Lauren Bell: England seamer on journey be leader of attack
England’s players will have more T20 camps in the coming weeks, as well as fitness tests that Edwards introduced after taking over last year. The issue was much discussed following criticism in last year’s Ashes but former skipper Edwards believes it has now been put to rest with improvements.
Around these camps, Bell and other England players, who play against Hampshire club Essex on Saturday, will be able to take part in the first rounds of the domestic 50-over competition, which starts this weekend.
They have just six T20s after this, three against New Zealand and three against India, before the T20 World Cup campaign begins against Sri Lanka on June 12.
It has been nine years since England’s 50-plus World Cup victory, their last cup victory in 2017; A point that Bell did not lose.
“We haven’t won anything for a long time and it’s not a good place as a team,” he says. “Everyone is motivated to turn the situation around.”
England’s men are experiencing their own identity issues following this winter’s Ashes defeat; It’s a situation the women’s team has experienced less frequently since last winter’s 16-0 defeat in Australia.
Bell spoke at St Albans Cricket Club as part of the England and Wales Cricket Club’s Get Set Weekend, where volunteers from across the country prepare their clubs for the new season.
It is from clubs like these that the support Bell hopes can make a difference will come from.
“Obviously there are three big countries, India who are in a great position at the moment, Australia who are really dominant and I think we have home advantage, so who knows,” says Bell.
