Jon Lewis has hailed England’s fresh positive approach, insisting their change in style is more important than clean sweeping the West Indies in both ODIs and T20s.
England leave the Caribbean having won all eight matches, concluding the tour in spectacular fashion on Thursday by skittling their hosts for 43 – the Windies’ record lowest T20 total – at Barbados.
It is the ideal start to life as England head coach for Lewis, who admitted he has inherited a better group of players than he initially thought after taking the reins last month from Lisa Keightley.
Lewis feels there is more of an attacking mindset within the group than in times gone by and he hopes they can take that attitude into the T20 World Cup which starts in South Africa in seven weeks’ time.
“I was more than happy to lose games on this tour as long as we shifted the way we wanted to play – that’s the thing I’m most pleased about,” he said.
“It’s the way we’ve approached the cricket and the attacking mindset they’ve taken into the games. I feel like that’s a real shift from what I’ve watched in the past. At times I think they’ve played safe.
“I did know we had a lot of talent in the squad. But I didn’t realise how good they actually were, I really didn’t. The talent in the room is really high.
“The biggest challenge is maintaining confidence and belief in the way we play so when pressure ramps up in bigger games, the ability to hold on to belief and trust in what we are trying to do will work.”
Lewis revealed he is “pretty close” to figuring out his best T20 team as England attempt to improve on their semi-final result in 2020 last time out and end Australia’s recent dominance at World Cups.
With captain Heather Knight and star all-rounder Nat Sciver back in tow in the Caribbean after being unavailable for portions of the summer, England appear well-placed for the upcoming challenges.
Alice Capsey is progressing well in her recovery from a broken left collarbone and while Lewis admitted there have been “really positive noises”, the teenage all-rounder has “still got quite a way to go”.
“We’ve obviously got some decisions to make about what the final 15 will be. I think we’ll do that in the early part of January and we’ll let the girls know then where we’re standing,” Lewis added.
“What I am really pleased about is the quality of skill level across the whole squad.
“It’s about winning pressure moments against good opposition. What I can see in the group is there isn’t any fear, they’re willing to have a go. I’d rather us lose having a go than lose not.”
