Women's Ashes: Coach Mark Robinson says England's World Cup winners still have a long way to go
Friday 20 October 2017 17:06, UK
World Cup winners and the No 1 ranked one-day international side in the world, England Women look to be on the cusp of dominating once again.
A chastening 18 months which saw them fall to a heavy defeat in the Women's Ashes in England in 2015 before losing in the World T20 semi-final to Australia in March 2016, seems a distant memory now for England.
This new, youthful, exciting, unshackled side bounced back from losing their opening World Cup match to be crowned champions as they won their first major tournament since 2009.
England coach Mark Robinson believes his side showed their true character in the World Cup - and he thinks there's plenty of room for improvement.
"What we proved is we're a proper team and they are proper players," he said. "They have showed that they are resilient and can respond to pressure.
"We are nowhere near where we want to be but we have showed that we have got something about us, we have a togetherness, we're better together.
"You have to have goals, have challenges and prepare for things to go wrong to grow."
With expectation of the team understandably raised once more, there is concern for Robinson that ahead of such an important Ashes series his side may be fatigued.
Following a mentally and physically draining World Cup campaign, all 18 centrally contracted England players featured in the Kia Super League just three weeks later.
After Finals Days on September 1, the players were given 10 days off before returning to training.
Having coached in the men's game too, the former Sussex coach understands the importance of managing big workloads.
"It's the modern world and the world we want to play in, we have to learn to be more resilient," Robinson said.
"It's up to the support staff to help get the players ready mentally, physically and skill-wise for the Ashes.
"Since the Delhi World T20 everything has been massively focused on 50-over cricket, so it will be a challenge."
The Women's Ashes will be a new experience for Robinson with this being the first multi-format series he has taken charge of.
England and Australia will contest three ODIs, followed by a four-day Test match before finishing with three T20s.
A loss in the 2015 Test in Canterbury, with four points being awarded for victory, put the hosts behind the curve as they went on to suffer a 10 points to six loss.
While the men's attempt to adopt the multi-format series against Sri Lanka in 2016 failed to capture the imagination of the public, it is a design that works well for the women and Robinson is looking forward to seeing his side's capabilities tested.
"We have to change our language from 'it's going to be hard' to 'it's going to be exciting' to be playing many formats and especially a Test match.
"We're going to Australia, I've never been there before, but it's so important to turn the language around and be positive."
Having taken over as coach during a low ebb for the side, Robinson admitted he had to earn the trust of the team.
A lack of uniformity in the batting line-up had left many of the players confused and fearing they would lose their place if they played their natural game.
Since the 50-year-old became head coach, batters Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Winfield and Fran Wilson have all been reintegrated into the side.
"There was a fear of losing, no consistency of selection and all the players had been up and down the order," Robinson explained.
"You're always scared (as a player) but it was teaching them about being brave and trust comes into it as well.
"If you invest in the girls they will give you everything back in return and it was that consistency of what we were trying to do (that was important).
"Sometimes you'll be criticised from the outside because people will want change and you can't just keep a player in there blindly.
"There comes a time when they have to execute what you're telling them but you have to give the players time.
"Equally you might know it's best for the team and the player to have a little bit of time away, to get away from the pressure but you're always trying to give them time."
Following their successful World Cup campaign, the England Women's coaching staff joined up with the men's side for the fourth Test match against South Africa.
Robinson already has extensive knowledge of the men's game, having lifted the County Championship title twice during his time in charge of Sussex.
While the former Northamptonshire and Yorkshire player may harbour ambitions of returning to the men's game in the future, he explained the importance of sharing and exchanging knowledge with other coaches.
"It's important to go into different environments and talking to different coaches," he said.
"To talk about problems you have with players technically, hitting wise, it is just healthy thing to do.
"(Assistant coach) Ali Maiden was able to come as well and spend time with (batting coach) Mark Ramprakash. Trevor Bayliss was asking me how we do our meeting before games, telling me what they do.
"There will be some obvious crossovers and some less obvious."
Despite all the success England have achieved in the past 12 months, Robinson still feels he needs more contact time with side to continue their development.
In 2016 they played 15 one-day internationals with 12 of those in the ICC Women's Championship - with points earned for victory counting towards reaching the 2017 World Cup.
There are currently no competitive international matches for England between the end of the Women's Ashes (November 21) and their summer series - which has yet to be announced - approximately in June and July 2018.
"You'll always be trying to win but you need to have periods where you're playing games not for qualification points," Robinson explained.
"So you can learn about the players, what the players can and can't do and you need time to develop skills and get it wrong as well as get it right.
"Time to move their games forward and not always just be competing because then you're always just surviving."
While challenges may lie ahead, this is Robinson's team and a squad that he has begun to mold into world-beaters.
"Everybody in this side has a story to tell, some are hard luck stories, and some are ones that turned to gold," he admits.
"There are plenty of leaders in the team now. I'm starting to see the crops beginning to grow from the seeds we planted 18 months ago.
"Who knows how far they could go from here?"
