by England head coach Jon Lewis accepts his team cannot match Australia for athleticism, speed or power, pointing to a “cultural difference” between the nations.
Concerns over the England squad’s fitness and conditioning were first raised by World Cup winner-turned-commentator Alex Hartley, who later claimed she had been ‘dragged out to dry » and declined interviews following his comments.
But, having lost all five Women’s Ashes matches so far to increase a painful and unassailable 10-0 deficit in the multi-format series, Lewis accepted there was a disconnect when it came to physical prowess between rival teams.
Yet he also suggested that this was not the only reason for the unexpected scale of their defeat.
“I would say, yes, they are a much more athletic team than us, they are more agile, they look faster, sometimes they look more powerful,” he said ahead of the third T20 of Saturday in Adelaide.
“Is this the reason we don’t win cricket matches here in this country? No.
“We definitely need to get faster and we can access more power for sure. If you’re talking about whether or not we can run marathons, we don’t need to. We must be fit for use.
“I think their discipline and skill level has been higher. It’s an area of the game that we work on all the time – all of our players do – and work very hard on it. »
Assessing the reason for the Australian team’s fitness standards, he took a broader view.
“I went from Bondi to Coogee the other Sunday morning and pretty much the whole eastern suburbs of Sydney were swimming in the sea and running and walking,” he said.
“There is also a cultural difference in terms of Australia versus England, as well as England versus India or India versus South Africa. So, comparing the two nations, I think is slightly different. »
A continuation of Australia’s dominance in the final Test match in Melbourne would surely invite questions about the direction of the team, with Lewis and long-serving captain Heather Knight likely to come under scrutiny.
“I love this job and am committed to making them a better team,” Lewis said.
“I expected it to be a really, really tough tour for us to come in and win and win. They are an exceptional team, playing on home soil, they have been beating the world for a long time and we have a developing group of cricketers. »
Meanwhile, the home team is in a ruthless mood.
The prospect of a clean 16-0 sweep, 18 months after an 8-8 draw on English soil, remains on the cards and Grace Harris is eager to make it hurt.
“I won’t be happy if we let this third T20 go, let’s put it that way,” Harris told Triple M.
“We want to embarrass the Pom here, not just beat them, we want to beat them.”
