England can now focus on the future

The English team's head coach John Harmer, who guided Australian women to the World Cup prior to accepting the England appointment, said he wasn't "viewing this tour as a disastrous outing."

He added: "This visit provides there girls the best learning stage in the world. They're learning to adapt to different food and weather conditions, overcome travel-linked weariness and experience a varied form of cricketing environment.

"England needs to look for players who have the physical and mental ability to play at this level. I didn't want to go through this transitional phase, but that's how things have happened."

Harmer said he brought the Australian youth team to India in 1994.

"It was a fantastic experience for them. Seven of those players are still representing Australia. It was a tour of India which got them up there. These English girls can also develop from here in a big way.

"The players have certainly gained a great deal and learnt to adapt to different conditions. It will produce the desired results in future."

Harmer said despite being trounced by India in three consecutive one-dayers, there were several visible gains.

"The bowlers have learnt to bowl tightly and coped with a different form of pressure - something they were not so accustomed back home. For the spinners there's no other place where they could learn more.

In Madras, England were a distant second

"Adjusting to these vastly different conditions isn't always easy. We'll need to see how much they've absorbed from the Indian experience.

"Some of the youngsters in our team barely had any experience of cricket at international level. And the Indians came along differently from the international teams these girls might have viewed touring England."

The batsmen have gradually grown more confident on India's low-bounce tracks, he went on.

"They're playing spin better than at the start of the tour , though it could be a great deal better," he said. "They've had to learn a lot about pitches where the ball keeps low and skids through.

"The girls have now learnt a valuable lesson and are inclined to go forward on such pitches. We've paid a heavy price while the girls absorbed these lessons in the course of the three one-dayers.

But he said the batsmen weren't positive enough.

"A more positive approach and eagerness to do well can make a lot of difference in this team's performance," he said.

"We've not batted well at all. We've not batted long enough, not positively enough and didn't show any commitment," he said.

We now hope to compete well in the Test and make a fight of the remaining two one-dayers

Clare Connor