Edwards Looks to the Future After England’s Semi-Final Exit

Even as the team shifts its focus to the T20 World Cup, the head coach admits that it is still a work in progress.

Moreover, Charlotte Edwards, England's head coach, says that her team's flawed World Cup campaign has made her even more determined to bring the necessary changes. She further stated that it is "time to look to the future" following a crushing semi-final defeat to South Africa in Guwahati.

Speaking to the media, just moments after England's 125-run defeat, Edwards highlighted the outstanding performance of South Africa's matchwinners. She praised the performance of Laura Wolvaardt, who was named Player of the Match for her 169 from 143 balls, and Marizanne Kapp, whose five-wicket haul included a first-over double-wicket maiden to wreck England's hopes of achieving a 320 target.

Nevertheless, having stated before the tournament that a semi-final berth was the bare minimum that should be expected from her squad, Edwards did not shy away from the underlying fragility of England's campaign. 

Despite qualifying in second place with five wins out of seven in the group stages, their performances against Bangladesh and Pakistan had already exposed the weaknesses in their batting. The tournament favorites, Australia, then maintained the dominance of last winter’s Ashes whitewash with an emphatic six-wicket win in Indore.

During this period, Edwards took over from her predecessor Jon Lewis back in April, but held back from wholesale changes to her squad for this winter, instead focusing on improvements within the existing set-up. 

However, with the World Cup marking the end of this four-year ODI cycle, and with a home T20 World Cup looming next summer, Edwards accepts that it's time to step up the squad's overhaul, starting with a series of training camps from December to March, at which the next generation will be given a chance to prove its readiness.

These were arguably on display at times during the campaign just gone, not least in a gritty performance to beat the tournament hosts, and fellow semi-finalists, India by four runs in their group-stage clash in Indore.

"I'm a winner. I don't like losing. When I came into this role, I understood that progress would take time. I've seen some really positive things to come out of this trip. I think we've performed a little bit better under pressure, but in certain moments, we haven't seized, and that's going to be an ongoing thing.” said Charlotte Edwards.

"Overall, we are making progress, and that's the most important thing. But ultimately, you're defined on your results. And today we're going out of a World Cup in the semi-final stage, where we were all hopeful we could really make that final." said Charlotte Edwards.

"I knew it wasn't going to be a quick fix. We've got some areas we need to work on, but that probably makes me more hungry now to go back home and work with these players over over the winter period." said Charlotte Edwards.

Additionally, a number of England's players are due to head to Australia for next month's WBBL. Thereafter, Edwards has earmarked a series of training camps in Oman and South Africa, where the players will compete against one another in an arrangement similar to the North versus South fixtures introduced by Andrew Strauss in 2018.

"We've got a new cycle now of ODI cricket, haven't we, but first and foremost it's the T20 World Cup. There'll be a group of players that will be training from December through til March. We're going to spend time with these players and hopefully upskill them, and hopefully they can deal with these occasions better.” said Charlotte Edwards.

"That's exciting for me. As an international coach, it's rare to get time with players to actually advance their games. We've got an opportunity this winter to hopefully do that with some of our younger players. and I'm looking forward to getting that underway in December." Charlotte Edwards.

Edwards mentioned players like Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson, who missed the tournament because of injuries. She also highlighted Tilly Corteen-Coleman and Davina Perrin, the breakout star of this year’s Women’s Hundred, as potential options for future campaigns.

"We've targeted 13 to 15 players who we're going to work intensively hard with," she said. "[This tournament] was too early. The players that had got this far, we wanted to stick with them, but it's exciting now. We've got a new group of players coming through. We'll go home and reassess. We won't make rash decisions, but we've got to look to the future now. And we've got some unbelievable talent coming through."

Moreover, England's defeat to South Africa was especially painful given that they had beaten the same opponents at the same venue in their tournament opener, after bowling them out for 69. This time, however, the match was played on a bouncier red-soil surface that was more conducive to the seamers, most notably to Kapp, who produced match-winning figures of 5 for 20.

However, asked whether there had been any temptation to tinker with the spin-heavy line-up that had brought them this far, Edwards replied: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We've stuck with that combination. It's done us really well throughout the [competition]."

England had seemed competitive, having reduced South Africa to 202 for 6 going into the final ten overs of their innings. But then Wolvaardt cut loose, adding 119 runs in partnership with Chloe Tryon, before Nadine de Klerk helped add the finishing touches.

"At times, we just didn't hit our straps today, certainly that back 10 really cost us. If we'd have kept them to 280, which probably was a par score, we may have been able to chase that down, but, yeah, it wasn't to be.” said Charlotte Edwards.

"It's going to be a sad dressing-room. I don't think I'll say too much tonight. I don't think there's anything you can say tonight that's going to make things better. As we all know, life moves on very quickly. These girls will be off to Australia soon. But yeah, I'm hurting too." said Charlotte Edwards.