Jon Lewis: England coach says tactical distractions will aid T20 World Cup preparations

England head coach Jon Lewis was satisfied with his team’s performance as they wrapped up a T20I clean sweep over New Zealand at Lord’s – with his tactical distractions throughout the series paying off.

Lewis made the decision to rest captain Heather Knight for the third T20I at Canterbury, where the hosts won by six wickets in a nervy encounter, to create a pressurised environment and give the team opportunities to deal with any curveballs they may face in preparation for the T20 World Cup in October, live on Sky Sports.

Throughout the series Lewis has made drastic changes to the team, often completely switching up their bowling attack to test out their strongest XI ahead of Bangladesh. Following the conclusion of the series, he said he was impressed with how the young players in the squad responded to those challenges.

“I just told them there would be distractions so they’re waiting to see what’s going to happen, they’re not sure what’s going to happen, and that creates pressure, it creates anxiety, it creates thinking,” Lewis said.

“If you sow the seed, then people generally overthink things. You just try and raise the level of anxiety within the group to a place where they were able to bring themselves back into a calm place and communicate well with each other and talk their way through situations.

“We got stuck on the bus today. I didn’t plan that. That in itself is a distraction. People were talking about getting off the bus and getting the tube to get here to make sure they can get their practice in before the game.

“While the players may have quite a lot of caps, they don’t have the experience of winning pressure moments so we try and create them by doing different things every now and again.

“Heather [Knight] and I sat out at Canterbury, which was something different, something we haven’t tried before, but it was really interesting to watch from the sidelines.

“We talked to the group about changing the team just before they went out to play and again. That creates a bit of anxiety. We didn’t in the end, but that’s the sort of stuff that we’ve been doing just to try.

“It was great to have some of those things play out in this series without us having to do too much to orchestrate it.”

England also dominated in their multi-format series against Pakistan which preceded their games against New Zealand where they also picked up a clean sweep, however there remains concerns over how they will continue that momentum heading into the World Cup.

The players don’t meet again until September when they face Ireland in another multi-format series before flying to Abu Dhabi for a training camp ahead of the World Cup.

“That’s a tricky period for us to manage,” Lewis admitted.

“I’ve just spoken to the players in the dressing room and talked to them about my desire for them to dominate The Hundred and show what brilliant players they are.

“They’re going to go into new teams with new coaches, new players and a new social group with a different captain, a different coach, a different team giving them different messages, as well as making sure that they’re able to continue to do the things that we’ve been working on as well.

“I want them to go and play the way we want them to play and dominate that competition. That’s the challenge we’ve set down for them.”

Bangladesh is expected to present spinner-friendly pitches for the teams and with Sophie Ecclestone, the No 1 T20I bowler in the world, England seem poised for that challenge.

“I think we’re confident that we can win it but we need to play the conditions and we need to be smart, we need to think about how we’re going to go and play.

“That’s probably the most important thing. We’re confident we’re tracking really well towards that goal.

“I think the team that plays the conditions the best over in Bangladesh will win that tournament.”

Sciver-Brunt: England can take confidence from Ecclestone taking no wickets

Katherine Sciver-Brunt believes England can also taking confidence heading into the T20 World Cup from the fact that they still took a comfortable victory at Lord’s despite Sophie Ecclestone taking no wickets.

Prior to the T20I, the world’s best bowler had a 34-match innings streak of taking wickets but she could only manage 0-30 at the home of cricket.

Despite a day Ecclestone is not used to, Sciver-Brunt believes it stands the team in good stead to be able to beat teams without her influence.

“It is not a great day for Sophie but it is a great day for England being able to back and trust and be confident in their own ability getting the job done without her,” Sciver-Brunt said.

“Obviously she is a massive key for us and that is the first time she hasn’t got a wicket for us in about 34 games in a row.

“She is a brilliant asset but we cannot rely on her.”

When is the T20 World Cup?

The 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup will be held in Bangladesh from October 3-20 with Australia aiming for a third straight title and seventh overall and England targeting a first trophy since the inaugural edition in 2009.

Every match will be live on Sky Sports, starting with the tournament opener between England and 2023 finalists South Africa in Dhaka and concluding with the final at the same venue.

The 10 competing teams have been separated into two groups of five with sides playing each other once in the pool phase before the top two advance to the semi-finals.

Scotland and Sri Lanka came through the qualifying tournament to join Australia, England, South Africa, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies and Bangladesh in the event.

Women’s T20 World Cup groups

• Group A: Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
• Group B: South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Scotland

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