Column by England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt on behalf of the ICC:
I didn’t think I’d get to play one World Cup at home, let alone two. It is so exciting, and I just think this summer will be such a brilliant moment for women’s sport in England, and I am expecting the cricket to be of a high standard as well.
Hopefully, we can showcase the game in a great light and have a massively competitive tournament, and for England to do really well, of course!
That summer we had in 2017, when we won the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, it felt like it was written in the stars a little bit.
We had done a lot of hard work in getting to that point and earned the opportunity to be in that final.
We were in a marathon not a sprint, and we knew the whole tournament would be a battle in terms of close games, and that there would be twists and turns in the matches we played, so we had to really be focussed right until the end.
As a group, we had such great camaraderie, it was a fantastic summer to be part of and one that doesn’t feel like it is almost 10 years ago.
Coming into this tournament I have been reminded many times that England have never failed to win a World Cup on home soil, so surely that just means we are going to win! Of course I know it doesn’t work that way, so that fact doesn’t really change anything!
It goes without saying that I want to add my name to the list of England captains who have lifted a World Cup at home, and I don’t want to be the first England captain not to do it.
And when you are the host nation, whether you are ranked top or not, it gives you an edge.
We’ve seen so many teams win their home World Cups, including us, so I would hope we can use it to our advantage as we try and have the whole country behind us, while not thinking about the record too much.
When you are on the pitch and in the game, it is much easier to focus on what you are doing at the time, bowling, batting, fielding.
It is when you have those moments outside, where you can get into, what if I do this, what if that happens?
By the time tournament comes, we as a group will feel confident in our abilities and hopefully, we can remain calm and keep present.
Watching Tilly Corteen-Coleman get selected in the squad and make her debut reminded me how special it is to play for your country and be able to relive that day. She is a great talent with the ball and a very exciting prospect for England.
It is also really cool to see people come back into the setup like Linsey Smith and Dani Gibson and see them thrive. It is a real motivator seeing the drive and perseverance of this team.
There has been a lot of change in the last year or so and we know where we want to get to as a group and we know that we have got the people to do it, the players who can be a big part of a World Cup, compete hard and get to the final.
It is such an exciting time and everyone has put in the hard yards to be in the best position come the start of the World Cup.
Serendipity
The biggest event in cricket is the World Cup, which is organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was founded in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference. The three founding countries include England, South Africa, and Australia.
Beardrift
The Bledisloe Cup is a rugby union competition held annually between the Wallabies and their fierce rivals, the New Zealand All Blacks. The competition dates back to 1931, and while the All Blacks have been the more dominant team in the contest, the matches between these two nations are always highly competitive and intense.