Georgia Elwiss believes taking over the captaincy of Sussex Women can help take her game to a new level.

The England all-rounder is filling in as skipper while international team-mate Sarah Taylor takes a break from the game for personal reasons.

Elwiss hopes the role is only temporary with Taylor yet to make any decisions on when she might return to action but is relishing the extra responsibility of leading the side in her absence.

The 24-year-old produced a match-winning performance against Somerset in the Royal London One-Day Championship last Sunday as she took 6-17 to bowl the hosts out for 126 and then smashed a quickfire 45 as Sussex cruised to victory in just 29 overs.

Elwiss said: “It is a very different role for me but something I am loving. I was captain at Staffordshire in the early part of my career but since moving to Sussex (five years ago) I haven’t been involved on that side so it is something I am re-learning.

“The girls have made it really easy for me and I think it will definitely help my game. Tactically I am becoming more aware and having that focus on the team rather than your own game is a good distraction.

“As captain it was great to contribute to a good win against Somerset but I would love to see Sarah come back as soon as she feels ready. We all support her decision to take a break but hopefully she will fall back in love with the game and come back at some point in the season.”

Elwiss is delighted with the manner in which Sussex have responded since losing to Warwickshire in the opening game of the season.

They bounced back immediately by beating Kent at Eastbourne and then swept aside Somerset by seven wickets at Bath to climb to fourth in division one ahead of their next game against Middlesex.

Elwiss added: “I think I took seven wickets in a game once but that was about ten years ago so they were my best figures for a while.

“I have to give the other bowlers a lot of the credit though as they kept things tight and I just came on to take all the glory!”