This video can not be played Australia thump England to regain the T20 World Cup title Good things do not always come in threes, and Lord's did not follow Wembley and Twickenham in hosting landmark moments of recent English sporting history.

This tournament was billed as England's cricketers chance to follow the success of the Lionesses and Red Roses. They got to the final but faltered at the last. While defeat by Australia – a great sporting team hungry after missing out at two World Cups – is not surprising, the concern sits in the nature and the margin of England's seven-wicket defeat.

One-paced with the bat and loose with the ball, England put in their worst performance of the tournament at the worst possible time. England said they had to be perfect to beat Australia. In the end, they were anything but. It means, with another Ashes series a year away, coach Charlotte Edwards stands in a similar place to another former captain.

Before leading England into the 2005 Ashes, captain Michael Vaughan decided he needed a clean slate to take on Australia because of the baggage carried from previous defeats. This is Edwards' Vaughan moment. With an Ashes series to come next summer, was this part of a side's development as they recover and build from last year's 16-0 Ashes defeat? Or was it something like what Vaughan believed he inherited, which would be far more problematic?

Edwards said she is "excited" to work with this squad for the next 12 months "to see where we can take them" but, pushed further, stopped short of ruling out an overhaul of personnel. "We need to have a look at the team," Edwards said. "We obviously stuck with a lot of our older players for this tournament and they have rewarded us well. That is something for the end of the summer to have a look at with a big 12 months ahead."

And despite the one-sided scoreline, England have made significant progress during this tournament. This is largely the same side that went out of the T20 World Cup in the group stage 20 months ago and one that suffered that embarrassing Ashes clean sweep. Even at last year's 50-over World Cup they stumbled through the group stage before their semi-final exit. This was a far more impressive run.

Edwards do Australia have mental edge over England? Ecclestone (left) and Dean (right) have proved their worth but there are question marks hanging over other squad members Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson have added genuine firepower to the middle order, Alice Capsey has grown from young prodigy to established batter and Sophie Ecclestone has looked closer to her best than in recent years.

Doubts around the team's fielding and fitness have been put aside, Heather Knight has shown, aged 35, her career is not as near its end as some feared and captain Nat Sciver-Brunt's form was unharmed by two weeks out with a calf injury.

More broadly, Edwards and the England set-up, which will soon be overhauled after the impending departures of director of women's cricket Clare Connor and performance director Jonathan Finch, can take heart in the development of leaders in the squad.

When Sciver-Brunt was appointed captain last year, she appeared the only option. That is no longer the case. Vice-captain Charlie Dean stepped up admirably when Sciver-Brunt tore her calf and, while 33-year-old Sciver-Brunt is only two summers into her reign, looks an able replacement whenever the time comes.

England have been clever, too. When Dean and Sciver-Brunt left the intra-squad camp in South Africa this year, Dani Gibson was given the chance to fill in as captain. Gibson had never previously completed a captain's TV toss interview so, with Sky Sports on location, the match was given the full treatment. The 25-year-old will captain Sunrisers Leeds in The Hundred this year. Some believe she has what it takes to lead one day.

Jones failed to pass 10 in five of her seven innings at the Women's T20 World Cup But all is not rosy and the pain of defeat was evident when Edwards spoke post-match. After a run of five single-figure scores in seven matches at this World Cup, the time has come for England to find a successor to wicketkeeper Amy Jones. The 33-year-old's glovework has rarely been in doubt but she has two centuries in 260 matches and was unable to deliver in a free role at the top of the order here.

Pressure on her place would have come sooner but for a scarcity of options, with Surrey's Kira Chathli, 26, or Lancashire's Ellie Threlkeld, 27, the next in line without building a compelling case. The bold move would be to invest in Capsey, who was England's back-up keeper here and is highly regarded for her skills but has not kept regularly since Under-17 cricket. That would allow the immensely talented Davina Perrin to come in as opener alongside Danni Wyatt-Hodge - this tournament's leading run-scorer aged 35.

Eighteen-year-old Tilly Corteen-Coleman, part of this squad but not picked, should now also be given a run. By reaching this final England repositioned themselves as the second best team in the world behind Australia. That was once a given but was no longer the case after three underwhelming World Cups since their previous final in 2022.

Rather ominously, in her news conference, Australia captain Sophie Molineux said her side has not "reached any ceiling". Praised for being a "people person" by all-rounder Ellyse Perry and, shown by her lycra-wearing aerobics instructor alter-ego, external, more relaxed than her predecessors Meg Lanning or Alyssa Healy, it may be that Molineux is the perfect captain for this experienced group in green and gold.

If so, that would add even more difficulty to the challenge awaiting Edwards. She believes her side has won back the support of the English public after the fierce fallout from the Ashes defeat. She has also dragged England back into the conversation at these world events. Edwards's coach has many of the components needed but her third challenge, catching and overhauling Australia by next summer, is the most difficult of all.

Charlotte Edwards was appointed England head coach in April 2025.