Charlotte Edwards says the England job is ‘not a quick fix’ after World Cup exit

If we look at the scorecard only, we will find that England suffered a crushing defeat against South Africa.

They were forced to rue their choice to bowl, with the Proteas, led by Laura Wolfhardt’s impressive 169, accumulating 319-7.

It left England needing the highest successful run chase in a women’s ODI – and the second highest in World Cup history after Australia’s 331 against India – to reach the final.

Instead, they collapsed to 1-3 inside seven balls and were bowled out for 194 with 45 balls remaining.

However, Alex Hartley, former England player and 2017 World Cup winner, said Edwards’ side did not make too many mistakes in Guwahati.

They were simply ‘outmatched’ by South Africa and were punished for a costly last 10 overs with the ball – during which the Proteas smashed 117 runs – before England’s top order collapsed.

Hartley told the BBC: “I’m not going to go out and pick the team. I don’t think England got much wrong.”

“When comparing the scores at mid-innings of both innings, England were pretty much the same, only England lost more wickets.

“I don’t think they made a big mistake. They didn’t drop a lot of catches, they didn’t have a lot of fouls, they didn’t throw a lot of wide balls or a lot of jump balls.”

“What they could have done was gone to a wide plan early, especially with Laura Wolfhardt, and tried to get her to change her game, rather than leaning on her leg stump. [so] She was able to hit the leg side.

“Coming out of the World Cup and being outclassed, sometimes you have to put your hands up and say we weren’t good enough.”