An excellent winter and pre-season has propelled Warwickshire Women towards the 2019 campaign with high expectations.
With MacLeod approaching her first season as the Bears’ Women and Girls Performance Manager and Dominic Osler and Tom Brown their first as coaches, there is a sense that the first team is ready to raise its game to new levels.
With Amy Jones having just starred in England’s one-day series whitewash triumph away to Sri Lanka and some impressive young talent coming through at Portland Road, there is a plenty of positivity around the Bears’ camp.
Top-three finishes in both competitions are the aim. Now can they deliver?
There is a really good mix of proven quality and young talent in the squad and it would be great to get some good crowds at Portland Road to watch this season.
Laura MacLeod
“Expectations are high, but that’s good,” said MacLeod. “It means that we are getting a lot of things right and people are starting to pay attention to us.
“We have had a really good pre-season. Now it’s all about translating that preparation into performances on the field. It’s about putting plans together and being match-smart and I know that Dominic and Tom have got some classrooms sessions coming up with the players that will be all about tactics and the mindset that you need to be successful on the field.”
Warwickshire Women begin their 50-over warm-up games away to Nottinghamshire on April 7 with a view to building up momentum towards their testing start to the competitive season with games away to Sussex and Kent at Brighton and Beckenham respectively on May 5 and 6.
“It’s a tough start,” said MacLeod. “Sussex have got some very good players, as have Kent with Tammy Beaumont one of the best in the country. But we are strong too and there is a great spirit about the camp and having a difficult start away from home gives us a chance to set down a real marker. Good results down there would give us a great springboard into the season.
“Amy has done brilliantly in Sri Lanka in the last couple of weeks and hopefully she can keep that form going into the county season. There is a really good mix of proven quality and young talent in the squad and it would be great to get some good crowds at Portland Road to watch this season.
“This is a really exciting time for women’s cricket and we want Warwickshire to be at the heart if it. During last season several people said to me ‘we would have come to the game if we’d known about it.’ From now on we will be much more proactive in getting the message out there that something good is happening with the Bears women so please come down and have a look.”
