England’s defeat in the third T20I against Bangladesh “hurt”, although coach Matthew Mott’s reflections on the series suggested results were perhaps not the primary concern.
Bangladesh completed a memorable whitewash of the world champions by winning by 16 runs in the final match on Tuesday.
Having beaten the home side in the prior ODI series, England’s 20-over team looked a little short, with injuries to Tom Abell and Will Jacks limiting their batting reserves.
Neither man was replaced in the T20I squad, meaning England played the series with only five dedicated batters.
Bangladesh capitalised, with Dawid Malan’s 53 and captain Jos Buttler’s 40 not enough as England attempted to chase down 159 in Dhaka.
Mott preferred to blame England’s fielding after the hosts set a tricky target, saying: “I thought our first 15 overs in the field were nowhere near the level we’d expect.
“We really wanted to finish well here. The lead-in was good, everyone was up and about, but for whatever reason, we just couldn’t get clean hands on the ball, either in the air or on the ground.
“We showed a bit of ticker at the back end, [but] they were still at least 15, 20 over par on that wicket.”
The coach added: “That one hurts today. To finish the way we did today will leave a bit of a sour taste in our mouths.”
Yet he defended the squad selection for this series, suggesting England would have learned from seeing how their small group performed in Bangladesh – even if that impacted negatively on results.
“If you look at how many players we’ve exposed this year alone, we’ve gone a fair way down the depth charts,” Mott said of England’s batting options.
“The realisation [was] that we’re probably better off investing in some batters that were put under pressure in these games.
“You only learn from your mistakes; the opportunities that they’ve been given here will give them time to reflect and when we get into pressure situations in World Cups.”
He added: “I’m confident it was the right decision.”
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