00:01Paul, head of the new season, obviously a lot of excitement at this time of year.
00:06Pre-season training camp in Spain, does it all go well and feel in a good place at the moment?
00:11Yeah, we've had a good winter indoors up until last week and then had a good week out on grass
00:18in Spain,
00:19which was good, good hard four days cricket, which the girls enjoyed and got a lot out of.
00:24So yeah, very pleased with that.
00:25Yeah, and obviously for you, obviously always going to Spain, you sort of had the benefit of not having any
00:32of the troubles,
00:32some teams in the gulf have maybe had, it's all gone pretty smoothly for you, hasn't it?
00:37So that's obviously nice, yeah.
00:39Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's only a couple of hours on the aeroplane and you're there,
00:44so it maximised our time on grass, which is what we wanted to do.
00:49Yeah, and getting that time on grass, because obviously you do a lot of work indoors,
00:52but obviously that's the next transition, isn't it, to get that time on grass and get that in the players.
00:57Yeah, exactly. You've got some overs in the legs in the field as well.
01:00So, you know, they fielded for 80 odd overs one of the days and we played a couple of scenario
01:06matches.
01:07So the bowlers got their loads up and had a bit of fielding practice.
01:11So everything we needed to do to start the season, we did and come back here and we're outdoors from
01:16next week as well.
01:17So that's great.
01:18And a couple of warm up games, obviously leading into the 11th, just obviously good to get overs and time
01:22in the middle and competition for places.
01:24And also, yeah, key important time that.
01:28Yeah, absolutely. We go to Edgbaston next week and then Taunton the week after.
01:32So two, two good grounds to have warm up games on and yeah, we'll, we'll see where the girls are.
01:38You know, there's obviously a bit of competition for places as there always is this time of year, but they're
01:44all ready and raring to go.
01:46And sort of, you know, a nice real blend in the group, some senior pros, a lot of young, exciting
01:50talent as well.
01:51Sort of a good, yeah, sort of good, with high potential, obviously a real sort of good blend you've got
01:55there.
01:55Yeah, we have. And, you know, there'll be opportunities because we still don't know how many players we'll lose to
02:02the Cricket World Cup and series beyond that for England.
02:06So there'll be opportunities, no doubt, for our younger players or our less experienced players, which they'll be looking forward
02:14to and hopefully they'll grow for us.
02:16Well, so Georgia is captain, but you've got a bit of a leadership group as well around that, haven't you?
02:20Which I guess is important to have that in place.
02:23Yeah, absolutely. You know, the more feedback and information you get from the senior players as to how we transition
02:31things throughout the summer is always important.
02:33It's something that we've had for a while and something that works well.
02:37And obviously now this is going to be the second season of the new sort of tiered structure.
02:41Obviously last year was the first year and obviously a lot of learnings from that to take into this year.
02:45And obviously the professionalism of the game is just going to keep getting stronger and stronger, isn't it?
02:49Yeah, definitely. You know, the rise of the women's game is very steep and it's up to us to try
02:58and keep up with that and, you know, get the cricketers through from the academy to be able to hit
03:06the ground running when they do turn professional cricketers.
03:09Hopes and expectations for the season?
03:12To be competitive in every game and every competition.
03:16It's very difficult to have firm expectations when we don't know how our squad is going to be made up.
03:21And that's the same for all the clubs as well around the country.
03:24You know, the Cricket World Cup is going to take the players away.
03:29So we will aim to be competitive with or without international players and see where we get to, a bit
03:35like we did last year.
03:36And so that Cricket World Cup selection, obviously you're going to have to keep your eyes on that and sort
03:40of adjust accordingly, aren't you?
03:42Yeah, absolutely.
03:43And, you know, we've obviously got plans for if and when that happens or how many players we lose.
03:51So, you know, we're planning for it and hopefully we'll be okay.
03:56And obviously sort of the exponential growth in the women's game, it's just, it's there to see and it's just
04:01going to keep happening, isn't it?
04:02So it's a really sort of exciting time, isn't it, for the game?
04:05Yeah, absolutely.
04:06You've seen the rise in standard, not only in batting and bowling, but in fielding and professionalism, athleticism.
04:14It's, you know, it's a long way from what it was probably six years ago even.
04:20So it is rising.
04:22And as I said, you know, it's up to us to try and keep up with that.
04:26You obviously got to a final last year in the 50 over.
04:29So, yeah, obviously you showed, you know, in the first year how competitive you are, obviously, as a group.
04:36Yeah, it was nice to get to the final.
04:38Obviously, it's a shame not to get over the line in it.
04:40But, you know, as I said, we'll aim to be competitive again in every way and in every competition as
04:48we did last year.
04:49And take it game by game and month by month and see where we end up.
04:53And obviously the supporters are looking forward to getting back and watching their cricket.
04:56Just a message for them, really, ahead of the season.
04:58Yeah, enjoy it.
04:59I think, you know, there's going to be a mixture of teams put out from us because of availability.
05:06So there'll be some, you know, some younger faces around the squad, which I hope the supporters will enjoy.
05:15And we'll certainly enjoy our cricket.
05:17We'll enjoy being competitive doing it.
05:19And I hope they do too.
05:20And a number of new additions over the winter.
05:22And they're all sort of fitting well and excited to see how they all go.
05:27Yeah, definitely.
05:28Yeah.
05:28I mean, you know, team spirit is high.
05:31And so we're, you know, we're looking forward to a unified campaign in both one day and T20 cricket.
05:39Thank you very much.
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