00:00England women are getting set to begin their cricket World Cup journey in India and Sri Lanka.
00:07They all play seven games in a round-robin format, playing all of the other teams in the competition
00:12as they look to progress to the knockout stages of the tournament.
00:17They'll begin against South Africa before then finishing against New Zealand
00:21after all of their round-robin games are played, forming a league table
00:25to see who goes through to the knockout stages of the World Cup.
00:28Now, of course, England men in their recent World Cup in India, they did not do so well.
00:35But they are now World Cup champions, having won the Cricket World Cup back in England in 2019
00:41before the pandemic, defeating New Zealand in the final at Lord's
00:45in what was perhaps one of the most dramatic cricket matches ever played,
00:49especially in the Super Over at the end.
00:52But this is the women, and of course, they are looking to make their own history.
00:56And in charge of them is Charlotte Edwards, someone who is revered in women's cricket in this country.
01:03And she is certainly hoping to make history with her side.
01:07So let's hear from her now as she previewed their first game
01:11and indeed the whole tournament for England women
01:14as they look to bring home the trophy from India and Sri Lanka back to England.
01:18It's not going to be an easy feat whatsoever, but England women certainly have the players to do it.
01:25Although, obviously, there are other great teams on display.
01:29India, Australia, for example, just two of the biggest names in cricket.
01:32But Charlotte Edwards certainly is full of optimism going into the tournament.
01:37I've not spoken about anything about the past.
01:42It's all about looking forward.
01:44And I think, you know, with this group now, we've created, I guess, an environment where,
01:51you know, it's about taking accountability now.
01:55And we've got real clarity on how we want to play the game.
01:58And hopefully that clarity is going to help this team under pressure,
02:03because, you know, I don't think we'll leave a stone on turn in terms of our prep.
02:09And, you know, the signs have been really strong so far in terms of the development I've seen in the last six months.
02:15And I'm just hoping we can take that now onto the big stage.
02:20Yeah, I think in an international job, as I probably just touched on,
02:26you don't have the luxury of spending lots of time with the group and probably have had that luxury and certainly in previous jobs.
02:35So I think, you know, I guess I've been dripped feeding stuff in as I've gone along.
02:40We've had a different sort of playing group a little bit throughout the summer.
02:42But I felt like Abu Dhabi was a real opportunity for us, you know, to spend a good 10 days together.
02:49And I felt like the work we got done there around our game plan, around how we want to be as a group
02:55and how we want to move things forward.
02:58I think, yeah, I feel like I've had a really nice introduction into this.
03:01And, you know, players are really responding well, certainly to a slight change of style, I guess.
03:08And, yeah, hopefully we've seen the results over the last four games, which have been really positive.
03:14We're not getting carried away.
03:16Don't worry.
03:17But we know that we're on the right track and we're tracking really well moving into the first game.
03:25Well, I think, you know, there's never a friendly against an international opposition.
03:29So, I think we've taken a lot of confidence.
03:33I think more, not necessarily around the result, but the way we've played.
03:38I think to score 340 against India, again, that's another, you know, time we've done that really well as a batting group over the last time that I've been involved.
03:49So, I'm really pleased with that.
03:51But, yeah, just younger players really stepping up as well.
03:55I think our middle order, especially, just showing some real maturity in our middle order, which I think is going to really stand us in good stead.
04:05And, you know, our top four are very experienced.
04:08Our middle order have been exceptional.
04:12And our bowling group are really understanding the conditions and how we want to go about it as a bowling group as well.
04:19So, I feel we're really nicely placed.
04:23You'll be pleased to hear we've been fielding really well.
04:25So, that's something that we obviously wanted to work on.
04:29So, yeah, I'm really pleased with how that four games have gone.
04:35And we've been put in some pretty tough situations at times as well.
04:38So, under pressure, the players have responded really well.
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