Charlotte Edwards is adamant she is “seeing improvement” from her England side and “doesn’t care what anyone thinks” as she builds towards the World Cup starting in late September.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur smashed a century as India claimed a 13-run victory over England to win the one-day international series at Chester-Le-Street.
Nat Sciver-Brunt and Emma Lamb led the recovery effort for the hosts with a mammoth 162-run partnership and the England skipper continued to shine before falling just short of a ton on 98.
The hosts lost four wickets in the final five overs and Kranti Goud proved to be the pick of the bowlers with six scalps as the hosts slipped to a 2-1 ODI series defeat.
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Highlights from England and India’s third ODI from Durham
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Watch Nat Sciver-Brunt’s incredible innings, before she was forced to depart just two short of a century
Attention now turns to the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, scheduled to run in India and Sri Lanka from 30 September to 2 November.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Edwards admitted: “I knew the team were low in confidence coming out of the Ashes and that’s understandable. The team are really together up there. They’re working hard. Like these things, it just doesn’t happen overnight.
“The media just think it will happen like this. I’m seeing improvement and I don’t really care what anyone else thinks. I’m seeing it because I’m working with these players day in, day out and that’s the most important thing.
“I’m not saying we’re the finished article or we’re going to win a World Cup but we’re hoping to improve and become one of the best teams in the world.”
She added: “We’ve just got some fine-tuning to do, we’re not a million miles away. We’ve got some world-class players.”
Dagnall: England will not win the World Cup playing like this
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Charles Dagnall says that England won’t win the World Cup and outlines the different areas in which they fall short compared to other nations
Analyst Charles Dagnall was scathing in his assessment of where he believes England are following their series defeat to India.
“I can’t tell you how far off England are in the field. They are night and day in comparison and anyone who has thoughts about England winning the World Cup, they are not going to do it on the performances that we have seen,” he said.
“That’s just the truth. They’re not as good as India in three departments and they’re not as good as Australia because they’re the number one team in the world.
“She needs to get a buzz around the side and get some confidence. This result will not help but England have absolutely rubber-stamped got the best person in charge to try and turn this around in Charlotte Edwards.
“She speaks so much sense. I don’t see a problem with the batting but the work that they’ve got to do is in the field. They’re carrying five or six fielders.”
England vs India results
T20 international series
One-day international series
Watch the fourth Men’s Test between England and India at Old Trafford, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on Wednesday, ahead of the first ball at 11am. Stream without a contract.
