Lane had taken over the role as head coach of the England Women’s Cricket team in April 2008, following the sudden resignation of Mark Dobson midway through a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Lane coached the Womens side to unprecedented victories in both the World Cup and the World Twenty20 finals during 2009.

Hugh Morris managing director of England Cricket said: “I would like to congratulate Mark on his awards which are thoroughly deserved after an outstanding year for women’s cricket in England and Wales.”

While Clare Connor, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s head of women’s cricket, said: “Mark has played a key role in helping the England women’s team develop into a truly world-class side and he should be congratulated on a year of unprecedented success.”

What are the chances of Mark Lane being offered a place on England Men’s coaching staff?

Pakistan 139-2 (18.3 overs) beat Sri Lanka 138-6 (20 overs) by eight wickets.

Pakistan were the surprise winners of the ICC World Twenty20 cricket competition.  They convincingly beat Sri Lanka in the final at Lords yesterday, and in a post match interview, Pakistan captain Younus Khan, draped in a Pakistan flag dedicated the famous victory to his former coach Bob Woolmer who died suddenly in Jamaica during the 2007 World Cup.

Khan took the opportunity to announce his retirement from Twenty20 cricket, and also pleaded for countries to reconsider the current boycott of playing cricket in Pakistan following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in March, while on thier way to play in Lahore.

Following the attack, Pakistan were also stripped of holding the cricket World Cup in 2011.

England Women win the ICC World Twenty20

Meanwhile, England won the Women’s ICC World Twenty20 in style by bowling New Zealand all out for 85 and win by six wickets, also at Lords yesterday.

England Women’s cricket captain, Charlotte Edwards said it was the “proudest day of her life.”

The England Women’s cricket team add the World Twenty20 trophy to the Ashes and the World Cup.

England is staging this prestigious event after the success of the first World Twenty20 competition in South Africa in 2007.  Since then Twenty20 cricket has become even more popular, something that is clear to see with the recent success and second year of the IPL (Indian Premier League) that was recently held in South Africa due to security concerns that police could not cope with staging the event in India at the same time as policing India’s general election.

It seems plenty of cricket fans love both the excitement of Twenty20, with its offensive slogging approach to cricket, as much as the slower, more tactically aware five day test matches; and the world’s top cricketers aren’t complaining either, as some of them have become millionaires overnight.  But some players from previous generations, commentators and cricket boards and associations are concerned with whether Twenty20’s popularity is going to change cricket for good, and interfere with the quality and style of younger players and generations to come.

Furthermore, concerns have been voiced that there is now too much cricket being played, altogether. Top cricketers now play county cricket, test matches, Twenty20 and the IPL which it is argued is resulting in exhaustion and more injuries.

As the World Twenty20 starts this Friday, Andrew Flintoff will be missing through injury he sustained while playing in the Twenty20 IPL earlier this year. Flintoff will be a big miss for England, but in Twenty20 cricket the focus is more on the batsmen and their batting styles.

Strokes such as slog-sweeps, switch-hits and shovel shots will all play a part over the next couple of weeks.

For the first time, both the men’s and women’s World Twenty20 cricket finals will be taking place simultaneously.  The men’s tournament consists of 12 teams, and will be played at three venues – Lords, Trent Bridge and The Oval.  The women’s tournament consists of eight teams.  All group games will be hosted at Taunton.

The majority of match days will include two matches with four teams. So anyone with Twenty20 tickets could be getting to see two matches.

What Twenty20 does do is to make cricket more accessible, more exciting and something that you can watch in hours more than days.  There’s no doubt that tickets for the World Twenty20 tournament are going to be worth getting your hands on.

ICC World Twenty20 Ticket Information

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However, the ECB (England Cricket Board) are hoping to rectify this in the summer when England plays host to the World Twenty20 competition. The women’s and men’s tournament will be run simultaneously, and for the semi-finals and final, the women’s games will act as curtain raisers to the men and will be played on the same ground.

It is a unique and ambitious step to try and encourage more fans to support the women’s game, and despite being greeted with initial enthusiasm, is certainly not without it’s risks. The Oval will host one of the semi-finals and Surrey’s Cricket Development Manager Sharon Eyers says that the possibility of the plan backfiring is one which has been discussed.

“The main problem is that it is one ticket for all day entry,” she explains. “So there is a slight concern that the ground will be empty in the morning for the women’s game as people will just turn up later.”

She continues: “The question was asked why could we not have two separate tickets for the day, the answer was we could not empty the ground safely, so we believe that was not a viable answer.”

On the whole though, Eyers believes that it is a positive and exciting move for women’s cricket: “We want to promote the women’s game in a good light and this is the way to go about it. The tournament will be televised and the crowds will see how professional the whole set up is.”

England’s women’s squad go into their succession of tournaments in 2009 in good form, having defeated Australia in the Ashes and won series against New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa in 2008. Nicky Shaw, one of the 15-strong squad that will travel to Australia for the World Cup, says that once people have watched a women’s match, the standard of the cricket usually keeps them interested.

“After people come to watch us they do have a geniune interest and are very surprised how hard we hit the ball and how enjoyable our games can be. It’s just a case of getting people to watch us and showing them we can be as interesting to watch as the men’s team.”

The Surrey fast bowler says that this is why the ECB’s Twenty20 plans can make a big difference to the size of the following that the women’s game can attract. “I think the game needs more publicity and the ECB seem to be trying,” she says. “Hopefully this year we will get a lot more support, especially if we win the World Cup, the Twenty20 and The 2009 Ashes later on in the year.”

A successful campaign in Australia may not generate too many column inches, but may just be enough to ignite some people’s interest in the women’s game going into the Twenty20 tournament. According to Shaw, a boost in attendances this summer could benefit not just England, but women’s teams across the world.

“The level of interest is generally the same everywhere, the only place that it is different is India, where they love any type of cricket. I don’t know how big the fanbase in England could be, but hopefully big enough for us to create good revenue and in the future enable us to become professional players.”

Sarah Taylor, the world’s fourth best batter in the ICC rankings, says that next year’s World Cup and Ashes 2009 series, along with the Twenty20 World Cup, could signal the start of a successful run for England’s women.

“Realistically we have a great chance to win the World Cup,” she says. ” We have a strong side full of enthusiasm and belief, and though we are a young side we have a lot of experience.”

England travel to Australia in March to compete in the tournament, and Taylor believes they will encounter some familiar foes: “New Zealand and Australia are definately the teams to beat, and home advantage will help them.”

Australia will then head for English soil to compete in the Twenty20 World Cup and the Ashes, which, after a period of Australian dominance, have been in English hands since 2005.

Taylor says that home advantage for both competitions should benefit her side: “Having the Twenty20 World Cup on home soil should be a definite advantage, yet there will be that added pressure of high expectations,” she admits. “I am confident that we can deal with it and that our supporters will be behind us.”

With the three biggest prizes in cricket up for grabs in such a short space of time, Taylor believes that the women’s team have never had such an opportunity to gain recognition.

“To have three major events in one year can only be good for the women’s game. I’m sure it will raise the profile of women’s cricket and we hope that there will be bigger crowds for all the games.”

The Sussex wicketkeeper, first called into the international fold in 2006 aged just 17, says that the team are hoping the Twenty20 tournament, where the women’s matches will be curtain raisers to the men’s games, will provide a platform to showcase their talents.

“Playing before the men’s games will make people aware of us and we hope to impress,” she says. ” Recognition is important for the women’s game and success is what we are working hard to achieve.”