Former UP Warriorz head coach Jon Lewis has opened up about his experience of coaching in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), saying team owners were sometimes closely involved in selection decisions. According to Lewis, this meant he was not always completely in control of the choices being made around the team. He explained that this could create difficult situations from a coaching point of view, especially when his own plans did not match the preferences of the owners. His comments offer an insight into some of the challenges coaches can face while working in franchise cricket.
Lewis spent three seasons with UP Warriorz, beginning with the inaugural season of the WPL in 2023. He was involved in building the team from scratch and guided the franchise to the playoffs during its first campaign. However, the following two seasons were not as successful for the Warriorz, who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the five-team tournament. Lewis left his position in 2025 after three seasons with the franchise. He has since continued his coaching career in another major women’s franchise competition.
Looking back at his time in the WPL, Lewis spoke about the difference between coaching in franchise cricket and working in other coaching environments. He explained that owners being close to the team could sometimes extend to decisions around player selection. While a head coach is normally expected to have a major say in team combinations, Lewis said that was not always the case during his time in the WPL. He discussed the issue while appearing on the Wisden Women’s Cricket Weekly podcast.
“In the WPL I’ve had different experience where the owners are closer to the team and sometimes to the selection of the team, to the point where as a head coach you’re not always totally in control of the decisions that are being made,” he said.
Lewis admitted that having owners involved in selection could make the coach’s job more complicated. However, he also explained that coaches working in franchise cricket need to build a strong relationship with the owners and try to convince them when they believe their own approach is the best option. For Lewis, the challenge was not simply about disagreeing with an owner, but about finding enough common ground to make the team’s plans work. He said there were occasions when he managed to convince them and others when he could not.
“And that becomes really tricky from a coaching perspective. But at the end of the day in that space you’ve got to try and convince the owner and you got to be close enough to the owners that your way is the right way of doing it.
The former UP Warriorz coach also revealed that there were times when he had to work with players or combinations that he personally would not have preferred. Despite those situations, he said a coach has to accept the circumstances and continue doing the job. Lewis made it clear that these situations are part of the wider challenges that come with franchise cricket, where different people can have an influence on important team decisions. His comments also show the balance coaches must maintain between their own cricketing ideas and the expectations of the franchise.
“Now at times I’ve been able to do that and at times I wasn’t able to do that and I’ve I had to place some teams and players that I wasn’t that comfortable doing with. But then I had to get on with the job or not do the job so to speak. So those are things that you know you have, there are challenges of franchise cricket for sure.”
Lewis is now continuing his coaching career with London Spirit Women in The Hundred 2026. His current campaign has also proved difficult, with London Spirit sitting sixth in the Women’s Hundred table after six matches. They have recorded one win, one tie and four defeats so far, leaving them with plenty of work to do during the remainder of the competition. Lewis will now hope to use his experience to help the side finish the season strongly and improve their position.
His comments also highlight how coaching in franchise cricket can involve responsibilities beyond tactics and match preparation. Building relationships with owners, management and players can be just as important when decisions are being made. Lewis’s experience with UP Warriorz has given him an understanding of these pressures, while his current role with London Spirit gives him another opportunity to work within a franchise environment. For coaches, finding the right balance between their own cricketing ideas and the wider expectations of a franchise remains an important part of the job.
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