Stand-in skipper Tammy Beaumont admitted England had failed to point out the perfect 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 not one of the batters able to actually get going – Sophia Dunkley was the highest scorer with 22 – and once India’s openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma made 50 of their opening five overs the writing was on the wall.
It saw England quickly come back to earth after their five-run victory on the Oval on Friday had kept the series alive and can give them plenty to take into consideration going into the three-match ODI series that follows.
“It’s proper contrasting emotions when it comes to the last two games,” said Beaumont, who has stepped in with Nat Sciver-Brunt injured.
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“Credit to India, they’ve played brilliantly all series. They’ve really tested us and tonight we didn’t put in anywhere near an entire performance.
“We were probably 20 short with the bat, I reckon 150 would have given us a probability with our bowling line up, however it’s really difficult to defend a rating like that when you realize they’re going to return out and play freely and get ahead of the sport.
“I assumed we actually stuck at it, we did pick up a couple of wickets and tried every little thing to get back into the sport but we never really had enough runs to be honest.”
Final T20 Fixture
Saturday’s match at Edgbaston is now a dead rubber but Beaumont said England were determined to make use of it to vary the narrative before the ODI series begins in Southampton next Wednesday.
“Simply because the series is gone we’re no less more likely to need to put in a performance,” she said. “I believe we’re a team in transition. We’ve obviously spoken in regards to the players we’re missing, but there’s loads of potential in certain positions.
“We’re going to need to put in a more complete performance. I believe if we’re honest we’ve not had that all-round performance with the bat, the ball, in the sphere, so we’ll be looking to point out what we are able to do and possibly with the series gone the pressure is off and we are able to exit and show how good we’re.”
India’a Performance
That is India’s first T20 series win in England and one achieved with some dominant performances.
“I believe they’ve probably adapted to English conditions higher than we possibly expected,” Beaumont added.
“But I believe we knew they’d an incredibly strong batting line-up that’s been firing for a very long time, particularly the 2 at the highest of the order and someone like Jemimah Rodrigues. We understand how dangerous they’re.”
India stifled England almost from the off, sharper in the sphere as they held England to a string of dot balls and singles.
“We spoke after the last game that we’ve got to chop down on the twos and we actually did that today so we’re really proud to do this,” said Radha Yadav, who took two wickets for 15 runs.
“I believe the fielding modified the momentum because each teams bowled well however the fielding part was really great.”
READ MORE: England suffer T20 series defeat as India ease to victory at Old Trafford