Trickling along under the current of this summer’s fixture fudge is the women’s game. England have a handful of T20s and ODIs against New Zealand and Ireland, beginning on June 29. What they mean, where they fit into the barely existent structure of the women’s game, is anybody’s guess. If the men’s game is coping with a crisis of context, its counterpart is struggling to give any meaning to any game outside of the global tournaments.

Games are infrequent, haphazard and largely restricted to contests between England, Australia and India, particularly in Test cricket. There have been seven Tests since the summer of 2005, five of which involved England. The last two Ashes ‘series’ have comprised one Test each. In the last decade South Africa have played four Tests, New Zealand three, Pakistan two and Sri Lanka none.

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Mark Lane coached England’s women to World Cup success in Australia earlier this year, and will play a key role in their attempts to add Twenty20 World Cup and Ashes victories this summer. Formerly a second-team player with Surrey and Hampshire and assistant to Andy Moles when he was in charge of Kenya, Lane took up his present position in April 2008.

Was it a deliberate shift for you to move into coaching in the women’s game?

I’ve been in and around the women’s set-up for the last 10 years and have been coaching Claire Taylor one on one for the last decade. The opportunity came around to take the main job full-time. I went to Australia last year and was involved in the Ashes win at Bowral, then we had the World Cup and the rest is history.

When I started coaching as an 18-year-old the differences between the two games intrigued me. It was a natural progression – I had coached the girls and boys at Surrey, and their academy, so I am a cricket coach not just a women’s coach. I was at Surrey for seven years and was then fortunate, or unfortunate enough – depending on how you look at it – to go to Kenya for two years as assistant to Andy Moles, who is now the coach of New Zealand, when he was coaching their national team. But over the last 18 months I have been assigned this role and I’ve loved every minute of it.

How did you first come across Claire Taylor?

I was working at the indoor school down in Guildford back in 1996 and Claire came in and said, “I’m in and around the England set-up and I want to get better”. So I took the challenge on and the product you see today is a combination of Claire’s skill and my input, and a very good relationship – not just as a coach and a player but as friends. We speak regularly and we’re always trying to challenge each other. Despite Claire already being the No.1 batter in the world I was adamant that I wanted to get her better and she wanted to get better herself. I know that she is now a better cricketer than she was this time last year.

Being No.1 in the world and being named as one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year are fantastic achievements, not just in a cricketing sense – it’s a result of her dedication, fitness levels and nutritional levels. I was fortunate enough to be with Claire at the Wisden dinner to celebrate her award, which along with my partner being due to give birth tomorrow is one of my proudest days. We have had a lot of long days and some tears along the way. I’m proud of all the girls but Claire especially.

She has told TWC you turned her into a more effective cricketer.

Technique is important, but being an effective cricketer is even more important. I’d rather people got a gritty 20 not out to win a game of cricket than a couple of lovely boundaries and not much else. Leading up to the Twenty20 I have tried to challenge ‘Tails’ and the others with a lot of difficult scenarios – how are you going to score a certain amount of runs in this over? When are you going to bowl your slower ball? When are you going to bowl your yorker? It’s about trying to be one step ahead of the game – rather than reacting to situations it’s about trying to lead them.

Claire Taylor and Charlotte Edwards tend to get a lot of recognition in the media but who are the unsung heroes in the team?

Katherine Brunt, our opening bowler, is a really, really good cricketer and doesn’t get the wickets she deserves. I was very pleased for Laura Marsh to have come out of the World Cup as top wicket taker. We didn’t play her too much last year in South Africa and India – we were itching to get her on to the park but the rain meant we had to play an extra seamer. I kept saying to her that her time would come – it did and she grabbed it with both hands. Beth Morgan goes about her training very professionally and is on the MCC groundstaff – I have seen a massive improvement in her. They all add real energy to the team. The T20 will suit Sarah Taylor, our exciting opening batter/ wicketkeeper and I think you’ll also see a different role for Charlotte Edwards – she’ll bat in a slightly different position to 50-over cricket and hopefully in an explosive way.

Are you expecting to win the Twenty20?

