy criticism of the team's attitude, culture and on-field performances. The legendary former captain has started her era as head coach with a T20 and one-day international clean sweep over a depleted West Indies, but this was no surprise. Ultimately, Edwards and new captain Nat Sciver-Brunt could not have asked for an easier start to their tenure. Edwards' predecessor Jon Lewis also began his stint as head coach with a clean sweep over the Windies away from home, creating a sense of optimism and excitement before it all came crashing down with two disappointing T20 World Cup campaigns and the ill-fated Ashes to start this this series win comes with a word of caution - we have seen this one before. England have regularly dominated home bilateral series, and then crumbled on the big stage. Prior to this series, they had won 79.3% of their completed white-ball games at home since 2020, and that number rises to 87.8% when you take out Australia and are much tougher tests to come, starting with India's arrival in late June before the very challenging prospect of a 50-over World Cup in India at the end of September. World Cup-winning spinner Alex Hartley says that England are in a "good place" because of the dominant manner in which they have been winning, but has this series provided anything to suggest things will be different and whether the "new" England can finally perform under pressure when it matters? Will the Amy Jones experiment last? When she was appointed, Edwards made it clear that 50-over cricket would be her initial priority, saying that England needed a smarter gameplan and to improve their awareness, particularly with the first move was to promote wicketkeeper Amy Jones back to opener alongside Tammy Beaumont, a role she fulfilled in 22 matches between 2016 and certainly repaid Edwards' faith with a player of the series performance - scoring her first international hundred in her 246th match and then backing it up in the second game to finish with 251 runs at an average of 125.50 and impressive strike-rate of 114.61. But the challenge for Jones mirrors England's generally - can she step up against higher-quality opposition? Her average of 55.45 against West Indies is her highest against any team, but that drops to 16.33 against Australia and 19.66 against India. One aspect to consider is how teams may adapt to her success and how she'll fare in different conditions in India. How would Jones perform if a side was to start with spin against her for example?She averages 36.2 against spin and has a strike-rate of 82, both of which are more than 31-year-old has only faced 35 balls of spin in the 10-over powerplay but is yet to be dismissed. She can be a slow starter against spin though, being dismissed 10 times by a spinner in her first 30 balls and her strike-rate drops to 78. Her record with Beaumont suggests they are a natural fit for the top-order rebuild which was needed after Maia Bouchier's misery in Australia where she averaged six. Jones and Beaumont are England's third-most successful ODI partnership, scoring 1,786 runs together in 30 innings while their average of 63.8 is comfortably the highest in the current team. Heather Knight and Sciver-Brunt are behind them with 42.8. Matthews' class stands apart Though West Indies generally offered England very little challenge, the most effective way of judging where they are at as a team is to see how they fared against one of the world's best players in Hayley Matthews. Without fellow all-rounders Deandra Dottin or Chinelle Henry in the squad, West Indies' hopes relied solely on their captain and more often than not, she keeps them afloat. And it is cause for concern that England have not performed well against the one player who can consistently put their bowlers under the pump and provide a significant contest. Matthews missed the second and third ODIs with a shoulder problem, having made a fluent 48 and taken 2-49 in the first, but was magnificent in the T20s. She scored a sparkling century in a total of 146 in the opener at Canterbury, fell cheaply in the second at Hove before scoring 71 and taking 3-32 in the third at India, there are plenty of players capable of such performances - Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur to name a few. It will not be the same case of taking one wicket to define a game, and Matthews' efforts suggest this is a challenge they are desperately in need of."I think we've probably created it ourselves in many ways," Edwards said when asked about whether her side had been put under any pressure during the series. "Competition for selection in county cricket, going into county cricket and having to perform, and then obviously within this side now, making sure they are taking the opportunities." Smith, Ecclestone or both? The world's number one-ranked bowler Sophie Ecclestone made headlines during the Ashes after her refusal to do a pre-match interview with former team-mate Alex Hartley, who had criticised England's fitness after their T20 World Cup exit. The 26-year-old was left out for the West Indies series as part of her recovery from a knee injury, but has since played two 50-over matches and six T20s for Lancashire, and England insisted her omission was not in relation to the winter's controversy. She has since taken a break from domestic cricket to prioritise her wellbeing and to manage a quad problem, but remains available for selection for the India her absence, however, fellow left-arm spinner Linsey Smith has shone with seven wickets in two matches including a five-wicket haul on her ODI debut which has left Edwards with a pretty significant selection headache, but a luxurious one. There is no reason why England could not play two left-arm spinners, particularly given they offer such different attributes. Ecclestone's height generates a lot more bounce, while Smith is skiddier and her strength comes from her accuracy. In the two ODIs she played, Smith would have hit the stumps with a series-high 45.8% of deliveries and her economy rate of 3.15 runs per over was comfortably the lowest. England's spin trio of Ecclestone, off-spinner Charlie Dean and leg-spinner Sarah Glenn have played together 25 times in T20s but only twice in ODIs. The World Cup in India, though, could provide further opportunity for Smith when she has previously been kept out of the side because of Ecclestone's brilliance standing in her called for greater competition for places, after accusations of complacency followed the Ashes, and this has immediately been delivered and gives even more significance to the upcoming games against India. She hinted post-series that all four of Ecclestone, Smith, Glenn and Dean could go to the World Cup. Has the team perception changed? Fielding has been one of England's biggest areas for improvement, with six drops seeing them prematurely knocked out in T20 World Cup group stage and seven on day one of the Ashes Test alone. They took 38 catches in this series but still dropped 13 chances, giving them a 75% catch efficiency. That is up from the 41% at the T20 World Cup in October and 63% in the Ashes and on par with the 73% in home matches since 2020. Their body language and demeanour was also criticised, with Lewis' carefree approach lending itself to accusations of players not caring enough about the results. Under their new leadership, England do seem re-energised with a buzz in the field and the new or returning faces like Smith and Issy Wong, who played two of the T20s, contributing to that change in energy. Edwards said training "had been great to be at". But considering the difference in circumstances - England were losing heavily in Australia and winning by barely breaking a sweat against West Indies - we are still no clearer on whether that will change under pressure. "We're under no illusions that we're going to have tougher times ahead," Edwards acknowledged. "But equally I think what we're seeing already is that appetite for wanting to keep getting better, because they've got to, they know they can't stand still, there's probably someone in county cricket scoring runs who's winning games of cricket. "It's going to be difficult picking teams going forward, but that's the place we wanted to be, we didn't want to be picking for 15 or 16 players, we wanted to be picking from a pool of 25 players which I genuinely think we are now."Only Matthews has put England's bowlers to the sword, but even on those occasions it never felt like they were in danger of losing. The heat and humidity of India's World Cup is where this will really be put to the test. Every game will matter and England will be well aware of the attention that will be on them to put things right after the Ashes.
