England are set to host the Women’s T20 World Cup this summer.
England head coach Charlotte Edwards asserts that her players have comprehensively addressed prior concerns regarding their physical fitness.
The fitness levels of England’s players were a prominent topic of discussion leading up to Edwards’ appointment.
Following England’s premature exit from the Women’s T20 World Cup nearly 18 months prior, former spinner Alex Hartley suggested that certain players were “letting the team down” with respect to their physical condition.
Athleticism was again scrutinized during the Ashes series in January 2025, with former coach Jon Lewis attributing the issue to a cultural disparity between the UK and Australia.
Edwards implemented minimum fitness standards for England players upon succeeding Lewis as head coach last year.
Asked on a BBC Test Match Special debate program whether the fitness issue had been resolved, Edwards affirmed that it “100%” had.
“We’re in a really good place. The results are all so high. I couldn’t be more chuffed – we’ve made real progress,” Edwards stated.
“It’s not just all about whether you can run round a track. It’s all the other elements to it that we’ve tried to make just as important.”
Edwards will mark her first year as England head coach on Wednesday, as the team prepares to host the T20 World Cup this summer.
The 46-year-old noted that the introduction of specific fitness benchmarks has yielded the desired outcome.
“I think once you set out the expectation, the players know what they need to do. And we’ve added in sort of benchmarks over the winter,” Edwards elaborated.
“We’ve got to keep raising the standard. The players have fully bought into that, which, that was, I guess what I set out to do and am really pleased with the buy-in.
“I don’t know if anyone watched the fielding from the recent [intra-squad] series, but it’s some of the best fielding I’ve seen, certainly from our group, the improvements we’ve made.”
Watch the full debate about England’s women’s team on BBC iPlayer or listen to it as a podcast on BBC Sounds.
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