New Zealand's women's cricketers won't be looking with envy at the substantial lottery grant awarded their English rivals today.

As England named its CricInfo Women's World Cup preliminary squad of 18 today, it also announced that Sport England had provided it with 94,625 pounds, or about $NZ300,000 to prepare for the Cup.

The grant will allow each player in the side to enjoy financial support to help in their training and preparation while balancing their work and family lives.

Training facilities closer to their homes will be paid for while private coaching, and access to sports physiologists and psychologists, will also be laid on.

New Zealand Cricket's operations manager, John Reid estimated that New Zealand was spending about $150,000 preparing its team, including several camps, the last of which is to be held this weekend.

"Any support from government agencies is welcome and we have had support from the Hillary Commission and the New Zealand Sports Foundation.

"But we are not worried by the fact that New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is less well off. We are less well off in every area compared to overseas teams, we always have been.

"If you compare what the English men's side get and what our players get, we would be minute by comparison."

New Zealand didn't have the population to sustain such high payments for cricket and it had to be remembered that women's cricket was still an amateur game.

"It is not unusual for us to operate on a shoestring.

"We are used to making the most out of the dollars we do get. We have to be more innovative with how we spend it.

"We've never hidden from the fact that we are less well off than most other cricket nations," he said.

One advantage that New Zealand does have over most other countries is that the men's and women's games are administered by the same body so there is less doubling up of resources and experience gained in one area can be applied to the other.

The fact that New Zealand is playing at home also meant there was not the same drain on resources for travel requirements this time around.

The England squad for the CricInfo Women's World Cup will be reduced to 14, but the squad of 18 named yesterday to prepare for the event was: Clare Connor (captain), Melissa Reynard (vice-captain), Jane Cassar, Sarah Collyer, Barbara Daniels, Leanne Davis, Charlotte Edwards, Jackie Hawker, Laura Harper, Dawn Holden, Kathryn Leng, Laura Newton, Lucy Pearson, Nicki Shaw, Laura Spragg, Claire Taylor, Clare Taylor, Arran Thompson.

© CricInfo