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Jon Lewis has seen enough cricket over time to understand its nitty-gritties. The wisdom of 251 first-class matches for the former England pacer reflects in his words.
That wisdom has only swelled with multiple coaching assignments with the men's U19 team, Sussex, and lately, the England women's setup. Oh, and add an ongoing gig with the UP Warriorz in the Women's Premier League (WPL) to it.
Lewis has been a frequent visitor of India over the last 12 months, commencing with the inaugural WPL, an off-season camp with the Warriorz, and then with England during the recent series on these shores.
With the second season of the WPL going on floors, he's back in the country again as he seeks to guide the Warriorz to title glory, on the back of an Eliminator finish in 2023. In a candid chat with Sportskeeda, Lewis starts with an outline of his understanding of how different coaching a franchise setup is from an international team.
"I suppose if you want to start with the differences, it is time and speed in terms of need for results," says Lewis. "With the national side, you're able to develop it over a period of time and prioritize tournaments like World Cups and Ashes series that are really important to English cricket. Here obviously, we have a very short time frame to bring a group of people together and win a competition. So that's probably the biggest difference and you have to do things at speed."
A year older and wiser as coach of the UP Warriorz, Lewis is confident of an even better few weeks ahead this time around.
"I would say I'm much better prepared this year than I was last year, in terms of expectation of what's going to happen and so I feel a lot calmer. And hopefully that will spread into the team and the team will play better cricket because of it. I've built some trusted relationships already with some of the girls here at UP, especially the local players. I think, from my point of view, that will be the probably the biggest point of difference between the two seasons - if we can get more from our local players, and they're able to make match winning contributions rather than the small contributions they made last season," says Lewis.
"Spin bowling is the most consistent area of women's cricket" - Jon Lewis
The Warriorz regularly relied on spin as their mantra for success in last year's WPL. In Sophie Ecclestone and Deepti Sharma, they had two world-class operators to turn to. Rajeshwari Gayakwad and the exciting Parshavi Chopra - apart from the part-timers of Grace Harris - gave skipper Alyssa Healy a host of options to play around with.
The team's fast-bowling reserves might wear a thin look, but Lewis is firm in his belief that spin is the way to go in the women's game - something that was evident in the Warriorz' signing of Gouher Sultana at the player auction.
"Well yes," says Lewis, when asked about whether it will be spin to win for his team. "Because there's a real strong belief of mine that right at this point in time, fast bowling in particular in women's cricket is the biggest area of growth and development. And spin bowling is the most consistent area of women's cricket. If you look around all the best teams in the world, they all have high-quality spinners in terms of international cricket. Most of the teams that win franchise competitions have in any conditions, England, Australia, and here in India, high-quality spin bowling. So to have the caliber of spin bowling we have in our squad, for me is incredibly exciting and I expect them to play a big part in the tournament."
It sheds light on why perhaps the Warriorz weren't too keen on signing a like-for-like replacement when Lauren Bell, their lone overseas quick, pulled out of the tournament. They instead went for a batting all-rounder in Chamari Athapaththu.
While Lewis elaborated that the think-tank considered a number of options, including fast bowlers, when Bell withdrew, the reason behind going for Athapaththu was simple:
"She was the best player available...Yes, there were other fast bowlers out there that were options for us to bring in, and some good ones as well. However, when you've got someone with the quality of Chamari sitting outside the competition, it's much better to have her in your squad than not."
It may not be surprising if Athapaththu or Danni Wyatt, another of the Warriorz' new signings, sit out of the starting XI purely on the basis of the quality of overseas superstars that the franchise already has.
While getting it across to the ones not playing that they won't be making the cut just yet is a challenge, Lewis considers himself to be in a 'fortunate' position to have that quality at his disposal.
"I believe I'm incredibly fortunate to have the choice of six highly skilled international cricketers. I'll always communicate with logic and honesty to the players and give them really clear reasoning as to why they haven't been selected, whichever two players it will be. I did that last year, and I'll continue to do that this year. And they come into this competition with their eyes wide open. They understand the situation when they sign up to play that they'll be one of six. And they know that if they're one of the thirty best players in the world, then the competition within that group is incredibly tough. I've already seen the determination of Danni and Chamari in the little space that I've seen her practicing and playing in our warmup games. And it's making for some really tough choices. But I'd rather be in that position than someone who has got two players who are very easy to leave out," Lewis states.
One of those star overseas players happens to be the skipper of the Warriorz and a world beater in her own right. Alyssa Healy, who is also Australia's all-format skipper now, is back at the helm of the team again, and Lewis opened up on his working relationship with the dashing wicket-keeper batter.
