New Delhi : The new regime at England showed some good signs as their World Cup ended with defeat against South Africa in the semi-final, as per the official website of the International Cricket Council (ICC). England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt believes her side is in much better shape than it was earlier this year, when she took over as captain and Charlotte Edwards was named coach.
Sciver-Brunt and Edwards have been in their respective roles for a little over six months now. Their tenure has already shown positive signs, as highlighted by England's performance in the World Cup, even though they fell short at the penultimate hurdle, losing to a dominant Proteas side by 125 runs in the semi-final.
England won five games from eight appearances across the tournament, but ultimately fell at the penultimate hurdle when they were outclassed by a Proteas side that received match-winning performances from skipper Laura Wolvaardt and veteran all-rounder Marizanne Kapp.
While disappointed to be bundled out in the final four, Sciver-Brunt suggested there were plenty of positives for her side to take from their efforts across the tournament and they were in a much better spot than when she took over at the start of the European summer.
"We've come a long way since the summer," Sciver-Brunt said after the loss, as quoted from the official website of the ICC. "We're a different side from then and we've learnt a lot," she added. "This will hurt but hopefully in time we'll be able to take the learnings from it and move forward because we've made some great strides so far in quite a short space of time," she noted. "It's really exciting where we can go. To beat the best teams, you really have to be at your best and hopefully we'll come back stronger the next time," she said.
Edwards agreed with Sciver-Brunt's sentiments, adding that she has been impressed with the side's younger players since she took the coaching job in April."I think at the start we said we could beat anyone, but we had to play at our best. We weren't at our best today and South Africa were," Edwards said.
"So that's probably one of the reasons we're going home early," she added."But there's been so many positives, I think how the team have played throughout the comp. We've shown some real fight. I think some of our younger players have really stepped up and some of our older ones as well," she noted.
"But I think it's been a real sort of team effort throughout, which is great. But we've been part of some fantastic games of cricket as well, so we've learned a lot. But ultimately it's on today, isn't it? And we haven't played quite as well as we would have liked," she said.England's attention will now turn to the ICC Women's T20 World Cup next year which they will co-host alongside Wales.
Edwards hinted some new players will be trialled in the lead-up to that tournament, insisting the side needs to improve in all facets of the game."We've got a T20 (World Cup) that will be our focus now from when the players come back in December through to obviously the English summer where we'll be playing at home," Edwards added.
"We'll be on various camps with the players here and obviously some younger players. So, we'll be looking at a variety of people throughout that time," she noted."And I think it's not a time now to say who's going to be coming in, who's going to be coming out. It's about us going back, reflecting. But equally on your question around - we do need to improve our batting, I think, don't think it's been consistent enough at times and equally with our bowling," she said.
"I think all aspects of our game we need to look at certainly our death stuff. So, there's lots to go away and work on which is exciting from a coaching perspective. But obviously reflecting on today and the tournament, there's been some good stuff and some stuff we need to improve," she added.