Daily Times

LONDON: Next year’s Women’s World Cup in England is a “once in a generation” chance to help boost the profile of the female game in its birthplace, according to a top official.

For Clare Connor, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s head of women’s cricket, a home win at the 2017 tournament would help take some of the edge off the team’s semi-final loss to arch-rivals Australia at this year’s World Twenty20.

It would also cap a memorable year that saw long-serving skipper Charlotte Edwards effectively forced into retirement after she was stripped of the captaincy by new coach Mark Robinson and the introduction of the new English women’s Super League Twenty20 competition.

“The opportunity we have next summer is huge,” said Connor, with England on the brink of automatic qualification for the World Cup after completing a 3-2 series win away to the West Indies with a five-wicket victory at Jamaica’s Sabina Park on Wednesday. “But of course yes, there is pressure. We cannot take these things for granted.

“It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us trying to pull together the best possible event.” The former England women’s captain added that “for a lot of the players, it is once in a career – probably the only home World Cup Heather Knight captains. “We can get quite blase, but we have the responsibility to make sure we capitalise on it”.