Nottingham [UK], June 27 : England's women's head coach Jon Lewis believes that even after losing against Australia in the one-off Test match and falling four points behind in the multi-formats Ashes 2023 series on Monday at the Trent Bridge.
England ended on the losing side after putting up a valiant effort with the bat. However they failed to chase down 152 runs. Ashleigh Gardner ripped apart their lower order to clinch the victory.
But even after suffering defeat, Lewis looked on the positive side rather than dwelling on the negative side of their game. After the match he said to Sky Sports, "What this game has shown us the most is that we are not far away. A couple of the girls reflected on that with me this morning, saying we can beat these guys."
"This is one result but there are six games to go and I believe the dressing room thinks we can beat this Australia team. Going into the rest of the series I would encourage our girls to go harder than they have already, especially with the bat."
He believes that England can make a comeback in the series as they have a talent tha can go toe to toe with the Australian bowling attack.
"We have the talent to be able to really attack the Australian bowlers and that is an area we can really exploit in the white-ball series. I will be encouraging the girls to put their foot down more," Lewis signed off.
Coming to the match, England started the day's play needing 152 more runs to win the Test having lost all five of their top five players on a disastrous day four.
Wyatt batted brilliantly throughout the fifth morning for the hosts, reaching a well-deserved half-century on her Test debut. From an English perspective, though, wickets dropped with all-too-frequent regularity around Gardner as she worked her magic.
Kate Cross was the first to fall, edging behind for 13, and the crucial wicket of Amy Jones - the last known batter - put Australia in command.
In a promising pairing with Wyatt, Sophie Ecclestone made Australia fight for the win, reducing the necessary total to two digits. When Gardner had Ecclestone lbw, it only took Australia two more overs to wrap things up, with Gardner cleaning up Lauren Filer and Wyatt following quickly as she sought to hit out.
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