Former Gloucestershire and England seamer Jon Lewis has been appointed as England Women’s new head coach. With a T20 World Cup and home Ashes series as his two big first assignments, Katya Witney takes a look at what Lisa Keightley’s replacement has in his in-tray.
England’s summer in 2022 was disappointing. After outpowering South Africa in the white-ball format, they failed to medal at a landmark home Commonwealth games before losing the ODI series to India 3-0. Lisaa Keightley’s exit comes in the middle of a transitional period for women’s cricket in England. There is huge momentum from the success of The Hundred and the expansion of domestic professional contracts, but Heather Knight’s side are still searching for consistency and ruthlessness on the pitch.
The plethora of young fast bowlers in the England ranks should be excited by Lewis’s appointment. His role as England men’s bowling coach under Chris Silverwood along with the 849 first-class wickets to his name are solid credentials to guide the likes of Issy Wong, Lauren Bell and Freya Kemp through the tricky first few years of international cricket.
With stints in the coaching department at Sussex and with the Lions, his appointment feels fresh for England. While there were other candidates who were more familiar to the squad, notably their former batting consultant Jon Lewis (confusingly identically named to the man who actually got the job), a fresh pair of eyes may be a big asset going forward. Regardless, the successful Lewis will enjoy a size and depth of player pool no England coach has had before, with an expansion in women’s domestic contracts announced this month taking the number of professional women’s cricketers in England to 80.
However, Lewis’ first assignment could be a tricky one with a yet-to-be-named squad set to travel to the West Indies next week for an ODI and T20I series. Although consulted, the selection was finalised before Lewis was appointed. The tour forms part of England’s run-in to the T20 World Cup in South Africa, set to take place in February and there are plenty uncertainties for Lewis to solidify before the start of the tournament.
England were missing their full-time captain and vice-captain at the end of last summer, with Heather Knight recovering from surgery on her hip and Nat Sciver taking a mental health break. Without both their most senior players and with Amy Jones and Sophie Ecclestone deputising in the leadership roles, England looked directionless and vulnerable against India. Despite winning the T20I series, largely thanks to the excellence of Alice Capsey, the young bowling attack fresh from the retirement of Anya Shrubsole and the less regular presence of Katherine Brunt in their line-up looked often without an answer to India’s batters.
Knight and Sciver are set to return in the West Indies, although it looks unlikely that the latter will reprise the vice-captaincy position. There is no obvious choice for Knight’s deputy as Jones seemingly struggled with a formal leadership role over the summer and her dip in form makes her place in the side uncertain. The other option would be Ecclestone, the first name on England’s team sheet and now with a wealth of experience, albeit very little captaincy credentials. The leadership structure Lewis and Knight can build together must bind them through the upcoming T20 World Cup and home Ashes, which both have the potential to get messy quickly without strong guidance from the helm.
England have the easier group for the T20 World Cup in South Africa, avoiding Australia and the hosts. However, they will have to negotiate India, as well as the dangerous West Indies and Pakistan to qualify for the semi-finals, and although they managed to overcome a poor start to a World Cup earlier this year, there is less opportunity to mitigate for mistakes in this tournament. A decision must be made over Sophia Dunkley at the top of the order. Although she topped the run charts in the T20I series against India she also showed vulnerability when boundaries became more scarce. Tammy Beaumont and Emma Lamb are both chasing a spot alongside Danni Wyatt at the top.
All of this must come before the landmark home Ashes series in the summer when the World Cup champions, current T20 World Cup champions and Commonwealth Games champions come to town. While a first series win since 2014 will be a tough ask, by that time if all goes to plan, Lewis will have an experienced and well-set group of players to call upon. Pushing them all the way and picking up a decent amount of points in the multi-format series should be the aim, with long-term planning the overarching picture.
Lewis has all the tools to work with; if there’s one thing England isn’t short of its talent. How he puts his tools to work will be the difference between stagnation and growth. After showing so much promise in the last few years, Lewis must be the coach to deliver on that and mould a group of individual stars into the devastating unit they have the potential to be.
