KSL coming at right-time for England players, says Georgia Elwiss

Elwiss believes it is wrong to assume that England, who won the Women's World Cup only two years ago, are no longer capable of matching Australia despite their comprehensive defeat in the Ashes

England's Georgia Elwiss believes being thrown straight back into action in the women's Kia Super League can only benefit the national team after the disappointment of the women's Ashes.

The KSL 2019 season launches on Tuesday - only six days after England picked up a consolation victory in the last of seven matches after Australia had won five of the first six to take the series by a comfortable margin.

Elwiss, who is captaining Loughborough Lightning for a fourth consecutive KSL season, said: "Although the Ashes was disappointing for us, we played some really good cricket earlier in the summer, when we smashed the West Indies in our series against them.

"There were a few days in the Ashes where we have not played how we wanted to play but this is a fantastic opportunity for the girls to shrug that off, show a bit of character and show what they can do.

"I know I'm really keen to get out there and play a good standard of cricket and I think the other England girls will really benefit from getting going again quickly and using this environment as somewhere they can really enjoy their cricket and show what they can do."

VISIT OUR KIA SUPER LEAGUE HUB

Elwiss, who made her international comeback in the drawn women's Test against Australia after a stress fracture of the back, said it is wrong to assume that England, who won the Women's World Cup only two years ago, are no longer capable of matching the Australians.

"In the Ashes, there was that one crazy game at Canterbury and then the T20 at Chelmsford where we weren't in the game for long periods but in all the other games we felt we were competing and it was simply a case of big moments that we didn't win.

"But you saw the character we showed in that last game to come back and win. We are not far off Australia but we know also that we have to raise our game to match them."

Lightning, last year's beaten KSL finalists, start their season against England skipper Heather Knight's Western Storm at the Haslegrave Ground in Loughborough (4pm).

The Lightning line-up is likely to include England's Amy Jones, Jenny Gunn and Kirstie Gordon, as well as overseas trio Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Chamari Atapattu (Sri Lanka) and Mignon du Preez (South Africa).

Storm's squad includes Indian stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma and New Zealand's Rachel Priest. 

Courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network

To celebrate England winning the World Cup you can subscribe to The Cricketer for just £20.19. Click here to learn more

Subscribe to The Cricketer for exclusive content every day: The inside track on England's Test tour with George Dobell in Pakistan, award-winning analysis, breaking news and interviews and the only place for in-depth county coverage all year round. Plus: An ad-free app experience at your fingertips. Subscribe to thecricketer.com today for just £1.