POSTED: Sunday February 22nd 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Edwards says England fresh and ready despite being short of match practice

ICC Women’s Player of the Year says event format guarantees best sides reach the final

 
Batter says Australia will be the team to beat and picks the West Indies as the surprise package
 
England captain Charlotte Edwards believes peaking at the right time and the key players firing consistently will be the keys to success in the ICC Women’s World Cup to be staged in Australia from 7 to 22 March.
 
England, champion in 1973 and 1993 on home turf, is pooled with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Group B and launches its assault on the trophy on 7 March when it takes on Sri Lanka at the Manuka Oval, Canberra.
 
Group A is made up of defending champion Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa. The top three sides in each group will go forward to the Super Six stage where each side then plays the teams which have qualified from the other group. The top two sides from the Super Six go forward to the final.
 
The ICC Women’s Player of the Year of 2008 was also of the view that next month’s tournament would be the toughest yet with the format also guaranteeing that only the two best teams in the world would qualify for the final.
 
“The World Cup is all about peaking at the right time and dealing with the pressure of big matches. I think the four pre-tournament favourites (England, Australia, India and New Zealand) are equal in strength which brings it down to the fact that the difference between winning and losing will be whose key players excel on match days,” said the 29-year-old Edwards who has scored 3,520 runs in 117 ODIs.
 
“I think all the (four) teams have an equal chance (of winning) so it’s a case of building some momentum going into the Super Six stage. The event has been structured in such a way that every match is a semi-final which makes it very exciting and tough, and guarantees that only the two best teams go through to the final.
 
“I think this is going to be the closest World Cup in a number of years,” she said.
 
A polite and soft-spoken Edwards, who first represented England at the age of 16 against New Zealand at Guildford, considers five-time champion Australia as the tournament favourite and West Indies as the team capable of springing surprises.
 
“It’s obviously nice to be spoken as favourites but I think Australia is the favourite, especially because it will be playing on home turf. Australia has dominated international cricket for the past 10 years and being on home soil it is the team to beat.
 
“I also think the West Indies will be the surprise package of the World Cup. We played them in the summer and I was really impressed with them, especially with their bowling and fielding.”
 
Edwards said her team would try to control the controllable and avoid being complacent. “All the teams will be in Australia to win and we will be no different. We will have to concentrate, stay focused and try to control only what we can control.
 
“We have got a good mix of youth and experience as have New Zealand and Australia. It will be whose key players perform on match days. Any team can win this World Cup so it is a case of not being complacent
 
“One of our players to watch in the World Cup will be wicketkeeper/batter Sarah Taylor. She is an incredible talent while I am also delighted to see Katherine Brunt back in the squad. She has recovered nicely from a serious back injury and is bowling as well as I have seen her,” Edwards said.
 
The England captain admitted her team was short of match practice with her last ODI series being against India in September last year. But she stressed that her team would arrive in Sydney fresh and ready. “You can’t beat playing international cricket.
 
“But on the other side of the coin, half of our squad is playing club cricket in Sydney and getting use to the conditions while those who were in England travelled to India for a training camp and attended lots of training sessions.
 
“We’ll definitely arrive in Sydney fresh and ready to go.”
 
When Edwards arrives in Sydney, she will be doing so as the ICC Women’s Player of the Year of 2008, the England captain, the fourth leading run-getter in World Cup history and the most experienced England player. But the Kent captain said she would not feel any of the additional pressures that come from being so high profile.
 
“There is always pressure whenever you put on an England shirt but it is something I relish and love doing. But I won’t be carrying any extra burdens on my shoulders.
 
“Ultimately I have to concentrate on scoring runs and captaining the side and I am very lucky to have a wonderful management team around me that allows me to do that.
 
“I consider myself very fortunate to have been selected for the fourth World Cup. World Cup is a very special event, the one where you test yourself against the best in the world. I’m very fortunate to be playing in my fourth World Cup and all have been great experiences.
 
“The World Cup, I think, is all about winning as it is the ultimate prize in women’s cricket and the goal that I have set for myself in this tournament is to contribute to a winning England team.
 
 “Any World Cup is special but I have to say that this World Cup under the auspices of the ICC will be the most exciting one yet, with the extra media coverage hopefully making it even more memorable.
 
“World Cups are always exciting and challenging and combining that with all the different cultures and backgrounds, it does make it the ultimate prize.
 
“It excites me to know ESPN STAR Sports will be showing live all the seven matches from the North Sydney Oval. To get this kind of coverage is unprecedented and great news for the growth of the game.
 
“I am confident that the profile of women’s cricket will jump to a new level with this extra media coverage and attention which will encourage more women and girls to take up this glorious sport.”
 
Edwards said he was satisfied with ICC’s initiatives to promote and develop women’s cricket. “I think everything is being done to promote the game by the ICC and I know all the players appreciate everything that is being done. It’s really exciting times ahead.”
 
