England secured a comfortable victory in their second and final Women’s World Cup warm-up match, and Tammy Beaumont has warned their rivals to write the holders off at their peril.
England begin their defence of the title they won in 2017 on Saturday against favourites Australia in Hamilton. The tournament begins on Friday when hosts New Zealand face West Indies.
Overnight, England beat South Africa by six wickets with 52 balls to spare in a game reduced to 35 overs, thanks to a sensational performance from their bowlers. That follows a handsome win over Bangladesh.
England are coming off a disappointing Ashes campaign in which they lost all three ODIs, but Beaumont believes they are ready – and can beat Australia.
“Today was a pleasing win ahead of a World Cup,” she said. “It is another step in the right direction. We spent a whole week in a hotel room [quarantining] not being able to train. After some good games and some miles in the legs we are good to go this week.
“We will take on Australia, on our day we can beat them. We are in a good place for that game, regardless of the Ashes results. I don’t think one day will ruin your World Cup hopes. Good time to get out there and give it a good crack.”
Beaumont believes England are being “written off” in some quarters.
“I feel a lot of people have written us off,” she said. “Last time people were trying to call us favourites. We are still the holders and you write us off at your peril.
“It would be a massive achievement to go back to back. Away from home is always difficult but the conditions in New Zealand are actually quite similar so it’s a nice one to try to go back to back on.
“Winning a World Cup at any time is a massive achievement but particularly when we have gone through covid and all the bubbles, restrictions, all that.”
Beaumont does not know whether she will be opening with Lauren Winfield-Hill (likely) or rookie Emma Lamb, but believes England’s top order needs to step up after a poor Ashes.
“Everyone has to step up and we have had some chats not just about what we want to do but how we are going to do it,” she said. “We want to play aggressive cricket, taking the game on.
“In the Ashes the top order were putting an incredible amount of pressure on the middle order to mop up the mess we had made.”
