South Africa were successful in the Ireland leg of their tour © Rob O'Connor

We weren't really surprised though - England have always been a good side. I've seen some videos of when they played in 2000 and I've watched them mature as a team - nowadays they can beat Australia. When we saw the results against Australia and New Zealand earlier this year we knew they would be hard work.

That was what made this tour so awesome because we needed to see what we need to do to close the gap on the top four teams in the world. Although we lost the series 4-0 what makes us different to 2003 was that we never seemed to grow then. In this series we've improved, in team spirit – even though we were losing, we still stuck there. I think the girls have showed a lot of character, getting well beaten in the first games then coming back in the last two.

	A rare moment for Ebony in this jam-packed summer - not being in cricket clothes © Christopher Lee

The South Africans have arrived ready for the one-day series. I haven't seen them much, but I know they played England A in a Twenty20 yesterday. It was a close game and they put up a good contest - and they're just warming up, having just got here.

We don't know too much about them – we haven't really got any footage of the bowlers - but we are feeling very confident. We should do, we're playing a lot of good cricket and having a lot of international success at the moment and I see no reason why we shouldn't continue that and do what we need to do and keep our standards up.

Cricket is one of those things where, it sounds boring, but you've got to do the basics well. We need to just get out there, see what challenge we need to do well and do what we need to do. If we bowl the lines and lengths we want to do and bat the way we want to bat, we should see what we need to do to take the series.

Our opening match will be an interesting challenge. It's at Canterbury on a different pitch for me; I've not played there before. There's a bit of a slope, which may be like Lord's – which is where we are playing our second match – so we will have to take things in consideration.

It has been a hectic few days for the members of the South African team. We had to leave for England immediately after the inaugural Twenty20 Super Fours domestic competition over the weekend. The team is geared up for the first match of the tour, an ODI against Ireland in Crowthorne on Thursday, which will be followed by a Twenty20 international the next day.

The Super Fours was a great experience and showed that there is some strength and depth for women’s cricket in South Africa. It is something that I am certain Cricket South Africa will look to repeat in the future, both for Twenty20 and 50-over cricket.

Back to the series, there hasn’t been much time to acclimatise to local conditions. The matches against Ireland, whom we had defeated to qualify for the World Cup, will offer invaluable practice time ahead of some of the tougher challenges that lie ahead for us on the tour. We are also aware that Ireland’s side will have some different faces to the team that played us in Stellenbosch, but to be honest our main focus is just on our game.

	The teams we should be trying to beat are Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa © ICC

Another series ... well I suppose you can hardly call one Twenty20 and a one-day international a series, but for lack of a better word, another coach - this time it is stand-in coach South African Albert Van der Merwe. Our previous stop-gap coach, Matt Dwyer, has other commitments so he couldn’t stay with us after the West Indies games.

Since those matches, there has been a lot of club cricket being played, and we seem to be getting into the swing of things just when the summer is winding down. I would be lying if I said that the preparation for the South Africa games was ideal, but the girls have been training hard, and are taking an optimistic approach to the upcoming tour.

It feels like Irish women’s cricket is coming to the end of an era, and I have to say, I don’t know where we go from here. When all other Irish cricket is thriving, did everybody somehow forget about us? I was reading some postings on an Irish cricket website recently and some of the comments (in reply to a posting about how little the Irish women’s team gets in support) were along the lines that the men are the ones who have been successful, so that is where Cricket Ireland will obviously concentrate its efforts.

This was not a reflection on Cricket Ireland’s views of the women’s game, or on how they prioritise; it was the opinion of a few regular male club players and how they think cricket in Ireland should be prioritised.

	Isa Guha took five wickets and Ebony Rainford-Brent was unbeaten in the series clincher © Getty Images

That's no words to describe what it means to play for England, but when I got the phone call to say I was in the summer squad, I did have a little cry – for about 20 seconds, before I thought "pull yourself together".Since my last blog I've played a few Super Fours matches, finishing off one with 133 in a big stand with Lottie. It's just nice to be feeling in good form.

On top of that, I got involved in the Cricathlon on CricketAM, which is a competition to sprint with all the pads on, throw a stump like a javelin and a standing high jump. Without blowing my own trumpet, I cleaned up. It was good fun, good to get the women on TV as well.

We also launched the series on a boat going to Calais from Dover and back. We played cricket on the helipad and lost about 30 balls in the sea, it was also a chance to speak to the journalists and get some information out about the summer, which kicked off with West Indies.

