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All-rounder Georgia Elwiss is enjoying life under new England women Head Coach Mark Robinson as they prepare for his first series in charge.
England face South Africa in a three-match one-day international series that could see them jump above the Proteas and into a fourth place in the ICC Women’s Championship table.
Robinson was appointed into the role last November, in the wake of the Ashes series defeat, and his first task will be to get England back into the direct World Cup qualification places ahead of next year’s tournament in England.
The former Sussex and England Lions coach intends to do that by allowing his players to play their natural game and, while Elwiss revealed the squad have been subjected to tales from Robinson’s native Yorkshire, his presence has brought excitement for the challenges ahead.
“He’s brilliant,” Elwiss told ecb.co.uk.
“He talked about Hull every other word. He’s great and he’s bought a new energy around the squad
“He’s really keen for players to play their own game and for it to be very natural so there’s an exciting few months ahead now.”
The opening match of the series is in Benoni next week although first they face a warm-up match against a South African Emerging XI tomorrow.
While the opposition might provide an unknown quantity Elwiss suspects they will be a stern test of their credentials.
“We know that South Africa are a really good developing nation and they have come through really well over the past couple of years,” she said.
“We expect that their emerging players will be similar and of a good standard and will give us a good run tomorrow.”
Elwiss has not played a competitive match since last year’s women’s Ashes – when the 24-year-old enjoyed a good series – and is looking forward to the run-out and trying to recreate her form from against Australia.
“Definitely. It’s always nice to play in an Ashes series and hopefully take that attacking mentality forward and under the new coach,” she added.
“He’s very much ‘play your own game’ and that sort of style suits me so hopefully I’ll do more of the same on this tour.
“I’ve been a bit light on international overs in the last few months. I’m just coming back and trying to get a few into my system and hopefully get some good overs in the game tomorrow.”
Source: ECB