Ex England and Staffordshire Laura Newton believes it maybe tough for Staffordshire this season in division two

Ex England and Staffordshire player Laura Newton, believes the Staffordshire Women’s first team will have a tough season ahead of them but have the capabilities to have a successful year.

Newton played for Staffordshire in 2002 and now is Women’s Regional Cricket Development Manager for the West Midlands, which sees her support and challenge counties on their governance and provisions of Women’s and Girls’ cricket.

The 34 year old said: “The structure has changed this coming season with bigger divisions and a focus on every game mattering (no home and away fixtures).

“Staffs will be playing against a number of teams that were in the higher division last season so there will be some tough games.  Counties’ standards improve year on year and if the players have put in the hard work over the winter they should reap the rewards in the summer.”

Staffordshire got promoted into division two last season and will be looking to England international Danni Wyatt and Australian international Ellyse Villani for the experience they will need, but Newton insists it’s not totally down to them.

She continued: “Danni (Wyatt) has the potential to be a match winner every game, with the bat, ball or in the field.  She requires the assistance of her team and will sometimes not come up to her or the team’s expectations, so it is important they all play for each other and take responsibility for their roles.  Elyse, like Danni, has potential to dominate a bowling attack and very early on; she will be able to influence the game on and off the pitch talking to the youngsters.

“When a County squad has international players, there is a danger of placing a huge reliance on those players and they can become pivotal on the team’s performance.  Defining roles is crucial and Danni and Elyse can help the other players develop their own games affecting the team’s performance positively. “

Newton believes that Staffs have moved on in just ten years since she last played for the county and they have adapted with the times.

“The Women’s game has drastically changed over the last few years; T20 has made players innovate with sweeps and paddles and work hard on technique in order to hit the ball harder and in the air,” she explained. “It was still very traditional when I played for Staffs and all players and teams have had to move with the times so progression has definitely been made. “

In her current role Newton over sees a number of counties in the Midlands and is looking to evolve Staffordshire cricket even further.

She said: “Each County is at different stages of maturity therefore my work with each County can be similar but also can be very different.

“To give an example of my work with Staffs, I have presented the National Vision for Women’s and Girls’ cricket to Bob Askey and Leigh Rees and as a result of the document Bob (Askey) and Leigh (Rees) are in the process of setting up groups to tackle areas for development and areas of strength in order to service the needs of the County and continue to move it on.

“We are always looking for examples of ways girls will become or have become involved as it means less time experimenting and more time working on things that work.  There isn’t a fool proof way but the little things matter with girls; for instance handing them a leaflet that has been personalised, gives precise details of training and is attractive in design will help migration.

“The West Midlands Counties are all improving; and that is down to more Clubs offering girls’ cricket and therefore more girls are playing and being coached from an earlier age and more frequently.  I don’t doubt there will be a few gems in the system already and that patience coupled with the elite coaching offered in Staffs will unearth plenty of talented players.”

Staffordshire start their season at home against Wales on the 6^th May.

Skipper’s dismay as chance to catch leaders slips away

England’s seam bowler Georgia Elwiss on the tour of New Zealand

England pace bowler Georgia Elwiss has no fears about leaving Katherine Brunt at home, for their tour of New Zealand.

Brunt who is ranked third in the ODI rankings, left the South African tour in October because of a back problem and has been rested for the upcoming tour in February and March, which features five twenty20s and three ODIs.

Elwiss said: “Katherine (Brunt) is an irreplaceable bowler but I am certainly confident that the other bowlers can step up and take their opportunities to do the job in her absence.

“England have an extremely strong squad at the moment and their strength in depth is equally impressive so there is always competition for places.

“We don’t feel any extra pressure with her not being there.”

Elwiss knows what a tough prospect awaits them in the coming months, against a side which has just announced all rounder Suzie Bates as their new captain after Aimee Watkins retired in July.

The 20 year old continued: “The team know that New Zealand will be tough to beat on home soil.  They are under new captaincy and they will come at us hard, but we are going out there to win eight games of cricket.

“We want to make a statement to a very strong New Zealand side and show why we are the number one team in the world.”

Elwiss admits during the twenty 20 matches the focus will be on the world cup that takes place in Sri Lanka during September and October.

“We started preparing for the twenty20 world cup last summer so of course we will use the twenty20s in this tour to play to our game plans.

“Obviously from a team point of view we are looking to win every match. Personally, I’d like to gain experience playing in New Zealand and challenging myself against some of the best players in the world.”

The young Sussex seam bowler is hoping to build on the experience she gained from her debut tour in South Africa during her time in New Zealand.

She said: “It’s my second tour with England now, so the prospect is a little less daunting. I am very excited for it and obviously it’s an honour to be selected in the 15 women squad.

“Being selected obviously gives me so much motivation to keep working hard and hopefully impress the selectors over what will be a very important 15 months for the team, with both world cups in this period.

“Making my debut against South Africa was better than I had ever thought. I gained so much experience in those two weeks that will definitely stand me in good stead for this upcoming tour.

Elwiss played in two ODIs and one twenty20 in South Africa and opened the bowling in all three games.

“I knew I would get the opportunity to bowl, but I did not expect to be leading the attack in my debut. It was definitely better than expected.

“South Africa was a fantastic learning curve for me. I learned a lot about what it takes to be an international cricketer and hopefully this tour will show how much hard work has been put in since then.”

Elwiss is looking to establish herself on the international scene with a very busy and important period coming up for the England team.

Sue Redfern believes England’s women can dominate for years

Former England all rounder Sue Redfern believes that England’s surge to the top of the world is down to the current group of players and the set up at national and grass roots level.

