Bronze wants to be part of glorious summer

Lucy Bronze, the England rightback, believes this could turn into a momentous summer for women’s sport with both the football and cricket teams on course to triumph in major competitions.

Several members of the England squad here for the European Championship are friends with players in the cricket team and have been in regular contact ahead of tomorrow’s World Cup final against India.

With the footballers launching their Euros campaign in scintillating fashion with a 6-0 thrashing of Scotland on Wednesday, just a few days after Johanna Konta reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, Bronze feels this could be a huge turning point for women’s sport in the UK.

Bronze, who was one of England’s best players against Scotland, said “It’s obviously a big deal for the cricketers to be in the World Cup final and, of course, we will be following the game.

“Everyone is saying it’s been the best summer for English football because the boys did so well in their tournaments, but I think it has been a fantastic year for British sport in general. It’s on a real high and we hope that gives us momentum in trying to achieve what we have set out to do in Holland, which is become European champions.

England’s destruction of Scotland has turned heads and Bronze exudes the confidence that has been a feature of the Lionesses’ preparations.

“We’re just in a really good place,” she said. “We are the best prepared we could be, both mentally and physically and we are in a much better place than we were four years ago. We saw that in the first game. It was a great result against Scotland but it was one we were expecting.”