Australia give improved England plenty to ponder one year out from AshesFigure caption, Australia thump England to regain the T20 World Cup titleByMatthew HenryBBC Sport Journalist at Lord’sPublished1 hour agoGood things do not always come in threes, and Lord’s did not follow Wembley and Twickenham in hosting landmark moments of recent English sporting history.This tournament was billed as England’s cricketers chance to follow the success of the Lionesses and Red Roses. They got to the final but faltered at the last.While defeat by Australia – a great sporting team hungry after missing out at two World Cups – is not surprising, the concern sits in the nature and the margin of England’s seven-wicket defeat.One-paced with the bat and loose with the ball, England put in their worst performance of the tournament at the worst possible time.England stated they had to be perfect to beat Australia. In the end, they were anything but.It means, with another Ashes series a year away, coach Charlotte Edwards stands in a similar place to another former captain.Before leading England into the 2005 Ashes, captain Michael Vaughan decided he needed a clean slate to take on Australia because of the baggage carried from previous defeats.
This is Edwards’ Vaughan moment.
With an Ashes series to come next summer, was this part of a side’s development as they recover and build from last year’s 16-0 Ashes defeat?
Or was it something like what Vaughan believed he inherited, which would be far more problematic?
Edwards stated she is “excited” to work with this squad for the next 12 months “to see where we can take them” but, pushed further, stopped short of ruling out an overhaul of personnel.
“We need to have a look at the team,” Edwards stated. “We obviously stuck with a lot of our older players for this tournament and they have rewarded us well.
“That is something for the end of the summer to have a look at with a big 12 months ahead.”
And despite the one-sided scoreline, England have made significant progress during this tournament.
This is largely the same side that went out of the T20 World Cup in the group stage 20 months ago and one that suffered that embarrassing Ashes clean sweep.
Even at last year’s 50-over World Cup they stumbled through the group stage before their semi-final exit. This was a far more impressive run.
