Badminton ace Ben Lane tasted defeat on day two at the YONEX All England Open but is taking the positives from a week of clear progression.

The 21-year-old Devon shuttler wowed the crowds by making it to the second round of badminton’s most prestigious tournament alongside partner Jess Pugh, but fell to defeat to experienced English pair Chris and Gabby Adcock.

Pugh and Lane have long been thought of as the successors to the No.1 English pairing and started like a house on fire to win the first game, until the Adcocks turned things round to win 15-21 21-15 21-15.

“We play each other every day so we know each other so well,” said Lane after the defeat. “We started off really well in the first game, winning the first set and they sort of changed what they were doing in the second and third and managed to get on attack more.

“Credit to them, they played great second and third games.”

Lane and Pugh made real strides in the first round, comfortably beating Marvin Seidel and Linda Efler 21-13 21-16, with the German pair having beaten the youngsters twice last year.

The two 21-year-olds didn’t make it to the main draw at YONEX All England in 2017 and lost in the first round last year so are progressing well, amid an atmosphere of optimism within mixed doubles owing to the all-English tie and the form of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, who are also competing in the second round.

Lane added: “It’s really positive for English badminton, especially in the mixed doubles.

“There’s some great pairs in England at the moment playing mixed, to have three pairs going through the first round here and we obviously have a pair in the quarter-finals now and that could be two, it’s great.”

The 2019 YONEX All England – Badminton’s Greatest Show on the sport’s world tour – will wow fans at Arena Birmingham, 6-10 March. For tickets and information: www.allenglandbadminton.com or search All England tickets.