EDGBASTON: England head coach Chris Silverwood has admitted the hosts were "obviously not good enough" on day three of the second Test against New Zealand on Saturday.
England crumbled on day three before taking a slender lead of 37 runs before the end of the play. The hosts ended the day at 122/9 after losing seven wickets in the final session of the day.
Silverwood conceded England "need to improve" and the young guns would be "disappointed" to not grab the opportunity.
"It's obviously not good enough. We need to improve, there's no doubt about that. There are things to work on without a shadow of a doubt. No-one is going to hide from that or deny it," ESPNcricinfo quoted Silverwood
"I'm not going to lie: I thought it was a great opportunity for some of the younger lads to come in and stamp their mark on the game. I'm sure one or two will be disappointed they haven't been able to do that.
"When do we stop talking and start delivering? I think we need to start seeing starts turned into big scores now. That's one thing we're looking for: people pushing on and being greedy when they get in," he added.
Silverwood feels a "young" side will be back in form one Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes return to the set-up.
"We have got a very young batting line-up with limited experience. Joe Root is the one guy you would say has a heap of experience in that top seven," said Silverwood.
"Getting the experience of Buttler and Stokes back will help the young players, as well. We've seen in the past that, if you put the inexperienced players in between the experienced ones, it helps them learn. That's what I'm hoping will happen in the India series," he added.
Resuming their innings from 229/3, New Zealand took the scorecard to 312/5 in the first session on Saturday. England picked up two wickets in the morning session but New Zealand managed to take the lead by 23 runs.
In the second session, New Zealand was folded for 388 but the visitors took a handy first-innings lead of 85 runs. Moreover, England lost two quick wickets before the Tea as Henry removed both openers.
In the final session, England crumbled in front of New Zealand bowlers as they lost seven wickets to serve a probable win for New Zealand on Sunday. England is currently leading by 37 runs but they have only one wicket in hand.