TWO Kent cricketers will be among the 15-player England Women’s Cricket team that will contest the Ashes in Australia this winter.

Nine of the squad jetted off from Heathrow on Monday for their 19-game tour of Australia and New Zealand, and will meet six of the party, who were already Down Under having spent the winter playing club cricket.

The England team will be skippered by Kent’s own Charlotte Edwards , a veteran of 97 ODIs and a top-order batsman who plays her club cricket for the Kent Invicta side based at Hartley Country Club.

The party also includes left-handed strokeplayer Lydia Greenway, a 22-year-old Loughborough College student who stars for Hayes Hurricanes. Greenway has been acclimatising in Australia since September while playing for the New South Wales club side, Wallsend.

Looking ahead to the trip, Edwards, who is set to win her 17th Test cap at the Don Bradman Oval in Bowral while on tour, said: “We’re away for the best part of seven weeks and it’s a packed schedule but we’ve prepared as well as we possibly could and I’m confident we can hit the ground running.

“We’ll be up against the best two teams in the world in Australia and New Zealand but we’re looking forward to it as it’s the best possible way to build up for the Women’s World Cup in a year’s time.

“By then we will know for sure how we rank alongside the best female teams in the world.”

The England team will play one Test and five ODIs in Australia, meaning they only need draw the Test starting on February 15 in the highlands, south-west of Sydney, to retain the Ashes.

England women will then head off for a further five ODIs in New Zealand before returning home on March 5.

Edwards added: “Although we only have to draw the Test to retain the Ashes, there is plenty of pressure on us to do that but there’s even more pressure on the Australians because they go into the game knowing they have to win a one-off Test if they’re to win the Ashes back.

“It is all set up to be a great game played out in a great stadium.”