Watch England’s must-win match in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup group stage against India live on Sky Sports on Wednesday from 12.30am; England have lost their first three matches at the World Cup
Amy Jones says England will go into their crucial match against India looking to support each other and keep the energy high, despite losing three straight at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.
Wicketkeeper Jones was speaking after the reigning champions suffered a three-wicket loss to South Africa at the Bay Oval on Monday, with the Proteas chasing their target of 236 with four balls to spare.
“Obviously it’s a disappointing start we’ve had,” Jones said. “The mood has been pretty low at the end of games.
“But I think it’s been really good to support each other and come together as a group. We’ve definitely been able to bounce back before every game, so it won’t be any different for the game against India.”
One area where former England men’s captain Nasser Hussain has helped England is his fielding in all three of his matches.
Against South Africa, Laura Wolvaardt was given three life savers on her way to what turned out to be a match-winning 77.
Heather Knight’s side also took out Deandra Dottin during the previous loss against West Indies, among other mistakes, and Jones says it’s something they continue to address and talk about.
“We talked about that as a group, but also not wanting to put a lot of pressure on the first opportunity that came up in the next game,” Jones said. “We just talked about how we wanted to be really positive and support each other.
“We wanted to do the little things well; attack the ball, throw it into myself and get good energy, hoping to take chances. We know our skill level is good enough to take chances, and so it was unfortunate that we lost. some again [against South Africa].
“With games coming together so quickly, you have to look individually if there’s any quick learning you can do and in terms of the whole team.”
The rapid changes continue as England must now take the field against India. The must-win game takes place Wednesday morning live on Sky Sports World Cup from 00:30
India came into the meeting having won three of their last four ODI matches, including defeating West Indies by 155 runs in their last outing in the competition.
England head coach Lisa Keightley admitted “the money is on me” and insisted the team is working to get back into tournament contention.
“We haven’t really hit the nail on the head,” Keightley said. “We’ve played pretty well throughout the Ashes and taken a lot more chances than we have.
“The last two days we trained really well and the girls have gotten up and put in a lot of effort. We just don’t have the rewards in the games when it matters.”
“I’m really not sure, it’s something we’ll have to think about when we do the review after the World Cup.”
After three straight defeats, England know they need to win every game they have left and hope other results will follow their path as well. The top four teams in the standings after the group stage will participate in the semi-finals.
“As a coach I take on a huge responsibility,” Keightley said. “It’s up to me to lead the team and get the wins on the board, that’s the coach’s job and we’re working hard, the coaching staff and myself, to get the players up.
“We don’t have to do too much; the players are pretty gutted, and they were gutted after the last game and they wanted to bounce back and they couldn’t.
“But the responsibility and the money is on me and I’m happy to take that on, to move on. I don’t feel any more pressure than the players feel and I’m no more disappointed than the players.”
“We came to this World Cup to play better than we played and we didn’t play and it’s been frustrating, for me and the coaching staff, and frustrating for the players.
“Just for some reason we haven’t clicked and it’s very difficult for us to do so, but we’ll keep fighting and we’ll keep training hard in the middle and talking to the players, it will be great to bounce back.” and come out against India and put pressure on them.
Watch every Cricket Women’s World Cup match live on Sky Sports World Cup (Channel 404), with England v India live from 12.30am on Wednesday morning.
