England Women’s new head coach Charlotte Edwards has said players must be accountable for their fitness as she outlines her expectations in the role.
The former England captain replaces Jon Lewis, who was sacked in the wake of the 16-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia over the winter as the tourists lost all seven games on a chastening tour.
During the tour, spinner Sophie Ecclestone refused to be interviewed by former team-mate and now media pundit Alex Hartley after the latter questioned England’s fitness in the wake of the T20 World Cup exit months earlier, a decision that was heavily criticised by the public and media.
“In terms of fitness, I’m going up to Loughborough next week and the team will be in a fitness session so I’ll judge them on that next week,” Edwards said.
“What I do want is more accountability from players around fitness. I don’t want that to be a talking point moving forward. That’s really important to me.
“In terms of our professional standards, anyone who knows me, I set pretty high standards, so that’s something I’ll be instilling within this group.
“It’s a fresh start for us all. And I really can’t wait for the prospect of getting started.”
Edwards led England to the 2009 50-over World Cup and T20 World Cup titles, while she also won three Ashes series outright in a 10-year spell as captain between 2006 and 2016.
The 45-year-old will be hoping to revitalise England after their damning Ashes tour but the first thing on her agenda will be finding a new captain.
Heather Knight, who succeeded Edwards as skipper in 2016 and went on to win the 50-over World Cup on home soil a year later, was removed from the job following the Ashes hammering.
“We’ve got a few meetings over the next few days, so I’m hoping that’s going to take two weeks at the most,” Edwards added.
“I’ve got some of my own thoughts, which I’m not going to share, but we do have a shortlist.”
England Women’s summer fixtures
All times UK and Ireland; all games live on Sky Sports
T20 international series vs West Indies (May)
- First T20: Wednesday May 21 (6.30pm) – Canterbury
- Second T20: Friday May 23 (6.35pm) – Hove
- Third T20: Monday May 26 (2.30pm) – Chelmsford
One-day international series vs West Indies (May-June)
- First ODI: Friday May 30 (1pm) – Derby
- Second ODI: Wednesday June 4 (1pm) – Leicester
- Third ODI: Saturday June 7 (11am) – Taunton
T20 international series vs India (June-July)
- First T20: Saturday June 28 (2.30pm) – Trent Bridge
- Second T20: Tuesday July 1 (6.30pm) – Bristol
- Third T20: Friday July 4 (6.35pm) – The Kia Oval
- Fourth T20: Wednesday July 9 (6.30pm) – Emirates Old Trafford
- Fifth T20: Saturday July 12 (6.35pm) – Edgbaston
One-day international series vs India (July)
- First ODI: Wednesday July 16 (1pm) – Southampton
- Second ODI: Saturday July 19 (11am) – Lord’s
- Third ODI: Tuesday July 22 (1pm) – Chester-le-Street
