I really felt England needed this competition for the women’s game, to make it really competitive, to give people the opportunity to play against some of the best players in the world and hopefully to put some heat on the current England players.
The main thing for me is that they’re playing at a higher level, which makes it easier when they debut [for England] in terms of playing in front of crowds and handling pressure and expectation, as well as being scrutinised by the media and on social media. From that point of view, I think it’s a real game-changer and it’ll spur young cricketers on to really want to put their hand up to play in that competition. It gives them a really nice pathway – along with the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and the Charlotte Edwards Cup – to transfer through and give us headaches when it comes to selection.