After being named in England women’s squad to tour New Zealand in February, Nottinghamshire all-rounder Danielle Wyatt is aiming for 50 over success, with qualification points for the 2017 ICC World Cup on the line.
The tour of New Zealand will be England’s latest series in a two-year Championship to determine qualification places for the 2017 tournament. Australia, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa complete the eight-team championship, but with England fifth as it stands, Wyatt is keen to push on and secure valuable points.
“New Zealand are bottom of the table at the moment, but we know from past experiences that they are a strong team," said 23-year-old Wyatt.
"We want to win every game we play out there, but the first three one-day matches are really important.
"Everyone wants to take the points in those games so we can put ourselves in a strong position to reach the World Cup.
"We don't want to be playing catch-up in future series and putting more pressure on ourselves."
Wyatt is beginning to push her case for selection harder, having worked on her bowling action following back problems. Her close, intensive work with England coaches as well as an excellent summer for Nottinghamshire in which she scored 540 Championship runs to be the competition’s third highest run scorer, looks set to stand her in good stead in New Zealand.
"It's been hard work remodelling my action, but I'm looking forward to testing it out in New Zealand," she added.
"It's important that I seize my chance with either bat or ball in the games I play to keep me at the forefront of the selectors' minds.
"There's a lot of talent in this squad, and also girls coming through the system.
"And we also have good memories of touring New Zealand because we beat them there three years' ago. Hopefully we can enjoy another success."