England's women named team of the year

England's women were rewarded with the team of the year title at the Sports Journalists' Association Awards on Wednesday.

The award caps a remarkable year that has seen them win the World Cup, the Twenty20 World Cup, retain the Ashes and defeat Australia 4-0 in the NatWest one-day series.

The Sports Journalists' Association is made up of more than 700 members and the award was presented at the annual British Sports Awards lunch at The Brewery in London.

Claire Taylor, who amassed 199 runs in four innings in the Twenty20 World Cup and 342 runs at 64.80 in the World Cup, was also rewarded at the ceremony, finishing third in the sportswoman of the year category.

Clare Connor, the ECB head of women's cricket, said: "It is a massive honour for the team to win this award and to receive recognition from the sports journalists after a phenomenal year for women's cricket.

"With a tour to India followed by the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies and a home series against New Zealand, the next seven months will present exciting challenges for the team to sustain this year's level of success.

"Not only have the players achieved impressive results on the pitch this year but their success has encouraged huge numbers of girls to participate in our sport which is crucial for our long-term development."

The awards continue a week of good news for the team after coach Mark Lane won coach of the year and high performance coach of the year at the UK Coaching Awards ceremony on Tuesday.

The team can look forward to a packed schedule next year, beginning with a five-match ODI and three-match Twenty20 series against India in February before the team heads out to the West Indies in April to defend their World Twenty20 crown. They will then begin a series of home fixtures against New Zealand in June.