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England’s Twenty20 series loss to South Africa is a “line in the sand moment for the team” before October’s World Cup, says head coach Matthew Mott.
The hosts were thrashed by 90 runs in the third T20 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton to lose the series 2-1.
It is England’s third consecutive T20 series loss and rounds off a disappointing summer in which they have not won a white-ball series at home.
“We were down on confidence with bat and ball,” Mott told Sky Sports.
“It was disappointing. I thought we put ourselves in a good position to win the series and we’ll have take a lot out of that game.”
Former Australia women’s coach Mott was appointed in May, with Jos Buttler taking over as limited-overs captain from Eoin Morgan in June following the latter’s international retirement.
Mott added: “I’ve just spoken to Jos very briefly and this is a line in the sand moment for the team.”
England’s white-ball batting has uncharacteristically struggled this summer, with the hosts bowled out in four of their six T20s against India and South Africa.
They have just 10 games until the T20 World Cup starts in Australia, with a seven-match series in Pakistan in September followed by three matches against Australia.
Mott said the upcoming Hundred, which begins on Wednesday, will provide an opportunity for players to “get some confidence”.
“We’ll want to draw some experience from and use The Hundred really well to get that confidence so when we get ready for Pakistan and the World Cup we’re a bit of a different team,” he added.
After beating South Africa by 41 runs in the first T20, England were dismissed for 149 to lose the second match by 58 runs and were bowled out for just 101 in the decider.
Speaking to BBC Test Match Special, Mott said: “We came in with high hopes to try and win the series and we never really got going.
“They were a bit over par with the bat and clearly we just lost too many wickets to mount a challenge at the end. It ends up with a bit of a sour taste on the last day.”
England beat the Netherlands 3-0 away in June, including hitting a world record 498 in the first one-day international.
But they lost both the T20 and ODI series 2-1 to India, before drawing the ODI series against South Africa 1-1, meaning they have failed to win a white-ball series during a home summer for the first time since 2013.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle,” said Mott. “We’ve had ups and downs throughout the summer.
“We’ve played two great teams and come out second both times so we’re disappointed.”
England have played 12 white-ball games in the last 25 days, but Mott said he did not “want to make excuses” about the schedule.
“The quick turnarounds certainly haven’t helped but we’ve got to be better than that,” he added.
“As a group we have to acknowledge that we’re still professional cricketers and you have to go out and front up and that performance was not what we want to be renowned for.”
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