"I've really enjoyed it. She's a really good person. I think that's a great place to start. And I think when you get two people that are aligned in how they want to play their cricket, and enjoy competing, regardless of nationality, whether they're English, Australian or English and Indian, you're bound to create a nice bond. We obviously had a good battle over the English summer with the Ashes and we enjoyed that but from a distance - we didn't get in each other's space too much. And we seem to have worked out a really nice balance. I enjoy her company. And I'm sure we'll be having a beer at some stage and chat about cricket, which is, you know, what cricket and sports are all about really - creating relationships and making friendships and creating memories," says Lewis.
"I hope we can create a space for the WPL" - Jon Lewis on player withdrawals ahead of the 2024 edition
With England set to play New Zealand in their own backyard not even 30 hours after the final of WPL 2024 is expected to conclude, the tournament saw a couple of player withdrawals in Bell and skipper Heather Knight. Lewis himself will be leaving the tournament early to link up with the English squad.
Of the opinion that there is enough space in the women's cricket calendar to have all international cricketers take part in the WPL, Lewis believes the solution is to get everyone in the same room and make a plan to avoid such a situation in the future.
"I hope this year will be a unique situation where there are fixture clashes. And I hope we can create a space for the WPL for all the players to come and be available in the future. I think this year is unique and cricket boards around the world and the ICC plan their schedules quite a long time in advance. The local board here, the BCCI have come in quite late with the dates which isn’t ideal. However, it is what it is and we're trying to make the best of it," says Lewis.
The silver lining for the England coach in Lewis is that it opens up an opportunity to test the bench strength for the first half of the T20I series against the White Ferns. Some of the younger crop - Alice Capsey, Freya Kemp and Issy Wong, to name a few - have already laid down an early marker as serious forces to reckon with.
Lewis isn't surprised at their early success, though, citing England's 2017 World Cup triumph at Lord's as a catalyst towards those young girls wanting to take up the sport. He firmly believes that such moments of inspiration are crucial for the development of national sides.
"I imagine from that point in time - and I know from talking to some of those girls, they watched that game, some of them were actually in the crowd on that day at Lord's - they were fortunate enough to be there. And they would have been inspired by those players to go on and be great cricketers. When teams win World Cups, they're high profile moments. And those moments give people an opportunity to go ‘Wow, I'd like to do that’," says Lewis.
When asked about these players taking the world by storm already, Lewis is confident that their best is yet to come. Once again, he emphasizes being fortunate enough to inherit this team at the time that he did (in 2022).
"I would say that they've made some good contributions to England cricket teams over periods of time. They’ve definitely caught the eye with their talent. And the exciting bit about that group in particular is they’re nowhere near their threshold yet. And my view is that they will grow really fast over the next year or two and become a really formidable group of players that hopefully will stand England in good stead for a really long period of time. And my job is just to create opportunities for them to learn and grow and become better players."
Emphasis on Indian talent - the ethos of UP Warriorz
The Warriorz boast of a host of uncut Indian gems who, when polished, promise to morph into glittering jewels.
The team's focus on upskilling these players was on display in an off-season camp away from the limelight in August last year. Lewis details a conversation with the owners of the franchise about why they wanted to venture into the WPL. He declares that their wish to create a franchise that lasts long and is noticeable all around India in the women's sport is an attractive proposition.
"When you've got owners and people that are running the franchise that are really keen to develop a team, that is exciting for a coach, because of course you want to win straight away, but you don't have to win straight away and developing players is something that I really love to do.
"And I hope this year - and I'm really confident actually - that you'll see much more contributions from our local players, especially our young batters. They've worked incredibly hard. I feel since I came in August and now in February, there's been a big shift in performance from them, or ability and skill. Now we just need to get their minds in the right place to be able to go and perform on the big stage and that's obviously the key thing when the lights go on and the crowds come in. So that's part of my job here - to now give them an understanding of how to perform when the pressure is on," says Lewis.
Having been in India a fair bit and seen loads of talent around the world more than ever in the last couple of years, how far does the coach of a national setup reckon India are from matching Australia and England on the women's cricket landscape?
"I think it's there or thereabouts for sure," says Lewis. "There's some really good young players in India. And I think the WPL can only enhance that. I don't think the WPL can harm that at all. Young players that play domestic cricket and don't get exposed to international cricket will be exposed to international cricketers. I suppose that the thing that does is it gives an understanding of the level they need to get to try and compete with them. I've got a really strong view around competition, driving development. And the competition within this tournament will really drive the development in Indian women's cricket, I have no doubt about that," he adds.
Lewis will be hopeful of the development and work behind the scenes with the Indian crop reflecting in greater results for the Warriorz in WPL 2024. A winning start to the campaign against the home team Royal Challengers Bangalore would be the perfect tonic of confidence that the team is on the right track.
