When Does England Play Again in the Womens World Cup
England captain Heather Knight praised her side'south "character and skill" later on the defending champions eased their fashion into the Globe Cup semi-finals with a 100-run win against People's republic of bangladesh. The win is England'south fourth on the trot – a remarkable run of class that has allowed them to atone for their iii early losses in the tournament after being on the brink of elimination a fortnight ago.
"It shows a lot nigh this group, the manner nosotros've turned things around," Knight said. "I would have bitten your paw off a couple of weeks ago to exist in this position."
England's win came thanks to Sophia Dunkley's 67 from 72 assurance and 3 wickets apiece for spinners Sophie Ecclestone (three for fifteen) and Charlie Dean (iii for 31). Crucially, the victory also took England to third in the table, meaning they volition avoid Australia in the last four. Instead, England will play their semi-final against Due south Africa on Thursday in Christchurch. It will exist a repeat of their knockout run across in 2017, in which England scraped home by two wickets with just two balls remaining.
Elsewhere, there was heartbreak for Republic of india, who had their ain semi-final berth cruelly snatched away from them at the 11th hour as they lost a final-brawl thriller to Due south Africa. It means that, improbably, W Indies – captured on video at their hotel dancing and screaming with joy later on South Africa scored the winning runs – progress at Republic of india's expense, and will play the first semi-final confronting Commonwealth of australia in Wellington on Tuesday.
The Bharat v South Africa result typified the competitive nature of this World Cup. Chasing 275, South Africa had got within touching distance cheers to Laura Wolvaardt'south 80 from 79 assurance, but still needed three runs off the final two deliveries when Mignon du Preez (52) was caught at long-on. But the umpire adjusted that bowler, Deepti Sharma, had overstepped, and Du Preez returned to hit the winning run through midwicket.
Before in the mean solar day, after choosing to bat first confronting People's republic of bangladesh and subsiding to 96 for iv, English nerves would have been jangling, but a cool-headed innings from Dunkley allowed them to gear up Bangladesh a target of 235, which proved well out of reach. Dunkley had said pre-tournament that she wanted to "play fearlessly"; this innings, filled with glorious lofted drives for 4, lived upwardly to that intent.
In answer, People's republic of bangladesh'southward run hunt never gained much impetus, with just 23 runs put on the lath in the 10-over powerplay. Then, after Ecclestone picked upwardly scalps in successive overs, make clean-bowling Sharmin Akhter and having Shamima Sultana caught at mid-off, wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals. Dean added a farther three to take her tournament tally to 10, despite having played but four of England's seven matches, while Freya Davies, brought in for her first World Cup friction match later Anya Shrubsole was rested, also got in on the act, holding two sharp catches and wrapping up proceedings in the 48th over with the wicket of Ritu Moni.
Though Knight said afterwards that England would be happy to play "whoever we become given", she conceded that she had kept "ane centre on cyberspace run rate" during the lucifer. As it transpired, any such calculations were moot after India stumbled at the final hurdle, with England already a point clear of Due west Indies in the tabular array.
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The turnaround in England'due south fortunes has been dramatic. Two weeks ago, afterward a third consecutive loss in as many tournament matches, double-decker Lisa Keightley looked on the verge of resigning on the spot as she faced downwards the media. "As the coach, I take a huge corporeality of responsibility. It's upward to me to bulldoze the squad and get the wins on the lath," she said. "We'll proceed fighting."
And fight England take. It has been molar-and-boom scrapping that has kept them in contention, with their one-wicket stagger confronting New Zealand a week agone ultimately proving crucial in allowing them to progress. "All the girls are really proud of ourselves," Dunkley said. "We manifestly didn't play our all-time cricket in the first three games. We knew nosotros could come out and put on better performances. Nosotros had a lot of belief in the group and a lot of positivity to get united states through."
Some will say England are peaking at the right time. Others might question whether this is a position England should ever have institute themselves in in the outset place, given the resources at their disposal compared with other teams in this Globe Cup. It says a lot that reaching the semi-finals is beingness historic by the players with relief, when pre-tournament information technology was the minimum expected of the defending champions.
The postmortems, though, can wait. For now, in that location is a semi-final against South Africa to set up for, a team who defeated England by three wickets before in this tournament. With Katherine Brunt also absent from the field for two-thirds of the Bangladesh run chase due to a "tight back", Knight will be hoping the new-ball pair of Brunt and Shrubsole tin can regain their mojo for Thursday's crucial come across, and elevation off the nearly dramatic pirouette in World Cup history.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/mar/27/england-ease-past-bangladesh-to-book-womens-world-cup-semi-finals-berth
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