𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Nat Sciver-Brunt stressed it is “not the end” for England after they slipped to a second T20 defeat against India with a 24-run loss in Bristol.

On Saturday, England were beaten by 97 runs in the opening contest of a five-match series and Tuesday’s clash saw Jemimah Rodrigues and Amanjot Kaur star with the bat for the visitors, scoring brilliant half-centuries.

They put on a 93-run fourth-wicket partnership before Rodrigues was dismissed and Kaur continued to shine, posting a valuable 57-run stand with Richa Ghosh at the death to set England a target of 182.

Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Sciver-Brunt all fell inside the first four overs of England’s response before Tammy Beaumont led the rebuild with 54, but the hosts tumbled to their second loss of the series.

The third T20 takes place on Friday at the Oval, with England needing a win to avoid a series defeat.

When asked what she will be talking about in the coming days, Sciver-Brunt said at the post-match presentation: “That it’s not the end, we can really fight back and come back with some fresh ideas, but also be a bit more clinical in the ones we do want to execute. Try and take some confidence from this game.”

England opted to field first and had started well to reduce the visitors to 31 for three, but Rodrigues and Kaur spearheaded India’s comeback, both scoring 63 along with 32 from Ghosh to post 181 for four.

After losing three early wickets, Beaumont and Amy Jones put on a 70-run partnership before Beaumont was run out and Shree Charani took two wickets in the same over as Alice Capsey and Jones both fell before Sophie Ecclestone added a stubborn 35 in the final overs.

Reflecting on the game, Sciver-Brunt added: “I thought we started off in the powerplay really well, three wickets where I suppose we didn’t take as many wickets in the first game.

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“Every bowler that came on was really focused on that, which is part of our strategy, then they got a big partnership together which we probably didn’t adapt to as quickly as we’d like.

“Some positives out of it, Lauren Bell bowled a brilliant four overs. I guess everyone really stuck to the task and really tried to grind it out, so the effort was certainly there.”

England named an unchanged line-up and Sciver-Brunt backed her players, adding that she believes they needed another partnership to form in the game.

“We have full confidence in our players. We select the batters that we feel are in form and we’ll see how it goes,” she said.

“We needed some partnerships, Tammy and Amy showed us the way with that, we just probably needed another one on top of that.”

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur hailed a solid victory for her side, adding: “It was a good win for us. The way the entire team performed today, it is something special to see.”