In today's 5 wicket win over New Zealand, Charlotte Edwards played her 200th match as England captain. The honour, which saw her become the first player, man or woman, to captain England in 200 internationals, is just the latest in a hugely successful career. ECB managing director Paul Downton, who was in Lincoln for the match, made a presentation to the 35-year-old prior to the win. England won the toss and Edwards elected to field at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval. Kiwi captain Suzi Bates was out for just 7 in the third over, caught on the leg side boundary by Lydia Greenway off the bowling of vice captain Heather Knight. And from then on England were in control. In fact only three players made it into double figures, Rachel Priest and Kate Broadmore (both 14) and Sophie Devine (37). It was that 37 off 31 balls from Devine, which enabled the hosts to set the score they did as wickets tumbled around her. New Zealand ended on 97-9 off their twenty overs.
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The RFU has today announced that Simon Middleton will become head coach of England Women's Rugby team. The current 7's coach, will become 15's coach in a new combined role after the completion of the Sevens World Series in May. It has been announced that the fixed term contract will run until 2017, the year of the next World Cup. With much of the squad playing both 7's and 15's rugby, it seems he will take up an over-seeing role which branches both disciplines. Nicky Ponsford, head of women's performance, has been in temporary charge of the team since the departure of head coach Gary Street just before the start of the Six Nations in January. Street lead the team to multiple successful tournaments over the years he spent as head coach, culminating in the World Cup win last year in France. England beat Canada 21-9 in the final in Paris and less than six months later he stepped down.
Today, Mark Sampson has announced the 23 player squad for England's final warm-up matches at the Cyprus Cup next month. As top seeds in Group B, Sampson's team will begin the tournament against Finland on 4 March, before matches against Australia and Holland over the following week. Depending on the group standings, England will then play a final match against a team from one of the other two groups, possibly World Cup hosts Canada, which will determine their final positioning in the tournament.
Reading FC Women have been removed from the FA Cup after fielding two ineligible players in their 3-0 third round win over Crystal Palace Ladies. Palace have since been reinstated in the competition, and so will be the team to face Charlton in the next round on 8th March. The club attended a hearing at Wembley Stadium today where they set out to explain the reasons behind the error. After the hearing General Manager Jon Horton explained the outcome, "The FA listened but then they came back and said the only action they could take is to remove us from the competition."
England were in emphatic form as they bowled New Zealand out for just 60 before reaching their target with 50 balls to spare at the cost of just two wickets. All rounder Heather Knight and fast bowler Anya Shrubsole starred with the ball as England responded after the disappointment of losing two out of three previous ODI's to start well in the run of three T20's. After five overs, New Zealand had lost 4 wickets for just 10 runs after Knight, who only took up spin bowling properly in the Summer, took 3 wickets for 2 runs (before finishing with figures of 3-10). At 18-6, the Kiwis were at risk of recording the lowest total in a Women's International Twenty20 match, after Bangladesh bowled Sri Lanka out for 57 in 2012. Katie Perkins and Erin Bermingham were able to see New Zealand through the next few overs without losing a wicket, but England captain Charlotte Edwards brought in Shrubsole who got Perkins caught superbly by Lydia Greenway and then the new batter Lea Tahuhu out for three caught by Nat Sciver.
NWSL team the Houston Dash have announced the signing of FIFA Puskas Award finalist Stephanie Roche on a two year deal, pending receipt of her visa and international clearance. Roche goal for Peamount United against Wexford Youths in the Women's National League in Ireland has gained millions of views on YouTube and catapulted the 25-year-old to international recognition. She became the first woman to be named a finalist for the award and was beaten by only 9% by James Rodriguez's volley at the World Cup for Columbia.
After disappointment against Wales last week, England have responded by scoring six tries in a commanding 39-7 win over Italy at The Stoop. England, who recorded their first win of the campaign, had a number of star names back from 7's duty in Brazil including former captain Katy Mclean who scored a try and four out of eight kicks on goal. McLean opened the scoring after just four minutes, by slotting away a penalty and after that England wanted numerous opportunities to extend their lead, but the Italian defence standing strong to frustrate their hosts. And Italy took the lead with their first meaningful attack into England's half when captain Silvia Gaudino set up Flavia Severin for a try. The following conversion from Michela Sillari, meant Italy took a 7-3 lead.
Despite losing the third ODI against New Zealand to go 2-1 down in the series, England's campaign to qualify for the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup is still on track. Charlotte Edwards' team toke just two points from the three matches which was enough to move them to second in the table, joint with South Africa who also have 7 points, but falling behind current world champions, Australia who, having not lost a match, lead the standings with 12 points. Wicket-keeper batsman, Rachel Priest hit a career best 96 not out as New Zealand passed their target of 218 with eight balls to spare, to win only their second match of the campaign. Earlier on vice-captain Heather Knight seemed to be relishing her new all-rounder status as she hit 79, her highest ODI score, putting on 71 runs for the first wicket with captain Edwards. After Edwards fell for 40, Lauren Winfield made 29 before being bowled by Amy Satterthwaite and after that England lost regular wickets with Sarah Taylor, Amy Jones and Natalie Sciver only managing six runs between them. Katherine Brunt came in and supported Knight, before the latter was dismissed caught and bowled by Erin Bermingham with the score 159-6 in the 41st over. A late flurry from the visitors, in which Brunt featured with 26 off 24 balls which included a straight six off the bowling of Sophie Devine, meant England finished on 217-9.
After a comprehensive defeat to Germany at Wembley to end last year, England started 2015 much improved but vitally, again couldn't find a way to win against one of the worlds best, as Mark Sampson's team fell to the USA. Making five changes from the team that lost against the Germans last November, Sampson changed his favoured attacking diamond formation for a more solid 4-4-2 and brought in Jill Scott and Jo Potter to provide physicality in midfield. Laura Basset stepped in for the injured Lucy Bronze at centre back and Jodie Taylor and Fran Kirby were favoured up front, rather than their more experienced team-mates. The United States, the two times World Cup winners but not since 1999, hadn't been in great form either, having arrived at Milton Keynes just 5 days after a 2-0 loss to France in Lorient. But were able to find a breakthrough despite resorting to long balls, as neither team played their best football.
Wales got their 2015 Six Nations campaign off to a flying start as they beat the reigning world champions for only the second time in their history. Laurie Harries' late try sealed the match for the Welsh as the beat England 13-0. In a first half were Wales enjoyed most of the possession, they got off the mark when Harries kicked a penalty. Despite controlling the game early on, England had only one chance of note as Ceri Large broke through the Welsh defence. They were awarded a penalty from 30 meters out, but Megan Goddard was wayward from the tee and from then the match started to turn in Wales' favour. The hosts won a penalty of their own which was drilled wide by Harries. But she got another chance which she put away, chipping over the posts just before half time.
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