Thursday, May 9, 2024

Manage comebacks, nurture youngsters and see England Women soar


Right close to the highest of Jon Lewis’ to-do listing as new England Women’s head coach is to examine in with Nat Sciver as she makes her comeback from a psychological well being break.

Sciver has opted to not resume her vice-captaincy for the upcoming tour of West Indies as she concentrates first on being a participant earlier than returning to any management position, which she is eager to do sooner or later. Sciver, who led England on the Commonwealth Games instead of the injured Heather Knight earlier than lacking India’s white-ball tour of England in September citing emotional fatigue after a jam-packed 9 months of cricket, is known to be feeling nicely and excited to be again with England’s ODI and T20I squads as a consequence of fly to Antigua subsequent week.

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Two days into the job he took over from Lisa Keightley, Lewis has already had a two-hour dialog strolling around the Loughborough University campus which homes the ECB’s National Cricket Performance Centre with Knight – who’s match once more after present process hip surgical procedure. The pair will seek the advice of additional earlier than her deputy is known as for the Caribbean tour.

Lewis is eager to develop a core management group, which can nicely embrace a number of of the youthful members of the England squad, after the absence of Knight, Sciver and senior seam bowler Katherine Brunt – rested all through India’s go to – left Amy Jones as a considerably reluctant skipper with no designs on holding the publish long term.

For now, Lewis is thrilled to have Sciver again within the fold in a taking part in capability.

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“I’m absolutely delighted that she’s up for coming on tour and up to the challenge that’s ahead of her,” he advised ESPNcricinfo. “She’s a fantastic cricketer, someone who’s one of the best cricketers in the world, and to have that sort of quality in your team as far as a head coach is something that is paramount.

“As a lot as I can get her out on the sphere and taking part in her finest cricket – and having fun with her cricket as a lot as something – I feel that can maintain her out within the subject as a rule, however there may be now turning into the query of stability in ladies’s cricket as a result of there’s a continuous quantity of cricket to have the ability to play for those who select to.

“Part of my job will be around managing schedules and understanding the individual needs of each player, and Nat in particular will be in high demand across every single competition because of the quality that she brings.”

Lewis additionally had an extended speak, and stroll, with Brunt – he finds the perfect type of communication is to “get on my feet rather than sit face to face”. Brunt shouldn’t be within the ODI squad for 3 matches towards West Indies however is anticipated to play a component within the 5 T20Is that observe and kind an essential a part of England’s preparation for the T20 World Cup in South Africa early subsequent yr.

“In the immediate future, which is the West Indies tour, we’re working to manage Katherine back into cricket,” Lewis stated. “Then we have a T20 World Cup after that and Katherine is an absolute legend of the sport, she’s incredibly well respected and, watching her bowl across the summer, still bowling incredibly well.

“For me as the top coach, that is somebody I would like round and I would like her to be taking part in as a lot cricket for England as doable. So that is one of many issues we had a dialog about on a stroll, her plans for the longer term.

“At the moment she’s very much looking in the near future around this tour of the West Indies and then once we get through that, then we’ll go again and we’ll see where she’s at. But at the moment she seems in a really good space and she’s been training incredibly hard here… I’m looking forward to seeing her perform at her best in the Caribbean.”

It is anticipated that England may even play a three-match T20I collection with New Zealand in South Africa earlier than two official ICC warm-up video games forward of the match beginning on February 10, leaving Lewis with a complete of 10 video games within the format to get to know his group earlier than trying to topple defending champions Australia. To that finish, he can name on a valuable useful resource within the type of Matthew Mott, who’s making his approach again from his native Australia having helped England Men to the T20 world title in the identical yr he additionally took Australia Women to the ODI crown.

“It’d be pretty dumb not to,” Lewis stated. “He’s had an incredibly successful period with the Australian team. I will definitely go and speak to Motty about what he did with the Australian team and the journey they went on and also the areas that they felt they could pinpoint in our group to win games of cricket.”

Having welcomed again 4 gamers with huge expertise forward of the journey to the Caribbean – 32-year-old top-order batter Lauren Winfield-Hill is within the T20I squad after being dropped in the course of the 50-over World Cup at first of the yr – Lewis additionally has an thrilling bunch of youngsters to nurture.

They embrace quick bowlers Issy Wong and Lauren Bell and allrounders Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp, who all seized the alternatives they had been handed when making their worldwide debuts beneath Keightley’s reign in the course of the English summer season.

Lewis stated the prospect to mentor a gaggle with such a mixture of youth and expertise was an enormous lure when making use of for the job, which meant leaving his publish as England Men’s tempo bowling coach. He advised Jonathan Finch, Director of England Women’s cricket, and the ECB’s interim CEO, Clare Connor, as a lot in his remaining interview for the position.

“There’s a really lovely balance of not only age range and experiences but skill level, and different types of skills, and exciting young cricketers who… the world’s their oyster,” he stated. “My job is to is to help those players release their potential and I think that there’s nothing that this group cannot achieve.

“My pitch was actually I’m so excited concerning the ceiling that the gamers have gotten, or the dearth of ceiling the gamers have gotten, and that the group is able to fly. My job is to nearly take the handbrake off and free the gamers up and get them to play to their full potential.”

Valkerie Baynes is a basic editor at ESPNcricinfo



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