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Brilliant job down under. It's great to know that we have at least one team of world beaters.

Good blog, but even better World Cup! Congratulations.

Good job with the win but the who 'Team unity key to success' thing is and always has been utter tripe.

There is no team unity in a single bowler, a single batsman, a single fielder. There are only individuals in Cricket. Now if by team unity you mean that each individual pulled thei weight then fine but please use the correct terminology.

yeh, so many congratulations. watching it was agony, so i can't imagine what it must be like when you're so much more involved.

as for hackerjack, I disagree. Yeh the batter is on their own, or the bowler has their work cut out on their own, but building big scores is all about forging partnerships, while keeping runs down to a minimum - be it through good bowling and/or good fielding - involves the entire team. They all need to be switched on to take every opportunity, and as everyone who's played to a high standard knows, when the fielders are all together, in your face and dominant, it's hugely intimidating. on top of that, you can go on to say that if a bowler isn't bowling that well, you need the team, and the captain especially, to rally round them.

therefore, it might not be to the same extent as rugby, nor as obvious as football, but for those who play, both teamwork and teamunity is very important. especially the higher you go!

Congratulations we look forward to even more success this season. The team are great role models for aspiring young female cricketers in particular.

Hackerjack sorry you're wrong cricket is a team game where individuals get to perform their own particular skill and work in unison with others. Where would a bowler be without their fielders, we bat in pairs and no batter should wish another to get out so that they can take their place.

I'm of the strong opinion that cricket has a unique social element on & off the field.

hackerjack (message 2) - firstly, we put the headline on Ebony's blog, she didn't choose it herself. That said, I don't agree with the point you are making. England were united behind the common goal of winning the World Cup and their desire to achieve it, allied to the individual skills of the players, meant they were the best side in the competition. Yes, bowling is an individual art, but aren't they helped by fielders who chase every ball to the boundary and throw themselves around to make catches or diving stops? And don't batsmen sometimes have to sacrifice their wickets for the good of the team?

Nice blog and of course well done on winning that trophy.
Unity in cricket must be incredibly important, perhaps oddly when two are out batting and the rest are huddled together watching and waiting. When the wickets begin to tumble you don't want a divided dressing room do you?
The final defeat in the Super six may have been unimportant regarding standings but it could have sapped morale, I am sure the unity of the team helped lift them to return to victory in the final.

Firstly, congratulations on the World Cup win. Fastastic achievement.

It will be very interesting to see what team we put out on the 20/20 World Cup in June. As one of the team's most aggressive batters I'm sure you'll have a pretty good chance of getting in (and I hope you have better 20-20 luck than last year when everything that could go wrong did).

A pre-tournament blog by Claire Taylor (in a national daily, as far as I remember) made the point that when she first got picked for England, it was quite daunting to step into the England dressing room along with established players, like Clare Connor. - She then went on to emphasise that in the current team, the senior members went out of their way to welcome the likes of Anya Shrubsole and make them feel like full members of a unit. - Seems to have paid off.

To me, team spirit and the traditional spirit of cricket itself are qualities we lose at our peril.

England were united behind the common goal of winning the World Cup and their desire to achieve it.

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Do you think every other team in any competition does not have that as well?

Sorry but team unity is one of those catch all phrases that everyone uses that annoys me. It is used to disguise poor individual performances and is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Having a common goal is important, so is working together, I just find it very strange that at the top level of any sport it could even be considered that this is not the norm.

hackerjack, I think that FleetJackHobbs expresses it best. There are many types of work environment. The type where people are not asserting themselves just because they've been around longer, where expectations and encouragment for newer members is high - that's where there is more productivity.
Those at the top contribute to that - you see it when a team changes its manager, or gets rid of certain "dressing-room personalities". The team spirit can change very quickly and results change accordingly. Team unity implies a lack of niggling and a genuine enjoyment of each other's company. Congratulations to all who achieved this fantastic victory.

Great job, girls! World Champions, now that sounds great, doesn't it. Surely now you girls are going to be ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Team of the Year?

A week and a bit after England's World Cup victory and already the 606 threads have dried up. - I just wanted to post "Good-bye & good luck" to Haidee Tiffen, the Ferns' outgoing captain. Maybe we'll get a clue as to her successor at the end of the week, when NZ announces its 30 member preliminary squad for the Women's World Twenty20 competition in June.

Bye, Haidee. My advice would be to stick with cricket. In one way or another it will last you a lifetime.