Now we are fighting for pride

On Sunday we were all up and raring to take on the Aussies in our third match. I won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that we thought would break up. It didn’t start too well for us with Caroline Atkins pulling a quad muscle in the first over. A good bowling attack reduced us to 37 for 4, but a great innings from Claire Taylor of 113 off 115 balls guided us to a respectable 216.

We started well after the break with an early wicket, but the Australians’ powerful hitting took them to the target in 40 overs, earning them the first bonus point of the competition. This was our worst performance of the tour to date and we knew we’d need to improve if we want to have any chance of making the final.

That night we had the only official function of the tour at the Australian and New Zealand hotel. They’d done it up really nicely and to greet us was a collage of all four country flags made out of flowers. We then went up to the room where we all had dots put on our head as we were welcomed in.

It was great to catch up with all the players and management from the other squads and have a bit of a dance to some proper Indian music.

On Monday we had a day off from everything – no training, no media, no nothing – so it was a chance for all the players to rest and recover from a hard week. It was the first opportunity for me to spend any proper time by the pool in the sun, so I made the most of it. In the afternoon we all made the decision to go to the cinema to watch “Music and Lyrics” with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. It started with quite a scary tuk-tuk ride, which, after some severe bartering we managed to get down to 50 rupees.

We arrived at a really plush cinema with leather seats and loads of leg room and got stuck into the chocolate and sprite on offer. It was a hilarious movie, made funnier by the Indian audience cheering and wolf-whistling Drew Barrymore at every opportunity. It was great to get out and do something completely detached from cricket and I’d recommend the film to anyone.

On Tuesday we resumed training and had a light session at the main stadium. It was a positive session and we all came away from it really up for the game against India. Another massage (back this time) made the afternoon go a little bit quicker for us all and after some naan bread with peanut butter and jam for dinner, we all headed to bed for an early night.

It was another early start for us today to get to the ground with plenty of time for warm-ups. I lost my first toss of the tour and we were put into bat on quite a greenish pitch. Again, an early batting collapse meant we were 37 for 4 and needing consolidation. A maiden international half-century for Lydia Greenway allowed us to reach 143 after our terrible start. She was well-supported along the way by debutante Lynsey Askew who hit 24. Although we gave a really good team effort in the field, 143 was never enough and India reached the target in the 39th over.

That leaves us bottom of the table with no wins under our belt and no chance of making the final on Monday. We play Australia tomorrow and I’m sure with the talent we’ve got we can pull ourselves out of the rut we’ve got ourselves into. We’re playing for a lot of pride now and I know the girls are determined to get back to winning ways.