England celebrate beating South Africa to reach the Women’s Cricket World Cup final in Christchurch
(Picture: Getty Images)A title defence that once felt doomed lives on: England have booked their place in Sunday’s Women’s Cricket World Cup final with a thumping 137-run win over South Africa.
It was all rather different from these two teams’ meeting in the semi-final of the last edition of this tournament, at Bristol in 2017. Then, England crept over the line in agonising fashion. This time, it rarely felt in doubt.
Their opponents in Christchurch, inevitably, are the dominant Australians, the world’s best team, who have skipped through the tournament unbeaten.
England’s journey has been rather different. They lost their first three matches, all narrowly, to Australia, West Indies, and South Africa, leaving them with little choice but to win the rest. Despite getting home with just one wicket in hand against New Zealand, it has been so far, so good.
This has been a thrilling tournament, but no team has ridden the wave quite like England. They are the first team to make a women’s World Cup final having lost two games, let alone three.
The semi-final win was one of their best, with captain Heather Knight hailing a “complete performance, the one we have been searching for”.
Opener Danni Wyatt’s 129, her second ODI century, provided the backbone of England’s 293 for eight, especially in her partnership of 116 with Sophia Dunkley for the fifth wicket. When the recalled Anya Shrubsole dismissed South Africa’s intimidating openers Laura Wolvaardt and Lizelle Lee in her first two overs, England were on top. Sophie Ecclestone’s six for 36 put the result beyond doubt.
"I’m really pleased we’ve found our best performance when it was all on the line,” said Knight. “The fact we have played knockout cricket for the last few games has helped.”
Wyatt was dropped four times in the course of her 125-ball stay, but rode her luck, cutting and pulling with particular power. She lost Tammy Beaumont, Knight and Nat Sciver in the first 20 overs, but a stand of 49 with Amy Jones began their rebuild, before Dunkley ran the second half of the innings. Ecclestone, from No8, added a flourish with 24 from 11 balls.
England finished with their second-highest total of the tournament, and made the perfect start to its defence. Shrubsole’s early wickets were backed up by one each from Kate Cross and Charlie Dean.
That gave Knight the luxury of waiting until the 24th over, with the game almost beyond South Africa, to call on Ecclestone, the world’s No1 bowler. She duly took her maiden international five-wicket haul, and now has more wickets in a single World Cup than any other England woman, aged just 22.
Ecclestone has been at the heart of a charge to the final that has been even more impressive when you consider that it comes at the tail-end of a long tour and winter for England.
The players spent their Christmas “safe-living” – limiting contact with family and friends – in order to leave for Australia three months ago. There, they endured a tough Ashes campaign before being forced back into hotel quarantine for a week on arrival in New Zealand for this tournament, which started so poorly. To turn things around speaks of their spirit and skill.
Oddly, this will be England and Australia’s first meeting in an ODI World Cup final since 1988.
“We go in as underdogs, for sure,” Knight said. “It’s a fresh slate, we are equal on the morning of the game. What a story that’s written for us if we can do it.”
