At last: Found a way to deal with Jenny Gunn © Christopher Lee

But though we lost 4-0 to England I can honestly say we have taken quite a lot from the experience of playing there. That holds true especially for the younger players in the squad for whom the tour was a first-ever outside the subcontinent. I’d say we were enjoying a lot of a confidence after our Asia Cup win but England are a level higher than any of the sides we played in Sri Lanka. The one thing I observed in the England players was their confidence – simply brimming – which I believe is because of their Ashes win in Australia. Unlike us, England have been consistently playing against good sides and that shows in their performance. They are one of the best fielding sides today.

In analysing our defeat, I’d say we didn’t give enough importance to partnerships. In fact we hardly had any to build an innings with. Unless at least two decent partnerships can be mustered, it is very difficult to cross 180 to 200. However at a time when the team is losing badly the important thing is to remain positive. Our coach would focus on the good aspects of the match because there is no point in getting the young players down ahead of the next one.

I think where we went wrong in England was picking a lot of inexperienced players. If I had to do it all over again, I would have a mixture of seniors and juniors, giving a little more weightage to experience. On a personal level, I was quite happy with the way I negotiated the England bowlers, especially Jenny Gunn, who had troubled me a lot in our last tour in 2006. Every time I came to bat, Charlotte Edwards would call on Jenny to bowl. So this time I looked up some videos of her from the Quadrangular series and worked out a strategy to negotiate her. I won’t reveal my methods but its suffice to say they worked.

Our next tour is to Australia and it will give us an opportunity to get a better idea of the players we’d like for the World Cup. No one is a certainty yet and the tour, as well as the domestic tournaments following it, will help in marking out potential players. For now I am looking forward to the Challengers, whether I play in it or not, because there is a lot of new talent there waiting to be discovered.

	Shelley Nitschke and her team will be back in action for Australia soon © Getty Images

One of the talking points from the four-day camp was the team-building exercise we all took part in on the Sunday. Let's just say we have all had the experience of being shot at from short range; shooting someone from short range, and storming a house as if we were undertaking a raid. Needless to say we are not quite ready for the real deal just yet!

This was the last full squad camp before the Indian team arrives in late October. After a solid pre-season, all the girls are looking forward to plenty of cricket and a busy summer ahead.

A media training session was also on the agenda at the camp. While the media aren't exactly hassling us 24/7, it is fair to say that more and more of the girls are getting requests for interviews and other public appearances.

Ed Kavalee from Australian radio station Nova FM recently stated on the air that he could make 100 against the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars.

Emma Sampson, Ellyse Perry and Lisa Sthalekar were involved in the on-air banter that occurred in the lead-up to an actual game where Ed came off second best.

Thankfully he never scored 100, and even wore a few bruises courtesy of some short-pitched deliveries from Emma.

Although Ed was suggesting that we were not up to the task, it was all in good fun, and he created some public interest in the challenge that ensued and gave us some exposure on a popular radio station. Hopefully we will see women's cricket get some more media coverage in the lead-up the ICC World Cup in March 2009.

	West Indies' inexperience showed up against England © Getty Images

Being the captain of a very young and inexperienced team had its challenges. Despite knowing and seeing the ladies perform at the regional level, I was not sure how they would have handled or coped with the international arena. With two whitewash series wins against Ireland and Netherland respectively I could not have asked for more. We had a disappointing loss against England where the inexperience of the team showed greatly.

The ladies proved they had the capability to adapt and take on the challenges and gain international experience. With such a young and inexperienced team I could not ask for anything more than the best of all members. The team showed depth in their game and made my job as captain that much easier. Bowlers and batsmen understood what their individual task was on the team. The team performed admirably throughout the tour. During the European tour our management team was able to assess the team and record areas of weaknesses to rectify before World Cup 2009.

With personal mixed performances the team on a whole performed beyond expectation. We now focus on the goal of achieving the momentous task of competing at the highest level at the 2009 World Cup. The new caps performed admirably and with more international matches and training I am sure the West Indies women will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Recap players showed a level of experience and assisted in areas that their services were needed. Kudos for the technical team and their hard work and dedication to ensuring the tour was a success.

Qualifying for the World Cup was the main focus of the team. The team had not played any form of international cricket for over three years. Hopes of many players were shattered when the first tour (Sri Lanka) had fallen through. The team felt their hard work was in vain.

I received calls from team-mates asking about our standing for the World Cup 2009. With the West Indies Cricket Board coming onboard we were able to get the requisite matches to qualify.

Thank God for the new board’s commitment to women’s cricket. I wondered what would have happened if it had not come on board. We were struggling and the likelihood of not participating in the World Cup was imminent.

Having fears of not being able to compete would surely put a damper on dreams of players aspiring to playing at the highest level. The hard work of the 2005 team awarded them the fifth overall place and gave them a qualifying place for WC 2009. The idea that the team would not qualify because we did not play the required matches could not be fathomed.

To win the World Cup is a hard task for the team. We are definitely trying to catch up with the other teams who have qualified for the World Cup.

All those teams are competing on a regular basis and getting the necessary exposure and matches to facilitate their development.

The West Indies team is trying desperately to reach a certain standard. We are preparing for a tour to Asia (Pakistan and Sri Lanka) which would help in our preparation.

I am extremely happy we are getting tremendous assistance from the board and the team is looking forward to competing at the World Cup in Australia.

	England’s bowlers bowled a great line which pressured the batsmen to play high-risk shots © Getty Images

Away from the tour of England, I am greatly excited by the news this week that the ICC are going to be launching the first-ever rankings for women’s cricket. I think this is a step in the right direction, as if it is something that has been shown to work in the men’s game, then there is no reason why it shouldn’t work in the women’s game as well.

I also believe that the rankings will help the public better identify some of the leading players in world cricket, particularly when not that many women’s international matches are broadcast on television at the moment.

While the main focus will always be on making sure your team win, it will be nice to know that there is something else to play for in every game and I am sure everybody will be keen to do as well as they can in the rankings.

However, I am sure those who are the top of the rankings will be under that extra bit of pressure to perform, as every opposition player will want to do well against them and show that they are capable of competing with the very best cricketers in the world.

I am looking forward to seeing where we are all rated in the rankings, which I believe will be unveiled in October, and I am sure there will be some jokes flying around the dressing room when they are released on where players are ranked.

Until then, it is a case of training, practice and mental preparation, and day-dreams of World Cup success. Oh – and a place near the top of the batting rankings would be nice too!

	The rankings will be particularly important in countries like Pakistan, where we don’t receive as much publicity and attention as other teams © AFP

It will be nice to think that people will follow the No. 1 batsman and bowler in the world, in the same way that supporters are fanatical about the player rankings for men. I can't wait until October when we will find out where all the players are rated.

Hopefully the rankings will provide us with an opportunity to raise the profile of the leading players and use the publicity to encourage more girls to take up the sport. It would be really nice to act as role models to girls who are interested in playing the game.

Preparations for the World Cup are going well – I can’t believe that it will only be six months to our first game against India. We have just gathered in Lahore for a batting and bowling training camp for which 28 players are in attendance.

During the camp the selectors will pick the squad for the home series against West Indies, after which I believe the squad will remain reasonably settled in our build-up to the World Cup.

I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to play cricket with the national team on a regular basis, for after the West Indies series we will be taking on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in a tri-series.

Then there will be more training camps before taking on an Indian state side in Pakistan. After that I’ll have to give some thought to packing my bags for Australia.