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Edwards vows to 'upskill' England women for Ashes after India defeat / Photo: Sajjad Hussain - AFP/File
Edwards vows to 'upskill' England women for Ashes after India defeat
England head coach Charlotte Edwards made no attempt to hide her frustration after witnessing her side suffered a 270-run thrashing in the inaugural women's Test at Lord's on Monday.
But the former England captain has promised to "upskill" the team for next year's multi-format Ashes at home to arch-rivals Australia, where the lone Test match is set to carry four points for a win.
England were comprehensively outplayed by India in a match that started just five days after their agonising T20 World Cup final loss to the Australians at Lord's.
Set a record-breaking 457 to win the first women's Test staged at the 'Home of Cricket, England were dismissed for just 186, with India requiring just 95 minutes' play on Monday's fourth and final day to complete a dominant display.
England were arguably fortunate the match was not over sooner after collapsing to 59-5 on Sunday.
While fifties from Amy Jones and Sophie Ecclestone kept India at bay, the result was rarely in doubt.
The match was a personal triumph for India's Kranti Gaud and Yastika Bhatia, the first women to take five wickets and score a century respectively in a women's Test at Lord's.
Gaud took a superb 5-37 in England's first-innings 170 and wicket-keeper Bhatia's 113 -- her first century in any international format -- was the cornerstone of India's impressive second-innings 341-7 declared.
"This is a format I don't think our players are exposed to," said Edwards, with England's women lacking a domestic red-ball competition in which to hone the skills required for multi-day cricket.
"They (India) play a lot of domestic three or four-day cricket and that absolutely has an impact. Our players aren't exposed to it and that is something we need to upskill them in."
The 46-year-old added: "That is my job. We have a massive Ashes Test in 12 months time that we have to be ready for and better prepared for. You know the focus this summer was the T20 World Cup and it had to be.
"I don't want to let this overshadow the great progress this team has made, but equally it has highlighted to me that we have to improve in other areas."
T.Cusumano--INP
