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England head coach Jon Lewis wishes they could begin their T20 World Cup campaign immediately, but remains confident about what they can achieve in Bangladesh come October after an unbeaten home summer.
A washout at the end of May in Taunton was the only blot on England’s copybook across 14 white-ball matches with Pakistan and New Zealand.
Key contributions with bat and ball respectively from captain Heather Knight and Lauren Bell alongside a fine all-round display by Charlie Dean inspired a 20-run win over the White Ferns at Lord’s on Wednesday, which secured a 5-0 T20 series whitewash.
However, Lewis’ in-form group will disperse for the next month to play in The Hundred before they get back together in September for a whistle-stop tour of Ireland ahead of trying to win a maiden T20 crown.
“I suppose my preference would be we get on the plane tomorrow, but we don’t,” Lewis said.
“We’ve got eight weeks between now and then. That’s a tricky period for us to manage. I’ve just spoken to the players in the dressing room and talked to them about my desire for them to go out and dominate the Hundred. Show what brilliant players they are.
“The reality of those situations is that they’re going to go into new teams, with new coaches and new players and a new social group so to speak and they’ll find those things hard to deal with at times.
“At the same time, I want them to go and play the way that we want to play and dominate that competition. That’s the challenge we’ve set down for them.”
England were indebted to captain Knight before they clinched a 13th win from 14 matches this summer after she hit 46 not out to help her team recover from 87 for six to post 155 for seven.
We're confident that we can win it, but like I said, we need to play the conditions as well— England head coach Jon Lewis
Dean added 24 in a 57-run partnership and then claimed two wickets in the 18th over as New Zealand’s unlikely chase firmly stalled.
Bell finished with three for 21 after key scalps at the start and end of the innings, with Lewis able to toast an impressive couple of months where most members of the squad stepped up.
It makes selecting a 15-player group for Bangladesh a tough task with one of Sophia Dunkley or Linsey Smith currently expected to miss out.
Lewis added: “We’ve played some fantastic cricket over this series. I think probably the most pleasing thing is the contribution from pretty much everyone in the squad. I think that shows the depth of talent we have.
“We haven’t got a group of six or seven players that we know we can rely on, we’ve got a group of 15 players we know that can play. Maybe even wider than that, 16, 17, maybe even 18 players you think actually they can all play.
“Selecting squads is hard, selecting XIs is even harder, but I feel like with the group of players we’ve got, we’ve got pretty much all bases covered at the moment. So yeah, we’re feeling really confident.
“We’re confident that we can win it, but like I said, we need to play the conditions as well.
“We need to be smart, we need to think about how we’re going to go and play. I think that’s probably the most important thing. So yeah, we’re confident we’re tracking really well towards that goal.”