We have had good preparation – playing double-headers against Brighton College and Sussex Under-17, and then Dulwich College and Surrey Under-17. It was ‘cruel to be kind’, but we performed our skills very well. To say we are favourites? I don’t know. One good over, one bad over can change the game in Twenty20 but we have a group of very smart cricketers, who have been prepped very well, and are very fit and very strong. You always need a bit of luck in Twenty20. The margins between the women and the men’s game are always going to be different. Because of the brutality in the male game they can whack 20 in an over no problem, whereas for the girls if we can get 12 in an over that is good too.

Who will be your main rivals?

New Zealand and Australia are always going to be dangerous. The Kiwis have some very strong batters – hopefully our skill will outstrip their brawn.

How big a boost will it be for the women playing alongside the men if they can get to the semi-finals?

We are looking forward to playing at Taunton, but the opportunity to get up to The Oval and Lord’s prior to the men would be a fantastic opportunity to expose the girls to the world of cricket. I think those who watch women’s cricket know it has improved, but it would be great to educate some of those people who just watch men’s cricket.

How can you sustain the interest after this summer?

We are taking the girls out to Bangalore in the winter and then go to India in January and February. The intensity might not be the same as a summer with a Twenty20 World Cup and an Ashes, but the desire will always be there.

The Sky Sports ECB Coach Education Programme has over 22,500 coaching sessions planned for junior girls this summer, and helps provide a coach for each and every one of the 1500 ECB Focus Club girls teams.

Sam Collins is website editor of thewisdencricketer.com

Charlotte Edwards has just returned from Sydney where she captained England’s women to their first World Cup victory since 1993. She has captained England full-time since 2006, and was ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2008. She was speaking to Sam Collins

Has the standard of women’s cricket changed since England last won the World Cup in 1993?

Yes, it’s higher now. In any sport times move on and the game has changed a lot in that time, for example we are now wearing trousers. The game has progressed, especially the fielding and the athleticism.

How can English women’s cricket sustain this momentum?

Hopefully by keeping the same girls in the team. I think it has been a big strength of this team that we have kept the nucleus of the side the same. We have just got to get the other girls closer to us and keep them challenging for places; it’s good that we have a lot of people challenging for places.

What is the future for women’s cricket, more Tests, or a focus on ODIs and Twenty20?

I think ODIs and T20s definitely. Just because of the time factor – getting time off work and so on. Domestically we don’t play any cricket the length of Tests so it’s quite hard to then go and play it internationally.

Is there more glamour attached to the women’s game now than five years ago?

I think there is. I’ve had a few questions this morning about the girls being good looking and so on. We’re doing everything we can to promote women’s cricket and if we have to go and do some shoots with Paul Costelloe in our suits then that’s what we have to do. That’s part of our job, to hopefully get the game out to a wider audience. As long as we’re doing our talking on the pitch that’s what matters to me.

Does your success prove the effectiveness of the split-squad programme that saw some players go out to play in Australia and New Zealand before the World Cup?

It’s definitely helped us. Six of the girls were out there playing and obviously they were in season so it meant only six or seven of us had to get ourselves back into form. It was a real benefit to the squad – they were used to the conditions and had played at a lot of the grounds we had played at.

Would you like to see some of the other countries become more competitive?

It’s all about women’s cricket becoming stronger. I think the standard is getting better among the weaker countries, but we are also getting better, so it is difficult to measure their progression. Anything we can do to help those teams get closer to us then great, because ultimately we want as many good teams playing women’s cricket as possible.

After the final one of the ex-Australian players said to me that England winning will be the best thing that has happened to the game because it will kick the other countries into action with a sense that what the ECB has done for us will be replicated in other countries.

How difficult was it to give up your job working at Hunts bat manufacturer to take up the Chance to shine contract?

It was really difficult. I had been working with them for eight years and to finally have to give up my role there was hard, as a lot of people there had really supported me throughout my cricket career. The Chance to shine contract did give me the opportunity to put something back into the game through coaching. It has been the best thing I have ever done. The chance to be a role model for the kids has been fantastic, and I can’t wait to get back down to the day job.

Do you sense a groundswell of interest within schools?

Having been in the schools and seeing all the schools that have emailed me while I have been away and been watching me on the TV, it’s great that they can get so close to an England player and that I can be their role model. I’m looking forward to showing this trophy to them and hopefully generating a lot more interest to get these girls into clubs so that hopefully one day they can have the success I’ve experienced over the last few days.

