But, we have seen this one before.
England enjoyed a brilliant home summer against New Zealand and Pakistan where they went unbeaten, but very rarely were they challenged. In the subsequent T20 World Cup in the autumn, they crumbled in their final group-stage match against West Indies and crashed out of the tournament.
Following that disappointment, they responded well by thrashing South Africa away from home in all three formats in November and December, but once the pressure was applied in a must-win situation in the heat of an Ashes cauldron, it was the same old story.
Of course, the defeat is not Jones’ or Bell’s fault or the fact that England are 4-0 down and facing an enormous uphill climb.
Australia are an incredible side packed with world-class talent and Alana King, Ash Gardner and Kim Garth all produced fantastic spells of disciplined bowling to keep England under the pump all the way through their pursuit of 180.
And the pitch erred on the side of “bowler-friendly”. But even when taking all of that into consideration, it was a game that England lost as opposed to Australia winning. They may not be afforded a better chance to get themselves back in the contest.
Jones battled for 103 balls and should get credit for taking the game as deep as she did when the wickets fell around her, but that does not take away from the fact that, as the senior batter, the mismanagement of the situation when batting with the tail was extremely costly.
Even before the free hit misjudgement, twice she turned down singles from the fifth ball of an over and then could not keep the strike from the sixth. Gardner’s 46th over was blocked out by Bell, and as a result the run-rate spiralled way above a run-a-ball and Jones was backed into a corner to play her shots with more risk than necessary.
The tempo of the chase was curious throughout, too, particularly from a side whose leader and coach are constantly telling us how they aspire to entertain, to play a positive brand of cricket and put pressure back on the opposition.
England faced 289 balls out of their 300 available, and 206 of them were dot balls.
When considering moments where the game was lost, that is a pretty damning indicator.
