Ebony's tipped for twenty20 success

Aug 6 2008 By Ryan Bangs, Staines News

ENGLAND one-day skipper Paul Collingwood is tipping Shepperton's Ebony Rainford-Brent to help land the inaugural women's Twenty20 World Cup crown.

The men and women's teams will play side by side for the first time in a major competition as England prepares to host the second ever Twenty20 World Cup next June.

Rainford-Brent, 24, has already featured in England's crushing win against the West Indies in July, but will be hoping to put down a sizeable selection marker when South Africa and India arrive on home soil later this summer.

And Collingwood, who has 145 ODI caps, scoring more than over 3,500 runs, is relishing the prospect of England's men and women going for glory.

The 27-year-old all-rounder, said: "The fact that the women's ICC World Twenty20 tournament will be running alongside the men's competition in England next year just shows how high the standard is throughout the women's game.

"Next year's World Twenty20 will be a unique event as fans have the opportunity to watch both the England men's and the England women's team fight it out for the title of world champions.

"The prospect of having both England teams playing alongside each other in the finals at Lord's is a mouth-watering one."

Rainford-Brent, who has transformed herself from a bowler into a top-order batsman in the last 12 months, has yet to make her debut in the international Twenty20 arena.

But with four matches scheduled in the next six weeks Rainford-Brent, who made five not out in the ten-wicket demolition of the West Indies, has already set her sights on nailing down a place in the World Cup squad

"It's going to be a really interesting summer, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the Twenty20 matches," said Rainford-Brent.

"Twenty20 has breathed new life into the game, and its great fun for the players and the spectators.

"I like to be as aggressive as possible when I bat, so it suits my game, and having the World Cup in England at the same time as the men is fantastic.

"There's going to be so much interest in it - I've just got to make sure I score plenty of runs when I'm in the team to keep my place."

* Watch England Women in action in the NatWest Women's Series at various grounds across the country.

Visit www.ecb.co.uk/womens  for more information on where you can see them in action.