Redfern played six Test matches and 15 ODIs between 1995 and 1999 and she attributes the national success to the physical and mental abilities of the side.

She said: “The success of the England side is down to the support and efforts of the existing management system and players themselves.

“They have become athletes and are highly motivated and talented, as a result are now achieving things they have worked hard for.

“Some of the girls can remember when they were losing to other international teams. They are highly competitive and their own determination has driven their performance.”

With the lack of Test cricket in the women’s game, and more twenty20 cricket, women are having to adapt to the current climate.

She continued: “Test matches aren’t played anymore so tours are shorter and games are more frequent meaning the fitness levels have to be higher.

“Fielding has dramatically improved as the girls are athletes not cricketers now. They also have more explosive power because of the introduction of twenty20.”

Redfern doesn’t brush aside the impact the ECB has had at the top level.

She said: “The ECB has invested in the squad for the past five or six years and the development and resources this has given the team has allowed the girls to progress.

“The girls are also supported financially. They aren’t paid to play but they are given support which means they can fit in time to train effectively.”

In her current role as development lead for women and girl’s cricket, Redfern is delighted with the set up at the grass roots level and believes this also has a part to play in the rise to number one in the world.

Redfern continued: “There is a lot more competition for places now compared to when I played, meaning it is harder to get to the top and only the best manage to do it.

“The government and ECB have invested money in all levels from playground cricket to the Test arena.

“£5.2 million has been invested into clubs developing women’s and girl’s cricket. The number of clubs has risen from 93 in 2003 to 565 in 2011.

“The growth in women’s cricket was shown this year, when the academy side played international teams and didn’t lose, showing the potential strength in depth.”

England are looking to stretch the gap between them and the chasing pack in February when they take on New Zealand who are under the new captaincy of Suzie Bates and Redfern believes it’s an important tour for both teams.

Redfern said: “New Zealand need to improve, they were poor last summer and it’s their chance to put the record straight.

“For England it’s a chance for them to develop their skills and for some of them they will be looking to cement their places in the team with both World cups coming up in the next 15 months.”

Staffs women looking for an inspirational season 2011

The sound of beep bop music reverberating around the indoor centre marks the start of the new cricket season for Staffordshire’s women’s cricket team.

After a winter of reconstruction in the managerial side and a combination of fitness training, technical coaching and tactical drills for the players, they are full of confidence to play ‘tough, hard cricket’ and are raring to go to try to fulfil the two aims of their new coach Chris Guest. These are to win promotion at the third attempt and to ‘play with a smile on their face.’

He said: “Our goal is about being promoted, that is our aim this season.”

Staffordshire missed out again on promotion out of the Women’s County Championship division 3 by 0.19 point at the hands of Wales last year. The last two games were very costly, losing them both and the last one especially so; failing to chase down Wales’ modest target of 76, collapsing to 55.

Even though Guest, who has worked with the men’s England head coach Andy Flower, has only seen the players in preseason despite no new additions to the squad, he has full confidence in them achieving promotion this season.

Guest continued: “With the players at our disposal, with the experience they have and the training we have done through the winter it’s a realistic goal and one I think we can achieve, if we go well and stick to the game plan.”

Guest has had to find a new captain for this season as Georgia Elwiss has moved to Sussex in an attempt to relight her England career. He has chosen Kate Dicken who has plenty of experience behind her, captaining England’s indoor team and he hopes she ‘leads from the front.’

Dicken has an idea about what the game plan is for the forthcoming season: “We have a strong squad, and throughout the winter we have worked hard on more specific things so hopefully we can apply that. It’s really about batting in partnerships. That is where we fell short last season and it’s where we are looking to improve.”

She doesn’t believe that too much emphasis should be put on the fact that they have lost their captain and opening bowler.

Dicken said: “It is a big loss, she’s a good player, opened the bowling and was captain but the rest of us will just have to step up to the plate. She’s gone on to bigger and better things.”

The loss of Elwiss and Overseas professional and New Zealand wicketkeeper Rachel Priest has led Guest and coaching staff Leigh Rees and Bob Askey to look at this season as being one to rebuild and be a learning curve for the girls. Last season there was a thought that there was too much responsibility on Priest and England all rounder Danielle Wyatt. Between them they hit 50.3% of the runs.

Rees said: “A problem with having players like Danielle and Rachel is that you can become over reliant on them.

“Last year on the batting side we did become over dependent on Danielle and Rachel. Nobody hit more than 50 in a game other than those two, there were just little cameos. For the run scoring we were relying on them.”

They haven’t been able to replace Priest, but there are a few on the radar. However Rees doesn’t see it has a huge inconvenience to achieve promotion.

He continued: “I don’t think it will be a bad thing and would be quite character building for the squad to stick with what we have got. They will have to take responsibility this season as we won’t be able to rely on Danielle being there every week because she is in the England squad. I think it will help the players to evolve and become better players.”

However they are looking to Wyatt to lead from the front with the bat from her experience at the highest level. Guest said: “Of course we are hoping that Danni’s experience will help she’s played at the highest level, but we can’t just look to her.”

Not only are the girls hoping to have a strong season in the County Championship but also in the Tweny20 competition. This year they will be competing in the Midlands and North division 1 after they won the second division last year on net run rate. Staffs will be facing County Championship division 1 outfits Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, and second division Warwickshire.

Rees knows it will be tough for the girls saying: “Even though we didn’t get promoted last year in the County Championship, we won our Twenty20 group easily. Now we have got play against teams like Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, all are good teams and it will be very hard and be a good test, but we will look to compete with them and do well.”

Staffs have got a long summer ahead, but there’s one thing that is on the coaching staff and player’s minds. Promotion, and they will do anything to achieve this.