New England coach aiming high with World Cup triumph on the agenda

Newly-appointed England coach Charlotte Edwards believes her side are capable of finding their best form quickly and can challenge for the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup title.

Edwards was appointed as England's women's coach earlier this month following a disappointing Ashes series against Australia at the start of the year and the subsequent departure of Jon Lewis and long-time skipper Heather Knight.

One of the first tasks for Edwards will be assembling her squad for the next edition of the 50-over World Cup that is scheduled for the backend of this year.

The new coach has promised a fresh slate for all players, with Edwards suggesting she will provide a host of younger players with plenty of opportunities during home series against the West Indies and India prior to the World Cup to ensure she can select the next group of stars to guide England into the future.

"We've got a lot of young players who, for me, haven't played enough cricket, so I want them to experience playing more cricket, being put in those situations time and time again and earning your England cap," Edwards said at Lord's on Wednesday.

"The door is not shut to anyone and that's going to be a strong message coming out today, but hopefully starting with the county season, that's going to be a really positive thing.

"I'm not going to talk too much about the past. For me it's all about the future and what I see is that we've got a really talented squad and I think we've got some of the best players in the world, some really talented high-potential young players, which I'm looking forward to working with."

Edwards is one of England's most decorated female players in recent times, having led the side to three Ashes triumphs over Australia and to the ultimate success at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup and ICC Women's T20 World Cup in 2009.

Maintaining high standards will be important for Edwards during her tenure, who revealed she wants the squad to take more ownership of their own fitness regimes under her watchful eye.

"My first week is actually profiling next week, so I'm going to judge for myself about where the team are with their fitness," Edwards said.

"I will make the players more accountable for fitness, so that's something I'm going to do.

"But there's many aspects to this and I think the results from the winter, although 16-0 (against Australia in the Ashes), I know that we are closer to that than what that scoreline suggested. I wouldn't have taken on this role if I didn't think that, in six months' time, we could win a World Cup in India. I think we've got the playing group to do that.

"We've got a lot of hard work and we've got a lot of honesty in that time before then, but I'm really confident that, given some time with this group, that we can turn things around very quickly."

Edwards has indicated she wants to appoint a new captain as quickly as possible, with the new coach suggesting she wants to announce Heather Knight's successor as skipper prior to the team's next engagement against the West Indies on May 22.

Long-time vice-captain Nat Sciver-Brunt remains the favourite to win the role, though off-spinner Charlie Dean and No.1 ranked white-ball bowler Sophie Ecclestone remain in the mix should Edwards wish to opt for a younger skipper.

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But Edwards has confirmed her mantra will remain the same regardless of who takes the top job, with the former England star maintaining she will be out to win at all costs.

"They've had this mantra of entertaining and inspiring over the last little bit, and I think it's probably just changing their focus," Edwards said.

"It's bottling that entertaining and that aggressive approach, but for me, it's about their game smarts and their game awareness about winning.

"I'm under no illusions. I've come into this role, it's about winning. I think coaches are sometimes too scared to say we want to win. That's our job. My job is to win games of cricket, and I think it's how we go and do that now.

"That looks different on each given day and I just want to create some intelligent players who win games of cricket for England, and that's going to be how I'll go about stuff over the next few weeks, and try and instil that within the players."