England v India: Series defeat gives hosts ‘wake-up call’ with T20 World Cup a year away

Discussions surrounding England’s inability to play spin are beginning to sound like a broken record.

Without a doubt, however, it is their most pressing concern.

In 2022, England averaged 42.3 against spin in T20s, losing 25 wickets.

The following year, they lost 46 wickets at an average of 18, and so far in 2025 they have lost 41 at 19.9.

Their gameplan against slow bowling seems muddled, torn between attack and defence with batters regularly trapped on the crease or caught from attempted aggression.

And while the approaching World Cup is in the longer format of the game, England’s opponents will have their bowling strategies in place already, such is the predictability of their weakness.

Edwards has also accepted England’s huge need for improvement in the field, where they have been poor against India, with regular misfields and four dropped catches in the last five overs alone in the third encounter at The Oval.

“It’s a mindset thing under pressure, but it’s an area we work really, really hard on,” said Edwards.

“We are not going to hide away from that.”

India’s fielding improvement, meanwhile, has been astronomical. They have charged in from the boundary to stop twos, regularly hauled the ball in from the ropes after covering masses of ground, and completed some staggering catches.

At Edgbaston, this was epitomised by Em Arlott and Sophie Ecclestone backing out of catches on the boundary, letting the ball bounce in front of them and saving the runs instead.

Radha Yadav, meanwhile, sprinted and dived full-stretch to dismiss Amy Jones in spectacular fashion even when the game was pretty much in England’s hands.

Edwards and many players have cited India’s huge improvement, largely a result of the Women’s Premier League, which has been in existence for three years, and they regularly play in front of packed crowds where every game matters.

But The Hundred is not too dissimilar for England, and they cannot use the excuse of not being under pressure enough when, for example, this does not seem to be an issue for Australia in international cricket. They are relentless, whoever they play, and India are following a similar trajectory.

This scrutiny will not go away for England until they have a trophy or an Ashes series in the bag.

And on that basis, yes – they will be judged come next July.