Stand-in skipper Tammy Beaumont admitted England had failed to show the best of themselves as a six-wicket T20 defeat to India at Old Trafford saw them lose the five-match series with one still left to play.
England laboured to 126 for seven with none of the batters able to really get going – Sophia Dunkley was the top scorer with 22 – and once India’s openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma made 50 in their opening five overs the writing was on the wall.
It saw England quickly come back to earth after their five-run victory at the Oval on Friday had kept the series alive and will give them plenty to think about going into the three-match ODI series that follows.
“It’s proper contrasting emotions in terms of the last two games,” said Beaumont, who has stepped in with Nat Sciver-Brunt injured.
“Credit to India, they’ve played brilliantly all series. They’ve really tested us and tonight we didn’t put in anywhere near a complete performance.
“We were probably 20 short with the bat, I reckon 150 would have given us a chance with our bowling line up, but it’s really difficult to defend a score like that when you know they’re going to come out and play freely and get ahead of the game.
“I thought we really stuck at it, we did pick up a few wickets and tried everything to get back into the game but we never really had enough runs to be honest.”
Saturday’s match at Edgbaston is now a dead rubber but Beaumont said England were determined to use it to change the narrative before the ODI series begins in Southampton next Wednesday.
“Just because the series is gone we’re no less likely to want to put in a performance,” she said. “I think we are a team in transition. We’ve obviously spoken about the players we are missing, but there’s a lot of potential in certain positions.
“We’re going to want to put in a more complete performance. I think if we’re honest we’ve not had that all-round performance with the bat, the ball, in the field, so we’ll be looking to show what we can do and maybe with the series gone the pressure is off and we can go out and show how good we are.”
This is India’s first T20 series win in England and one achieved with some dominant performances.
“I think they’ve probably adapted to English conditions better than we maybe expected,” Beaumont added.
100th T20 appearance for our Sophie Ecclestone 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SiWAgmIqlz
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“But I think we knew they had an incredibly strong batting line-up that’s been firing for a long time, particularly the two at the top of the order and someone like Jemimah Rodrigues. We know how dangerous they are.”
India stifled England almost from the off, sharper in the field as they held England to a string of dot balls and singles.
“We spoke after the last game that we have to cut down on the twos and we actually did that today so we are really proud to do that,” said Radha Yadav, who took two wickets for 15 runs.
“I think the fielding changed the momentum because both teams bowled well but the fielding part was really great.”
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