With crowds becoming more familiar with the names of the England team will it help women’s cricket be seen as a legitimate spectator sport going into the Twenty20 World Cup?

Hopefully we’ve created a lot of interest through the winter, through the tournament, that will get people down to watch us in this T20. I think this summer will be a bit like 2005, it could really help raise the profile again. To be part of that all again would be great. It’s going to be a fantastic tournament, the first we’ve run alongside the guy’s one. Hopefully we’ll be here at Lord’s for the final on June 21 and England’s men will be too.

Sam Collins is website editor of thewisdencricketer.com

England women’s team captain reveals* email exchange with male counterparts

Andrew Strauss congratulated us on our most recent win, although he did say we should have batted on for another couple of hours to really make things safe. I tried to explain that it was a 50-over game but he just got impatient and said that he was sick of hearing how his team haven’t mastered the one-day format and changed the subject.

He asked me what positives I was taking from our recent performances. I just said “well, we won, so that, I guess…” but he said that was rather a one-dimensional view and that often the positives were more important than the result.

One of the other players, who I won’t name, asked us “didn’t we miss wuz bairns and wuz fellers and wuz mams and that and want to gan home?” I said that, actually, we really liked travelling to exciting foreign places with our mates and playing sport. He said he found that attitude sickening.

Kevin Pietersen said he was just really amazed that we’re doing what we’re doing. At first I thought it was going to be some sexist rubbish about women playing sport, but it turns out he meant playing for England rather than trying to get some sort of breakaway cash competition going.

There was no message from Ian Bell, which was a bit of a shame because a few of the girls quite like him. They say they want to mother him. Or beat him up; he divides opinion. And nothing from Ryan, either – also disappointing, as he’d promised to send some haircare tips. Apparently he was just typing them in when he felt his back go and he had to have a lie down on the floor for a few days.

Still, it was a nice gesture. I am sure we can learn from the men’s team. Nothing springs to mind right away, exactly, but still.

*not really. Alan Tyers made it up

Do not be lulled into a yawn at the mention of women’s cricket. It is way cooler than you think (unless you already thought it was cool, then it’s as you were).

The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup is on in Sydney at the moment. Women’s cricket is an interesting hybrid of cricketing styles. The bowlers are usually of Ganguly pace but that doesn’t stop them having a few slips in, even in the one dayers, and if someone like Katherine Brunt bends her back she can still bowl a vicious bouncer.

Attacking shots usually don’t go as far, like men’s cricket was before everyone used super-steroided bats, but Anagha Deshpande still managed to cut a six at North Sydney Oval.

If you haven’t seen some of the players, you are missing out on some superb cricket skills.

Mithali Raj, India’s gun bat, has a technique so pure it should be snorted, not watched. She never seems to hit the ball but it just races off the bat, which is lucky, as you wont find many lazier runners between the wickets than Raj. When watching her bat, you aren’t watching some inferior product; you are watching a high-order batting stylist.

If brain transplants were possible, and affordable to the ECB, England could do worse than transplanting Holly Colvin’s brain into Monty. She has got to be one of the most exciting spin prospects on the planet.

Ellyse Perry is Australia’s fast bowling allrounder, she is the sort of cricket athlete that John Buchanan has been rattling on about for years. She has already played for Australia in football as well as cricket and from all reports could have done so in volleyball as well.

New Zealand always seem to have a big hitting allrounder – in the women’s side it’s Suzie Bates, batting average of 29, bowling average of 22, and she gets injured less than Jacob Oram.

These aren’t just classy women players – these are top-class cricketers.

The series even has its controversy, with England quick Jenny Gunn called for chucking twice, once before the World Cup, and once again during England’s first match. Her action may actually be legal, but it does resemble a child imitating a spider.

Well it wouldn’t be a World Cup without a controversy, would it?

Women’s cricket just feels more pure than modern men’s one-day cricket. With the ball they have to rely on a lot more than pace, with the bat they have to use something other than raw power.

It’s a nostalgic trip back to the 70s and 80s version of men’s one-day cricket; a time when it wasn’t all about bang and crash but it was about subtlety and skill.

I’m a massive fan and not just because Holly Colvin bowls with more flight than a six pack of men’s one-day spinners but because every time I have seen a game, I enjoy it.