Gaby Lewis believes Ireland Women can take confidence from a successful summer as they prepare for three ODIs against England this week in the ICC Women’s Championship.

The Ireland captain accepts the weather has made preparations less than ideal, with a scheduled warm-up match against an England development side washed out, but insists the squad has focused on what it can control.

“I know it sounds like a cliché, but you can only control what you can control, and unfortunately the weather is something we can’t control,” said Lewis.

“We were due to have a warm-up game against an England development side on Saturday and that was called off, so we got indoors and tried to do as much as we could.

“We’re not going to be changing massive game plans at this stage. It’s about backing the preparation we’ve already done.”

Travel was also disrupted by the storm, but Lewis said the squad arrived safely and had been able to complete worthwhile training sessions.

Ireland enter the series buoyed by a summer in which Lewis feels both the women’s and men’s teams have helped increase the profile of the game at home.

“We’ve had a very successful summer and that definitely makes things easier in the camp because confidence is high,” she said.

“There’s definitely more support back home. With the success of both our team and the men’s team, everyone is talking about Irish cricket and wishing us luck.

“The audience is getting bigger and bigger. That’s what you play cricket for — to represent your country, to be role models and hopefully inspire people.”

England remain formidable opposition despite resting a number of senior players, although Lewis believes Ireland have the advantage of familiarity with several of those coming into the side.

“They are resting a number of players, but they still have some very high-quality cricketers coming in,” she said.

“It helps that myself and Orla have been playing in England because we’ve played against some of those girls at county level.

“We’ve watched them, we’ve done plenty of preparation and analysis, and we have our plans in place.”

Lewis also pointed to Ireland’s previous success against England in 2024 as evidence that an upset is possible.

“At the end of the day, they’re human too, so you never know what can happen on the day. I think we showed that in the summer of 2024.”

One area Ireland are determined to improve is their batting after the recent ODI series against West Indies.

Lewis felt too many dismissals were self-inflicted and stressed the importance of extending partnerships in 50-over cricket.

“Fifty-over cricket is about building partnerships,” she said. “We did that to an extent, but then it’s about pushing on and being a little selfish within those partnerships — taking responsibility and making sure you extend them.

“That’s the mental challenge when you go from 20-over cricket to 50-over cricket: can you keep doing the basic skills well for longer periods?”

With valuable ICC Championship points at stake, Ireland know the size of the challenge, but Lewis is determined they approach England with confidence rather than caution.

“You can learn a huge amount from playing one of the best teams in the world, but it can also build confidence if you perform well against them — and there’s no doubt we can.”