At the beginning of the millennium, the Central contract system helped the England men’s cricket team in its upward journey from what its supporters called the worst team in the world.
Amy Jones believes the similar system has transformed the England’s women’s team, too.
“It has changed the women’s cricket back home massively,” the wicket-keeper said on Friday.
“Since the contract came in, lot of us wanted to be full time cricketers. The amount of time we could spend on our skills improved massively.”
She said the players now didn’t have to worry about jobs or anything like that.
“Obviously it frees you up,” she said. “Women’s cricket is now very exciting and it is getting better and better. We have good crowds and coverage.”
Jones said quality competitions like Australia’s Big Bash, in which she plays Perth Scorchers, also helped players like her.
“We get to play more games and the standard is so high,” she said. “There is pressure on being an overseas player in a world class tournament. It can only benefit players when they go back to playing for their countries.”
READ: Danielle Wyatt powers England to T20 series win over India women
She said the tour of India had been enchanting. “In the ODIs, India did well, with their strong bowling,” she said. “It is good to see our game plan coming good in the T20Is.”
Jones said getting Smriti Mandhana early was the key.
“She is a brilliant player and we saw glimpses of that in this series,” she said. “She is a dangerous player, but there are also other excellent batters for India. Certainly game is not over.”
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