Plenty riding on England's effort in World Cup

England has more riding on its CricInfo Women's World Cup success than just winning the trophy when the tournament starts in two weeks time.

Improved funding the side has attracted in its build-up could be continued and bettered if the side can make a big impact in the Cup.

Coach Paul Farbrace said the side had a grant of 184 thousand pounds from Sport England. Ninety thousand went to the England and Wales Cricket Board to fund the training weekends that the women's side had in North Wales, Manchester and Nottingham.

The other 90,000 was for the individual needs of the players in the side to allow themselves to commit themselves to be committed to the event.

"Each player has had their own fitness programme for six months and each player has had their own coach who they see two or three times a week.

"If the money can continue to be there for a couple of years it will make a big difference. Having it for just five or six months is not enough.

"Women's cricket needs all the support it can get," he said.

A central part of the side's preparation for the tournament has been based on England's tour to New Zealand earlier this year.

The lessons learned on that trip have been applied in the Cup build-up.

"The biggest thing was that we thought we were a better side than we actually were.

"We probably practised the wrong things and were looking a bit far down the track," he said of the work done by himself and assistant coach Graham Dilley.

That meant going back to the basics of batting and emphasising the fundamentals. The bowling was one area that had steadily improved under Dilley's tutelage.

"It is reasonable, and getting better. We have a better balance to our attack.

"Fielding was an area we felt we could compete in a lot better. We've been working on getting the ball back quickly and our angles to field against certain batsmen," he said.

One of the benefits from his own point of view last summer was seeing the way both Australia and New Zealand practised.

"They didn't spend as much time in the nets as we did. I talked with Mike Shrimpton [New Zealand coach] about how he ran team meetings. Graham and I had tended to talk at the players while Mike said he tried to get his players to be involved in the meeting," he said.

The whole thing was about working on the basics. What men's teams did well was reliant on doing the basics right.

Good one-day teams like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand had shown that.

"The other good thing is that we are able to come back here so soon after our earlier visit. There comes a time when you have to stop talking about it and start doing it," he said.

Farbrace said he was just as excited about the three ODIs against New Zealand as he was about the World Cup, at the moment.

"If we can compete in those games it will give us a lift.

"It is a fabulous opportunity to come back here so soon to see if we really have made a difference," he said.