Pippa Bennett, doctor to the England’s women squad, is confident Hope Powell’s players will reach the peak of physical fitness at this summer’s World Cup in China.

Although the domestic season is over, the Three Lions are still training every day in a bid to build strength and aerobic capacity in preparation for what will be a gruelling competition in the searing heat of a Far Eastern climate.

But with the members of the squad having already come through a tough domestic season with their clubs, Bennett is aware of the delicate balance required in order to have the players peaking in China.

As well as training individually, the players are brought together for regular group sessions, the latest of which was at the British Olympic Medical Institute in Harrow in early June, followed by gym work at the famous old school next door.

She said: "We are doing a series of tests, and hopefully we'll see in August that the girls have reached their peak condition in preparation for the tournament.

"They're all at different clubs and we have taken into account what work they have been doing at their clubs, where they were trained to peak throughout the season.

"Now we're in the off-season and we're trying to get them at their peak for a specific tournament, so it will be a case of dovetailing what they've done at their clubs with a generic program to get them ready for the World Cup.

"There are individual needs within the squad and some have come back from injury, so we individualise their programmes as well as putting the full programmes together."