England's women's cricket team is taking their World Cup preparations to the next level—literally, by heading to bootcamp with the British Army.
The 15-player squad selected for this summer's Women's T20 World Cup will sit out this weekend's domestic matches to participate in an intensive training camp with military personnel. The program is designed to sharpen "decision-making, resilience, and delivering high performance when the pressure is turned up," according to team management.
The camp, held at an undisclosed UK location, comes just one week before England's first international of the summer—a one-day international against New Zealand on Sunday, May 10. Following that series, the team will face New Zealand in three T20s before taking on India in another three-match T20 series. The World Cup campaign kicks off against Sri Lanka on June 12.
"We are extremely lucky to be able to send our newly selected World Cup squad into one of the best high-performance environments in the world," said Clare Connor, the England and Wales Cricket Board's managing director of women's cricket. "I'm confident that what the players will experience and learn over the next few days will be priceless when it comes to performing in some of the pressure moments that a home World Cup will undoubtedly bring."
This isn't the first time cricket has turned to the military for team-building. England's men's squad famously attended a five-day army bootcamp in a German forest before their 2010-11 Ashes victory. While fast bowler James Anderson broke a rib during a boxing match, the camp was credited with forging a tight-knit team. However, a repeat ahead of the 2013-14 tour is often remembered less fondly—as the start of a campaign that fell short.
For Charlotte Edwards' squad, this camp marks the latest step in a winter without international fixtures. Instead, the team has relied on intra-squad camps to stay sharp. Earlier this month, they missed a round of domestic 50-over matches for a training camp focused on T20 skills.
With the World Cup on home soil, every moment of preparation counts—and this weekend, England's stars will be learning what it truly means to perform under pressure.