The ICC launched the Reliance Mobile ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings in October last year in Mumbai while later this June, all the eight sides that will assemble in Australia will be involved in the ICC World Twenty20 alongside the men’s event with the second semi-final and the final to be played ahead of the men’s semi-final and the final.
 
England has two warm-up matches in a lead up to the main tournament. On Monday 2 March, it will play Australia at Village Green and will face the West Indies on Wednesday 4 March at Raby 1.
 
England squad – Charlotte Edwards (captain), Caroline Atkins, Katherine Brunt, Holly Colvin, Lydia Greenway, Lauren Griffiths, Isa Guha, Jenny Gunn, Laura Marsh, Beth Morgan, Ebony-Jewel Rainford-Brent, Nicola Shaw, Anya Shrubsole, Claire Taylor, Sarah Taylor.
 
The event logo and more details on ICC Women’s World Cup 2009 can be found at:
www.iccevents.yahoo.com
 
Images from selected matches will be available for free download at http://iccfiles.sportcentric.org/. Editors need to click on the folder ICC WWW 09 and then the go to relevant folder to download images.
 
-ENDS-
 
Note to editors:
 
The following is a provisional list of media releases and other information that will be issued in the build-up to and during the ICC Women’s World Cup, which will be held from 7 to 22 March in Australia.
 
Monday 23 February – Sri Lanka captain’s interview
 
Tuesday 24 February – Pakistan captain’s interview
 
Wednesday 25 February– West Indies captain’s interview
 
Thursday 26 February – Former and present captains get behind their teams
 
Friday 27 February – Group A preview (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies)
 
Friday 27 February – Advisory on pre-event media activities
 
Saturday 28 February – Group B preview (India, England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan)
 
Sunday 1 March – Australia’s World Cup winning captains rally behind Karen Rolton’s side
 
Sunday 1 March – Release on television element to the World Cup
 
Monday 2 March—Results of warm-up matches (West Indies v New South Wales (NSW), Old Kings; Australia v England, Village Green)
 
Tuesday 3 March – Results of warm-up matches (New Zealand v Pakistan, Manly; Sri Lanka v NSW, Old Kings; India v South Africa, Raby 1)
 
Wednesday 4 March – Results of warm-up matches (Australia v Sri Lanka, Manly; India v New Zealand, Old Kings; England v West Indies, Raby 1; Pakistan v South Africa, Green Village)
 
Thursday 5 March– General preview, tournament statistics/history/previous winners, opening ceremony release and photograph of all the participating teams.
 
Friday 6 March – Reliance Mobile ICC Women’s ODI Rankings release
 
Friday 6 March – Release on players being briefed on anti-corruption.
 
Saturday 7 March to Thursday 12 March – During the group stage short-form scores will be sent out with a round-up of the day’s play (concentrating on one game in particular) along with a link to the full scorecards on the website. Also, quotes from feature game if possible.
 
Friday 13 March – Round-up of group stage, look ahead to the Super Six stage, Reliance Mobile ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings release post-group stage and looking ahead at the Super Six and the final.
 
Saturday 14 March to Thursday 19 March – During the Super Six stage short-form scores will be sent out with a round-up of the day’s play (concentrating on one game in particular) along with a link to the full scorecards on the website, preview of the third-fourth place and fifth-sixth place play-off matches. Also, quotes from the feature game if possible.
 
Friday 21 March – Preview of the final, photograph of the two captains with Trophy
 
Sunday 22 March – Scores and report from the final, including quotes from winning and losing captains/coaches
 
Monday 23 March – Review of tournament and photograph of the winning captain with Trophy and player of the final with Trophy.
 
Monday 23 March – Reliance Mobile ICC Women’s ODI Rankings post World Cup
 
Previously released articles:
 
Wednesday 29 October – ICC Women’s World Cup 2009 launch release
Friday 26 December – Media accreditation release
Tuesday 13 January – Provisional squads release
Monday 9 February – Announcement of all eight squads
Tuesday 11 February – Release on history of Women’s World Cup
Thursday 12 February – Release on double century, hat-tricks and tied matches
Monday 16 February – Advisory on trophy images available for free download
Tuesday 17 February – Release on South Africa player replacement
Wednesday 18 February – Release on West Indies player replacement
Wednesday 18 February – Australia captain Karen Rolton’s interview
Thursday 19 February – India captain Jhulan Goswami’s interview
Friday 20 February – New Zealand captain Haidee Tiffen’s interview
Saturday 21 February – South Africa captain Sunette Loubser’s interview

Sunday 22 February – Announcement of match officials for the event

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Keywords · ICC Women’s World Cup · Australia

Name: Sami Ul Hasan
Organization: ICC
Email:
Phone: +971 4 368 8349

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