As England’s women prepare for their pursuit of a third straight Ashes victory Lydia Greenway believes they can capitalise on the successful momentum in women’s sport to win a hard-fought contest.
“As a female sports star, I love seeing other female sports teams do well,” Greenway said. “I watched the women’s Rugby World Cup and it was fantastic and the spirit and fight of the women’s football team is so exciting to see. It’s something we want to carry on. We want to make people proud of us like that.
“There’s a real buzz around this series. We’re getting a lot of interview requests and we want to play in front of big crowds and really get the public behind us.
“When you look on social media and see that people are not just excited about the men’s Ashes but also the women’s Ashes, it is really exciting for us as a group of players.”
Greenway is one of England’s most experienced batters, having started her international career 12 years ago. She has won 121 one-day international caps and has played a key role in England’s victories in the last two Ashes series, including a match-winning 64-ball 80 not out in the Twenty20 success which sealed the inaugural multi-format series in 2013.
She is an elegant batsman who is known for her deft placement and athletic running between the wickets but she, like Charlotte Edwards, her captain, believes England will display a more attacking and aggressive style of cricket in this series.
“It’s been something we have been consciously working on since we got back from New Zealand and something we have been practising in our warm-up games. That sort of attacking mindset will really move our cricket forward. Seeing some of the scores being made in the men’s game, it just makes you think how much we can increase our scores in our matches.”
It’s been just over a year since the England and Wales Cricket Board gave full-time professional contracts to 18 players and Greenway believes we will start to see the difference that has made.
“We have much more time to train together and focus on our cricket now but just as importantly we have opportunity for some down time. When we weren’t professional we obviously had to balance our cricket with work or study and it was a real challenge to fit everything in and sometimes that took its toll. We will start to see the long term benefits soon.”
This Ashes has all the makings of a hugely entertaining series. “I don’t think it’s too dramatic a statement to say that the 2015 Women’s Ashes contest is possibly the most eagerly anticipated series in the history of international women’s cricket,” said the ECB’s director of women’s cricket, Clare Connor, at the squad announcement.
The women’s game is developing at an extraordinary pace. This is the first time ever, two fully professional teams will be competing with every ball live on television. Greenway is relishing the prospect.
“Australia are a very good side, they’re obviously the World Cup holders and the World T20 champions but we have won the last two Ashes and we’re not going to let them go without a fight.
“We will be doing everything that we can to make sure they stay in England and for the whole series to be televised is fantastic for women’s cricket and for women’s sport in general.
“It’s a really big thing; as players this is what we play and train for - to show people what we can do and to continue to grow the support.”
Greenway is known as one of the best fielders in women’s cricket. When asked about this her response was one you seldom hear from cricketers of either gender.
“I just love fielding” she said “when I was growing up I used to be diving around the garden with my brother and sister as my dad whacked tennis balls at us, it is something that I have always loved doing. Not being a bowler I feel like it’s doubly important I contribute in the field.”
