Bates remains upbeat despite defeats

Claire Taylor's century against Australia has been a rare bright spot for England © GNNphoto

England women's head coach, Richard Bates, is upbeat despite his side's position at the bottom of the table in the quadrangular series in Chennai after losing three out of three. England have been beaten by Australia, India and New Zealand during the opening week of the event, leaving them struggling to make the final.

"We're obviously very disappointed with the results so far especially considering we were in a winning position in the first two games," said Bates. "In terms of our bowling, we have struggled to contain the opposition as much as we would like. We are certainly missing our two main strike bowlers, Katherine Brunt and Nicky Shaw who are both injured.

"Coupled with the fact that Laura Marsh is currently suffering with a thigh strain, we have been lacking the fire-power needed at the start of the innings and again at the death. We have therefore struggled to pick up wickets at key times, which is essential against these sides."

England lost the first match against India by 18 runs short after being set a total of 232 and their second against New Zealand who hit a massive 291. "We batted pretty well in the first two games," Bates continued "But the reality is that we let India get 230 rather than 200 and New Zealand 290 rather than 250. We chased well in both games and managed to put ourselves into winning positions but then faltered in the later stages, which is frustrating."

England have three games remaining, which they must win if they have any chance of making the final at Mac A stadium on March 5. "We have a young and talented squad, which is continually improving and it is tournaments like this that accelerates their development," said Bates. "We have an opportunity in the next three games to come out fighting and to battle to reverse the three results so far. As you can imagine the squad is a bit low on confidence at this point, but good teams bounce back and that is what we must do."

Bates believes that this experience will help the side as part of the planning for the 2009 World Cup. "I'm confident we can go out there and win our remaining three games and I have every faith in this young group of players. It's a great opportunity for us to prove ourselves and it's a good time to see where we stand in relation to the other countries."

England will train on Tuesday and then go into back-to-back ODIs against India and Australia.