England Women’s stand-in captain Tammy Beaumont has expressed hope that her team can bounce back in the third T20I against India, scheduled for 4 July at The Oval. After back-to-back defeats, England trail the three-match series 0-2 and are desperate to avoid a whitewash at home.
“It’s not the ideal circumstances, being 2-0 down, and with our captain and best batter out of the team. But the worst thing we could do right now is panic. We certainly believe we can come back and win, and we’ll come out fighting,” Beaumont said.
Beaumont took over the captaincy duties after regular skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt suffered a groin injury following her participation in the second T20I. Sciver-Brunt’s availability for the third match remains uncertain pending further tests. England are already without Heather Knight, another key batter and former captain, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury.
With 64 runs under her belt in the series so far, Beaumont is expected to lead from the front in a must-win game.
“Nat and Charlotte haven’t been in for long” – Beaumont
Reflecting on the bigger picture, Beaumont said the England team need to use these high-pressure moments to grow, especially given their past shortcomings in major tournaments.
“We keep talking about how we’ve wanted more challenge for a long time. We are well aware of the fact our results in world tournaments or big series like the Ashes haven’t been what we want for a number of years. That won’t improve until we are pushed more in bilateral series, learning from that pressure and getting better each time. It’s happened quite early on and it may have come as a bit of a shock,” she added.
Despite the injury setbacks and early losses, Beaumont is focused on building momentum and addressing the gaps.
“Nat and Charlotte haven’t been in for long, but we want to tackle it head on and not shy away from those issues and hopefully create some momentum to turn that record around,” she concluded.
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