England's Commonwealth Games defeat has no bearing on India series, says Alice Capsey

Capsey is one of several youngsters to have stepped onto the international stage with England since the World Cup final in April

Alice Capsey has insisted that England's defeat against India in the Commonwealth Games is an irrelevance ahead of the upcoming series between the two countries.

England were narrowly beaten in the semi-finals at Edgbaston by Harmanpreet Kaur's side, before losing heavily in the subsequent bronze-medal match against New Zealand.

Since then, however, England's players have split up after a busy first half of the international summer, with The Hundred instead taking place over the last month.

"It's a fresh start and a new series – it's all to play for really," said Capsey, looking ahead to the first of three T20Is. "We've all left the environment and we've all joined back up. We're really excited for a new challenge. That's been and gone now, so we can't hold onto that loss and disappointment."

Earlier this month, she won her second successive Hundred title with Oval Invincibles, playing a key role with bat and ball in the competition that made a star of her in 2021 and laid the foundations for her England debut earlier this season against South Africa.

"Last year, no one really knew who I was," she said, reflecting on how her world has changed in the intervening 12 months. "So, coming into this year I noticed a bit of planning around how to get me out and how to face me. It's part of the challenge of coming into professional cricket and playing in those tournaments.

^{Alice Capsey insisted that England are over their Commonwealth Games disappointment (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

"It was a challenge for me to adapt my game a little bit, but it didn't really change how I went about my cricket, which was nice."

She is one of several youngsters to have stepped onto the international stage with England since the World Cup final in April. Issy Wong, Lauren Bell and Freya Kemp have also been named in the squad for the upcoming T20Is, having all impressed against South Africa in June and July.

Plenty has happened since then, with Heather Knight's hip-joint problem ruling her out for the rest of the season, Katherine Brunt missing this series to rest her body, Nat Sciver stepping away from the game to focus on her mental wellbeing and Lisa Keightley announcing that she will step down as head coach at the end of the India series.

"She is the head coach who gave me my first call-up and T20 debut – she's quite a memorable coach in my career so far," said Capsey of Keightley's impact.

She put a return to her best – after a slow start to the season – down to "looking after form", which she described as her biggest learning of 2022, having initially struggled with South East Stars. "Form is such a precious thing," said Capsey. "I guess the turning point was getting picked for the South Africa series. It's the most important thing as a batter."

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