Speaking of the West Indies, with having a Jamaican mum, I was asked by a journalist the other day if I felt any conflict playing against them. My answer was "No, I'm from Souf London (sic) born and bred." Obviously I'm English through and through but at home there are many Jamaican traditions – food, culture, music – which I love and respect.

West Indies themselves were an unknown quantity. I've never seen them play so I didn't know what to expect. It was the first time the sides had met in 15 years. It's extremely important to be playing them ahead of next year's World Cup and the World Twenty20. You need to have an idea what to expect so you can prepare. We're used to the Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans and Indians and it's good for world cricket.

	"We all make huge sacrifices to play a game we are tremendously passionate about, so any financial remuneration that enables us to free up some of that precious time is an enormous help" © Getty Images

The White Ferns have just finished their second winter camp and boy is it winter. Lincoln in the summer can be freezing at the best of times, and our touring teams will vouch for that, but this past weekend we were treated to snow. For some of the North Island girls it was the first time they had actually seen snow falling! As you can imagine, it was very exciting and naturally the morning run was cancelled and the girls decided to make snowmen instead.

The camp was full of cricket, more cricket, guests and fun. The highlight of the camp would have to been the Ready Steady Cook challenge. It involved everyone being split into three teams and getting a list of ingredients to create their master piece. One group, that I was proud not to be a part of, suffered a series of unfortunate events which led to their main meal tasting like cat food. The other two teams actually made edible food. Steve Jenkin was the only brave soul to eat the cat food meal which for interest's sake consisted of a tuna, asparagus, baked beans and avocado wrap, with a stuffed potato consisting of those ingredients all over again. Hmm, not ideal!

	Shelley Nitschke is driven by the new changes to the women's game © Getty Images

With such a schedule coming up, some may've found it difficult to juggle their employment with their playing commitments. In the past, our ever increasing playing schedule has put pressure on employers, and unfortunately some girls have had to forego their casual positions due to cricket commitments. Looking from the perspective of the employers, it does put them in a difficult position at times.

Although the Cricket Australia contracts won't exactly allow us to resign from our employment roles, they will help alleviate some of these pressures. I guess I have been very lucky in regard to this, working at the South Australian Cricket Association.

While working in cricket, as well as playing, can become a bit of a cricket overload, I have been very well supported with respect to both state and international commitments. Needless to say, all the girls are pretty happy about the concept of contracts, hopefully in time other countries will also follow the lead set by the ECB, and now Cricket Australia.

	There was not much to celebrate for Ireland in the series against West Indies © ICC

Our first match on June 24 started late due to rain, but only eight overs were lost. Nadine George won the toss and, after a short conference with coach Sherwin Campbell, decided to bowl first. It was a day for bowling, and Ireland’s batting started very slowly. Wickets fell at regular intervals, and apart from Nicki Coffey, who scored 32, the performance was below-par.

Ireland were bowled out for 123, but we knew we were still in with a shout of winning the game. Once I and the other opening bowler, Marianne Herbert, became aware of just how much the ball was swinging, the West Indies top order struggled. Though they were scoring quickly, wickets were also falling regularly. At 32 for 4 from just 8.1 overs, the rain came to save the batting side. By the time we got back we had lost a lot of time. The second innings was reduced to 20 overs, which meant that the two opening bowlers had bowled all of their overs.

	Ebony Rainford-Brent and captain Charlotte Edwards have been benefiting from their deals © Getty Images

What an exciting time for the sport, with the World Twenty20 announcement – and for England women in particular. Having had our most successful tour of Australia and New Zealand ever we came into the new season all abuzz, especially when the eight contracts were announced and I was lucky to get one of them. They’ve been designed to allow us to be able to both play cricket at international level and also be able to give back to women’s cricket through Chance to Shine to try to increase girls’ participation.

My typical week involves going into schools and clubs three days a week and trying to get in around 25 hours’ a week of coaching time. That’s fitted around my training, so I will still get to do my England training commitments and Surrey Academy and play all games. I’m enjoying it so far. Initially I found it testing because it was seven days a week between training and playing but luckily I’ve been able to rejig it to cut down on travelling time – flexibility I wouldn’t have in most other jobs.

We're so lucky having the ECB on board who are very forward thinking – and already Cricket Australia seem to have taken a leaf out of their book with the announcement this week that their women are to receive contracts. It’s already making a difference for us – it takes the stress away of preparing for the summer for a start – you’re not having to think about external employers whose priority isn’t your cricket, whereas this way it’s all in-house and everyone’s working together.

