Warwickshire Women Head Coach Ali Maiden wants his side to challenge for titles with the Metro Bank One Day Cup season set to get under way against Surrey on Saturday at Edgbaston Stadium.
The Englishman oversaw a Vitality Blast campaign in which the Bears reached Finals Day in 2025, but were unable to advance from the group stages in the 50-over competition.
The goal for 2026, however, is to challenge for honours in both competitions and Maiden is confident that should the Bears progress from the group stages, they have the quality to go all the way whether that’s in 20-over or 50-over cricket.
“The goal is to win the trophy.” Maiden said. “We set that goal at the start of last year, the overall goal is to do that. We feel that In any of the competitions, if we get out of the group stages and get to the knockout stages, that’s a good achievement.
“So for us, that’s a marker of success. When we look back on the season, that’s something that we really look for, is did we get out of the group stages? But ultimately, we want to win it. We think if we get out of the group stage in the competition, like we did last year in the Blast, we think then we can win. On a big Finals Day, we can turn up and perform.
“The 50-over competition for us is something we really want to improve from last year. We probably overachieved in the Blast and probably underachieved a little bit in the 50-over competition. We’ve set the marker down quite early that we want to improve on what we did last year. Everyone’s excited, everyone’s fit, which is great. We’re ready to get going and make a mark on the competition.”
Maiden has praised his squad for their attitude towards the diligent work undertaken during the winter months and for their approach to the pre-season games which, despite not taking much notice of the results, was pleased with the individual performances which will breed confidence heading into the season.
“I have to give huge credit to the girls and the staff because the winter can feel like a long time, but it hasn’t done because of the effort and the energy and the desire to improve that the girls have shown.
“That, coupled with the hard work of the staff who’ve kept standards high, it just means it’s gone brilliantly and everyone’s really excited to get going now.
“The pre-season games are always opportunities for us to get people out on the park and ultimately, I think it’s a personal thing. Everybody has had some time at the wicket and everybody’s had some success, which helps them then get into the season. We don’t take too much from the results, but we feel like the way that we’ve played the game, we feel like that gives us a lot of confidence.
“In cricket, like all sport, confidence is huge. We managed to get people’s time increased, Davina got 100, Katie George got a couple of 50s. Those things, all they do is mean that when you go into that first game, it feels familiar again. It feels like putting on your shoes rather than feeling alien.”