Knight and co ready for Australia challenge
9 July 2017
With things set to heat up on and off the field and World Cup semi-final qualification potentially on the horizon, it will be all to play for in England Women's big-stage clash against Australia at Bristol.
Sunday is set to be a big match for both teams and everything’s aligning to crank up the heat – literally. With a forecast that can only adequately be described as scorchio, and a weekend game in a city that’s already shown its appetite for the women’s game, there could be a bumper and slightly burnt crowd. The British and Irish Lions have finished their honours-even exploits in New Zealand and Wimbledon will be taking a Sunday breather so all eyes should be on Bristol. Whichever side can deal with that the best may turn out to be the winners.
At the halfway point of England’s match against South Africa, with records tumbling, they would have had some broad smiles. It would have been hard to not feel ever so slightly like the gloss had been taken off after South Africa’s enterprising reply. On a good wicket with a fast outfield, and against good opposition, England’s bowlers should not have been too disheartened but either way they’ll be raring to come back and make a point at Bristol.
Australia’s captain Meg Lanning will be on English minds. She’s a quality player – arguably the No.1 player in the world – but she’s been hampered by a shoulder injury for quite some time. While it’s true to say that very few cricketers, if any, are ever playing without a niggle of some sort, Lanning’s shoulder kept her out of Australia’s last game against Pakistan. That may very well have been a move to ensure she could play tomorrow, but the decision to hand the captaincy over to Rachael Haynes led to some journalists wondering whether it was a longer-term move. All will be revealed at the toss tomorrow.
If she’s selected for the Australia game Dani Hazell will bring up her 50, in terms of the number of times she has been capped by her country. Her debut came back in 2009 against the West Indies and the fiery off-spinner has given everything to her side’s cause since that day. Renowned as a loud and passionate appealer, Hazell was on the wrong end of a buccaneering half-century from Chloe Tryon in Wednesday’s game – she’ll be relishing the big stage of a clash against the Aussies.
When you consider the progress of England’s batting line-up, everything is falling into place. Before the tournament, Fran Wilson’s stats didn’t match her obvious talent. She rectified that in England’s first game. Nat Sciver and Heather Knight – two huge players for England – were yet to score ODI hundreds. They have now. Then there was Sarah Taylor and her return to the game – she barely looks she’s been away. And then Tammy Beaumont, hitting them well without reward in the opening three games, 148 and a host of records in the fourth. There’s just a big day for Lauren Winfield – back in the side after recovering from a wrist injury – to tick off for England and you don’t imagine that’s too far away.
With four of the seven group games now completed those glances towards the group-stage table are becoming more frequent. While the maths is more complex one more win for either side should be enough to begin contemplating life in the semi-finals but then comes the question of where in the top four you finish. With different places meaning different semi-final opposition and also different levels of travel and preparation time there will be plenty to play for. Both sides will be tryng hard to focus solely on the task in hand and not get too far ahead in their thinking, but onlookers will be starting to do some semi-final maths. There’s a lot to be decided.
