Charlotte Edwards wants to help England rebuild after Women’s Ashes drubbing

Respected as a leader and one of England’s finest cricketers of all time, Knight has not presided over an Ashes triumph in her five series as captain, albeit against an Australia team that is the strongest in the history of the women’s game.

Bar a drawn series against the Australians at home in 2023, England’s recent record in major events has been disappointing.

They were on the brink of an early exit at the 2022 World Cup before being overwhelmed in the final by Australia, missed out on the medals in the Commonwealth Games of the same year and have not reached a T20 World Cup final since 2018.

The nadir was this latest Ashes, where they were humiliated by Australia with seven defeats across three one-day internationals, three T20s and a one-off Test.

“It’s hugely disappointing,” said Edwards. “Hopefully this will be a line in the sand for the team and the ECB to have a look at where we’re going in the women’s game, because there are a lot of good things happening.

“That’s what makes it sad for someone who is involved in the system. There are a lot of good things happening within county and regional structure and it hasn’t necessarily been portrayed with the England team. That is a worry and something that needs to be looked at.”

England’s fitness was called into question by former spinner Alex Hartley following their group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup in October.

Although coach Lewis conceded Australia are “more athletic” than England, he suggested this was because of climatic and cultural differences between the two nations.

“If you do a comparison they are more athletic and they are fitter,” said Edwards.

“That is what we have to aspire to be like. Part of our jobs at county level is to support the players to be fitter, more athletic, so we can compete with Australia.”