Kate Cross is hoping “the queen of English cricket”, head coach Charlotte Edwards, can help lead England back to the top of the international game as they step up their Women’s World Cup preparations.
England face India in the first of three one-day internationals in Southampton on Wednesday – live on Sky Sports Cricket from 12.30pm (first ball, 1pm) – off the back of a 3-2 T20 series defeat by the same opposition.
Edwards, who captained England to 50-over and T20 World Cup glory in 2009, replaced Jon Lewis as head coach in April after the team were swept in the winter’s Women’s Ashes, following on from a group-stage exit in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
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Following her side’s T20 series defeat to India, Charlotte Edwards says that England ‘haven’t been smart’ and admits her side ‘has got to be better’.
“She is the queen of English cricket, isn’t she?” Cross said of Edwards.
“I spoke in a press conference months ago about how Lottie was the captain that gave me my debut cap, so it’s kind of like a full-circle moment for me where one of the best English cricketers to play the game is now leading the team.
“She’s so passionate about English cricket and so passionate about women’s cricket. She’s the biggest badger I know – she’s literally watched every ball that you bowl or every ball that you face, she’s really on it. She’s got about seven laptops, I think, to watch all the [T20] Blast games.
“But her knowledge around the game is just phenomenal, so I think we feel really lucky that we’ve had a coach with that sort of experience, but also with the career that she had in the game, come in to help guide us and make us a better team, so it’s been brilliant.”
Charlotte Edwards captained England to 50-over and T20 World Cup glory in 2009 and has since taken over as head coach in April
Cross added of her former captain turned coach: “She’s just not changed at all. She’s still the same Lottie that was my captain eight or nine years ago, so it’s been really lovely for me personally to have her around.
“She’s just great fun as well. She’s always chuckling and making you laugh, which is a really nice place to be in an international dressing room.”
One of the key criticisms levelled at England during the T20 World Cup and Ashes failures that led to a change in head coach was fitness and fielding standards.
During the T20 series defeat to India, England’s fielding – dropped catches, in particular – came under the spotlight again but Cross stressed that time is needed for the hard work the team is putting in on that front to pay dividends.
England seamer Kate Cross returns to the squad for the ODI series
“It’s difficult. I know we’re getting still quite a lot of press around our fielding. It’s not where we want it to be and we know there’s been some mistakes made in key moments,” Cross said.
“But hopefully if we can be judged in six months’, eight months’, 12 months’ time when the new regime has had a chance to kind of bed in, then hopefully those comments that are made will be… not fairer, because I think the comments that were being made are quite fair at the moment.
“But you’ll only then see the changes which will fit with the new regime that Lottie wants to bring in.”
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England seal dramatic win over India on the last ball at Edgbaston in the fifth women’s T20I.
Cross added: “Obviously, winning is really important. But I think for us as a team, it’s about working out how we want to play our one-day cricket under Lottie.”
“There’s a line drawn in the sand with that [T20] series. Obviously, with the result, it wasn’t the way we wanted the series to go.
“It’s a fresh start in terms of we’re nil-nil again now [in the ODIs], aren’t we? And it’s an opportunity to try and get a win on the on the board tomorrow to go 1-0 up in the series.”
England vs India schedule
All times UK and Ireland; all live on Sky Sports
T20 international series
One-day international series
First ODI: Wednesday July 16 (1pm) – SouthamptonSecond ODI: Saturday July 19 (11am) – Lord’sThird ODI: Tuesday July 22 (1pm) – Chester-le-Street
Watch the first women’s one-day international between England and India, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 12.30pm on Wednesday (first ball at 1pm) or stream without a contract.