	I hope to be able to juggle my advent into the position of captain for the series with keeping up my own playing form © ICC

There have been a few changes to the squad since the ICC Trophy – Beggsie (Caitriona Beggs) and Lenny (Anne Linehan) retired at the end of the tournament, Elaine Nolan started her world travels from South Africa, Jill Whelan is also taking time out to travel, and captain Heather Whelan has stepped back from the game for a year.

A complete change is going on behind the scenes too. Our coach Miriam Grealey has retired after two years of hard work, as has our manager Sandra Dawson. However, we are very excited to have Matt Dwyer taking us for the upcoming series. A former international himself, Matt has a knowledge of the game that few can boast. We just hope he goes easier on us than he does on his son Mark!

	It'll be an exciting and novel experience playing alongside the Pakistan men at the World Twenty20 © AFP

I am very excited about today's announcement on the ICC World Twenty20 2009. It has been officially confirmed that we will be playing in a joint event with the men next year, with the semis and final of the women's event taking place as a curtain-raiser to the men's event.

Normally I am glued to the action whenever Pakistan's men are playing in an international event, so to be part of the same event is going to be an incredible feeling.

The draw is very tough for us, as we struggled against India and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, but hopefully we will have improved in time for then.

	The interest from everybody during the course of the awards evening is a reflection of the increased interest in women’s cricket at home since the Qualifiers earlier in the year © ICC

I had been shortlisted twice before for the award but never managed to win the accolade, so it was a special moment to finally receive my trophy.

I think my award was in recognition of the efforts of leading the side to success at the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier and for my first ODI century against Netherlands at that event, which was especially pleasing as my coach had been working with me for a long time to try and help me reach three figures in a big match.

I always really enjoy these award evenings as it is chance to meet other members of the cricket community in South Africa and talk to sponsors about what the team have been up to. It was great that some of the men’s senior team took the time to come and chat to me and the other female nominees, who were Susan Benade and Daleen Terblanche. I had a really good chat with Graeme Smith who wanted to congratulate us on reaching the World Cup and World Twenty20 next year.

	Lots to do for Haidee Tiffen's New Zealand as they build towards the World Cup © Getty Images

World Cups just sneak up on you! It does not seem that long ago that we were in South Africa in 2005 battling it out. I know every team is looking forward to the World Cup next year as this is what we play for, the challenge to be the best in the world. After a disappointing home series in February losing to both England and Australia, New Zealand are ready to move forward and are determined to prove that we can be world champions. We know that means we need to knuckle down to hard work, hard work and more hard work.

We had our first winter camp in preparation for the World Cup at the Queen's birthday weekend. It was great to see everyone again with the girls arriving fresh and raring to go. We spent time establishing a strong foundation for our journey to the World Cup and started by spending time remembering where we began our cricketing endeavours and why we play the game.

	The popularity of the IPL has made women eager to play Twenty20 as well © AFP

Our Railways camp ends today in Mysore and it was a satisfying one considering it is our first off-season camp. We have the strongest side in domestic cricket but that is because a good number of India players play for Railways. And that is because Indian Railways is one of the few organisations to offer employment to cricket-playing girls. However it is not that other teams can’t beat us at all, but since we are a very experienced side we are on top more often that not.

While the camp was on, I had to go to to attend a board meeting on women’s cricket. Jhulan Goswami, the vice-captain, was also there along with the national selectors. I can’t really discuss what went on in the meeting but I am happy to say a domestic Twenty20 competition has been added to next season’s calendar keeping in mind the World Cup in England next June. I have said earlier that it is important for players to get some experience in the short format before the World Cup – not only national players but also those in the domestic circuit. The IPL has been a huge hit and now everyone is eager to play this format.

	‘I know that my game really improved after playing a summer of cricket in England’ © ICC

I can’t believe we are already in June and the first ball of the ICC Women’s World Cup is only nine months away. We have recently completed our first training camp and it was great to be back together as a team for the first time since winning the World Cup qualifier in Stellenbosch in February.

There was a great spirit among the team and there was a lot of focus not just on our upcoming tour of England, where all the girls can’t wait for the opportunity to play at Lord’s for the first time, but on how we can get the best out of the squad ahead of the two major ICC events next year.

These training camps are really important for us as there isn’t a huge opportunity to play national competitions in South Africa – one of the main challenges is that as the country is so big and the players aren’t full-time, which makes travelling to matches a real issue.

So while we do have a regular 50-over competition, which will serve as our main domestic warm-up to the ICC Women’s World Cup, we do suffer from not playing as much cricket as other countries.