Telegraph
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
England Women's cricketers ‘do not have any fitness standards'
Charlotte Edwards, England's new women's head coach, has claimed there were no fitness standards in place when she took over. Edwards, who replaced Jon Lewis in the wake of the chastening Ashes defeat at the start of the year, said she refers to fitness as the 'F word' in training, but on the eve of her first match explained there was no framework in place. Conversations over fitness and athleticism became the spectre the team could not shake over the winter, after Alex Hartley claimed on-air during the T20 World Cup last autumn that some of her former team-mates were 'not fit enough'. Hartley named no specific players but Sophie Ecclestone refused to speak to the former international-turned pundit for an interview during the 16-0 Ashes humiliation in Australia. Lewis repeatedly denied his side had any fitness shortcomings, although acknowledged during the Ashes that Australia had superior 'athleticism', and instead attributed that to their better weather. 'I think clearly we had to touch on the fitness issue. I think when I came in, I said it's all about individual improvement for the first six months,' Edwards said ahead of her first match in charge against the West Indies, a T20 international at Canterbury on Wednesday. 'So before this World Cup [in India in October] it's about individuals improving as much as they can in that time. I'm not going to set fitness standards, because there haven't been any standards in place. 'So I felt like that would be defeating the object. But hopefully in 12 months' time, the players are very aware that there will be minimum fitness standards come this time next year, which the players will have to adhere to, there has to be more accountability in the area. 'But I've been so impressed with their standards, and the way they've gone about stuff and I couldn't be more impressed in that area.' Ecclestone was left out of Edwards' first squad for the series against the West Indies following a knee injury sustained at the Women's Premier League. It was decided the spinner would play for Lancashire to prepare best for the series against India later in the summer and the World Cup.
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
England to bring in minimum fitness standards
England will introduce minimum fitness standards for their women's players next year, says head coach Charlotte captain Edwards, who will take charge of her first match on Wednesday in a T20 against the West Indies, was appointed last month following this winter's 16-0 Ashes team's fitness and athleticism was criticised during the tour and Edwards has said players will be made "accountable" on the issue."The players are very aware there will be minimum fitness standards come this time next year which they will have to adhere to," said Edwards."There has to be more accountability in the area. "But what I will say is I have been so impressed with their standards, the way they have gone about stuff and I couldn't be more impressed in that area." After England's early exit from the T20 World Cup in October, former spinner Alex Hartley said some players were "letting the team down" in terms of again came into focus during the Ashes, but coach Jon Lewis attributed that to a cultural difference between the UK and Australia. He and captain Heather Knight were sacked after the Ashes who captained England more than 200 times, oversaw fitness testing of the players in her first week in the there were expectations and standards under previous regimes, there was no specific benchmarks players had to hit to be selected."Clearly we had to touch on the fitness issue," Edwards added."When I came in I said it was all about individual improvement. "Before the World Cup [in India in September] it is about individuals improving as much as they can in that time. "I am not going to set fitness standards [now] because there haven't been any standards in place so I felt I was defeating the object."England's men have had minimum standards in the past but their approach has become more relaxed under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon in the women's game, South Africa dropped captain Dane van Niekerk for a home T20 World Cup in 2023 after she failed to meet the required time in the two kilometre run but have since relaxed their also said she is in "constant communication" with spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who was left out of the squad to play West Indies as she recovers from who refused a TV interview with former team-mate Hartley during the Ashes, has featured in three matches for Lancashire in the past week, having not played for two months following the Women's Premier League."I have had lots of communication with Soph," Edwards said. "I went up to see her. "When the squad was selected she hadn't played a game of cricket. "Between us both we felt the best preparation for the summer was to go back play for Lancashire and get some cricket under her belt."The first of three T20s on Wednesday, which are followed by three one-day internationals from 30 May, are also England's first under captain Nat a bid to develop more leaders in the squad, Edwards said England will appoint a leadership group for each series rather than one permanent vice-captain with wicketkeeper Amy Jones, all-rounder Charlie Dean and batter Sophia Dunkley in the role for the Windies T20s.
