Charlotte Edwards has said the stinging public criticism of the England women’s cricket team by their own coach after their World Twenty20 exit will motivate the players to win next year’s World Cup on home soil.
Mark Robinson used the press conference after England’s semi-final defeat against Australia in India last month to demand his players toughen up and get fitter. Edwards said the team is still hurting after “throwing away” the chance to reach the final and added that the coach’s words will inspire the desired reaction.
“What Mark said to the press is exactly what he said to the players. He’s very up front, you know exactly where you stand with him and he will drive you forward,” said England’s captain and record run-scorer. “We may lose a few people along the way but ultimately we have got a goal now of winning the World Cup in 2017 and everyone is going to be motivated and will be training towards that. I honestly think there will be a huge response. We are disappointed, hurting and we’ve got a really good opportunity now to put it right.”
Robinson claimed Australia “out-ran” England in the five-run defeat in Delhi and was left particularly frustrated by his side’s running between the wickets and inability to find the boundary for long periods. His comments were viewed as refreshingly blunt in some quarters and bizarre in others but Edwards believes they were fair.
“If we want to be the best team in the world those are the areas we have to improve,” said the 36-year-old, who is set to lead England in the Twenty20 and one-day series against Pakistan that begin in June. “It can all be taken out of context but one of the areas you can instantly make an impact is fitness because it’s in our control. You can’t suddenly make people tougher, that takes longer than a six-week training block. What we can improve quite quickly is our fitness, which is exposed in T20 and in 38 degree heat. If you are fitter you are going to be fresher in the mind and you are going to make better decisions, so I think being fitter as a group will have a knock-on effect of making us tougher.
“Obviously it’s easy to identify the batting [as the problem] in the semi-final defeat but we didn’t bowl well enough either. It’s not just about the running of twos. It’s also about being more athletic in the field to be able to cut balls off and our bowlers being fit enough to work on their skills outside of playing. We’ve had a lot of our bowlers injured over a period of time now and it’s meant we’ve not been able to get them upskilled. We need to improve across the board.”
Edwards will play for Southern Vipers in the inaugural T20 Super League this summer. The 20 players in the England women’s performance squad have been distributed among six teams along with the best players from around the world, and Edwards said the tournament will raise the standard of women’s cricket on these shores.
“It is a huge opportunity to give our academy players, our young players, an opportunity to play at that higher level; to test themselves against the best in the world. It’s been hard to pick the England team at times because the quality of our county cricket hasn’t been to the standard we would have liked. But this is an exciting opportunity for new players to put their hands up for selection.”
