Australia’s weather and culture is a major reason behind the team’s successive 3-0 sweeps of England in the ODI and T20I legs of the women’s Ashes series, according to Jon Lewis.
The England coach has come in for a barrage of criticism after presiding over six consecutive losses in the blockbuster series, with Australia needing only to win the one-off Test at the MCG to complete a rare series whitewash.
Lewis has repeatedly hit back at claims, most famously from former England player turned commentator Alex Hartley, that the team’s fitness has led to their defeats down under – a view that saw her given the ‘cold shoulder’ by several members of the team and staff.
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But his alternate explanation for England’s struggles is truly bizarre, saying before their third T20I loss in Adelaide the Australian climate is more conducive to getting athletes out and about and improving their games.
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“I walked from Bondi to Coogee the other Sunday morning and pretty much the whole of the eastern suburbs of Sydney is in the water, doing surf lifesaving, playing touch rugby,” Lewis said.
“There’s a cultural difference there as well in terms of Australia versus England, as well as there is England versus India or India versus South Africa. So comparing the two nations I think is slightly different.
“I definitely think Australia have an advantage in terms of athleticism, and also our talent pool at the moment is small, so it’s important for us to grow the game.”
Lewis compared the situation to that of his own son, who has to be ‘push[ed] out the door’ when the temperature is ‘minus five and raining sideways’ in England.
He again staunchly defended the team’s fitness, though admitted they needed to ‘get faster’ to ‘access more power’.
“I would say they’re [Australia] a much more athletic team than us – they’re more agile, they look faster, at times they look more powerful.
“Is that the reason that we’re not winning 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 need to be fit for purpose.
“I think their [Australia’s] discipline and their skill level has been higher. It’s an area of the game that we work on continually – all of our players do – and work really hard on it.”
Australia’s whopping 72-run win in the third T20I was the most emphatic result of the series to date, with Beth Mooney’s unbeaten 94 four more than England managed in their entire innings.
But Lewis believes they have been more competitive than the scoreline suggests, comparing his team’s performance to that in the tied 2023 Ashes series in England.
“You haven’t seen the best version of this team on this tour, but there is so much potential,” he said.
“If you look at the drawn Ashes in 2023, I think we poked the bear a little bit. They’ve gone away and reset.
“The scoreline is bigger but I don’t think the gap is bigger.
“We won those critical moments in games last time, and they have turned them on their side in this series.
“We are clearly disappointed we haven’t got the results, but I think we’ve been more competitive than the scoreline suggests.”
The historic day-night one-off Ashes Test begins on January 29 at the MCG.