Captain Heather Knight says it is “not panic stations” for England after they lost their Women’s T20 World Cup opener to South Africa.
South Africa chased down 124 with two balls remaining to claim a six-wicket win in Perth.
The result means England may have to win all of their remaining group games to qualify for the knockout stages.
“We’ve got to park it and move on quickly,” Knight told BBC Test Match Special.
England now travel to Canberra for their second game of the tournament against Thailand on Wednesday.
“We fought really hard but it didn’t quite come off for us,” Knight said. “It was quite a tight game, so that will take a lot out of us.”
Asked to bat first under the Waca lights, England could only muster 123-8 from their 20 overs. Natalie Sciver top-scored with 50 but England always looked short of a competitive total.
“It’s not panic stations – far from it,” Knight said. “It could easily have gone the other way and we know that we’ve got a lot more to give.
“There are a lot of teams that can win this World Cup. Every team has match-winners.”
England have experimented with their batting line-up during their time in Australia.
Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield – who opened the batting at the 2017 World Cup – now bat at seven and eight, while Amy Jones and Danni Wyatt have struggled to create a consistent opening partnership.
Beaumont, who has an international T20 century, faced just six balls in the final few overs and was starved of the strike.
“England don’t look to be firing,” 2017 World Cup winner Alex Hartley told TMS. “It looks like England are playing too safe and not playing their natural games.”
They will probably now need to beat Thailand, West Indies and Pakistan to be sure of a place in the semi-finals.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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