Jon Lewis named England Women head coach

Jon Lewis, the former England Men's seamer and coach, has been appointed as the new head coach of England Women. Lewis succeeds Lisa Keightley, who stepped down in September after three years in the role.

Lewis has been the ECB's elite pace bowling coach since 2021, supporting the men's team on last winter's Ashes tour, and previously coached the Young Lions. He will take charge of England Women ahead of their limited-overs tour of the West Indies, just a few months out from the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa.

"It's very exciting to have been appointed as head coach of the England Women's team," Lewis said. "It's a new challenge, and one that I can't wait to get stuck into. I've watched from a distance over the last few years and it's clear that there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this team's chances going forward.

"The last couple of years have seen the introduction of some younger players and that, allied with the increased strength in depth coming from the regional game, is a really promising sign for the coming few years.

"Our immediate focus is the West Indies, and particularly getting some points on the board in the ICC Women's Championship, and then we'll look ahead to South Africa and the ICC Women's T20 World Cup."

Lewis, 47, played 16 times for England during a lengthy playing career that took him from Gloucestershire to Surrey and then Sussex. He retired in 2014 to become Sussex's bowling coach, and was subsequently promoted to assistant coach at Hove before moving on to take charge of the Under-19s in 2018.

He is understood to have beaten a number of candidates to the job, including his namesake, Jon Lewis, the former Durham head coach who has recently worked with the batters in the England women's set-up.

Jonathan Finch, the ECB's director of England women's cricket, said: "We're really pleased to be able to appoint Jon as the new head coach of England Women following a thorough and competitive recruitment process. We set out to find a head coach with a range of experiences to help lead an exciting group of players across all formats and I am excited with what the future holds with Jon in the role.

"Jon comes with excellent pedigree in the men's game working across different levels of the international pathway, and we were really impressed by how he sees the role moving forward. We look forward to him coming on board and driving the future direction of this team."

England are due to announce their squads for ODI and T20I series in the Caribbean next week, with Heather Knight set to be fit to lead the side after hip surgery during the summer. Nat Sciver, who missed England's series with India in September for mental health reasons, is also expected to return.