England Women's Squad announced for ODI Tournament and Ashes Test Series

* Vodafone are the Official Sponsor of the England Women's Cricket team *

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today announced the 14 England players who will tour New Zealand and Australia in January and February 2003. The 14 players have been selected from the 18 currently on the Sport England funded World Class Performance Programme.

England will play in an ODI tournament between hosts New Zealand, India and Australia in Christchurch in January 2003 followed by the two-Test Ashes Series against Australia in February at the Gabba and Sydney.

The 14 players are:

Player                             *England Caps             Date of birth
Clare Connor (Sussex) Captain  69   01.09.76
Sarah Collyer (Somerset)  19   03.10.80
Charlotte Edwards (Kent)  40   17.12.79
Mandie Godliman (Sussex)  8   05.04.73
Laura Harper (Somerset)   16   21.01.84
Dawn Holden (Notts)   23   01.09.80
Kathryn Leng (Yorkshire)  47   10.09.73
Laura Newton (Staffs)   26   27.11.77
Lucy Pearson (Staffs)   42   19.02.72
Nicki Shaw (Notts)   18   30.12.81
Laura Spragg (Yorks)   5   16.06.82
Claire Taylor (Berks)   31   25.09.75
Clare Taylor (Yorks)   97   22.05.65
Arran Thompson (Lancs)    20   23.11.81

Six current England players will travel to the Southern Hemisphere in the coming weeks to represent New Zealand or Australia state sides this winter. England's most experienced player, Clare Taylor, returns to Otago and 'keeper Mandie Godliman will play for Wellington. England's leading batsmen Charlotte Edwards and Claire Taylor will also play in NZ whilst Dawn Holden and Sarah Collyer travel to Australia.

England go into the ODI tournament having comfortably beaten India in one-day matches this summer, but lost the ODI Final to World Champions, New Zealand.

England captain Clare Connor said: "The quadrangular ODI tournament is a precursor to the World Cup (January 2005) with the world's leading teams taking part, and it will enable us to gauge our current placing in the international arena. It's an opportunity for us to begin challenging the world's top teams again, and we should take the chance to stamp our authority on the tournament and show how much we've improved".

England Coach John Harmer said: "We've made real progress again this summer. The winter will be tough as the competition is better but we're not miles away from them. With more confidence we'll start to get the big wins against the leading countries."

The England women's team look forward to a year of more international cricket than ever before, and, in addition to the Senior team, the England U-19 Women's team will tour for the first time taking part in Australia's U-19 women's state tournament in February, followed by two matches against Australia's U19 team.

The itinerary for the England women this winter is as follows:

26th January - 9th February Quadrangular ODI Tournament
England, New Zealand, Australia, India


15th-18th February
1st Test: England v Australia, The Gabba, Brisbane Cricket Ground


22nd-25th February
2nd Test: England v Australia, Bankstown Oval, Sydney, NSW