"England Must Come Out Fighting" - Richard Bates

England Women's head coach, Richard Bates, is upbeat despite his side's position at the bottom 
of the table in the ICC Quadrangular Series after losing three out of three.

"We're obviously very disappointed with the results so far especially considering we were in a 
winning position in the first two games." he said.

"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 their first ODI against India, coming just 18 runs short after being set a total of 232 and 
their second against New Zealand who hit a massive 291. England chased well, but despite their 
valiant effort, they were all out for 272.

"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.

Bates added: "At the half way stage in this competition it is time for us all to reflect as a unit. We 
have done plenty of talking both as a group and in one-to-ones about how to improve game on 
game, but now we need to turn that into action.

"We have a young and talented squad, which is continually improving and it is tournaments like 
this that accelerates their development. 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.

"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 ahead of the 2009 World Cup."

England will train tomorrow and then go into back-to-back ODIs against India and Australia which 
they must win to have any chance of playing in the final.