Opposing captains Nat Sciver-Brunt and Laura Wolvaardt believe results from previous ICC Women’s Cricket World Cups and from earlier this tournament carry little relevance heading into the knockout semi-final between England and South Africa in Guwahati.
England have knocked South Africa out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage of the two most recent editions of the tournament in 2017 and 2022 and once again came out on top when they met at the start of this event when they recorded a comfortable 10-wicket triumph.
But Sciver-Brunt knows it won’t be easy for her side this time around given how much cricket has been played at the tournament since they met at Barsapara Cricket Stadium on October 3.
“It would be silly to assume it would go exactly the same,” she said.
“That was obviously a long time ago in the tournament. South Africa obviously have had some brilliant games since then and are a dangerous side.
“We’ll be preparing in the same way that we would for every team. We’re not on the same wicket, so we’ll have to adapt as we go out there.
“If we can get a couple of early wickets, as we did in the last match against them, we’ll be able to put the pressure onto them. But both teams have played a lot of cricket since that first match, so it’s a clean slate.”
Rather than dwell on losses to England at previous 50-over World Cups, Wolvaardt was instead more interested in taking confidence from good results at the semi-final stage of the two most recent editions of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
South Africa defeated England by six runs at the semi-final stage of the 2023 T20 World Cup on home soil and then repeated the dose 12 months later against Australia in Dubai as they qualified for the decider against New Zealand.
“That semi-final loss against England (at the 2022 50-over World Cup) was four years ago, we were a totally different looking side,” Wolvaardt said.
“They’ve got a lot of different players as well. It’s a fresh opportunity and it starts from zero.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge and hopefully we’re able to learn from those (T20 World Cup) semi-final victories that we’ve got and maybe stay a bit calmer under pressure.
“We have played some really good cricket throughout the tournament. Most of our discussions leading up to tomorrow have just been about making sure that we’re in the right mental state to play the game, really believing in our preparation, really trusting in our skills and what we’ve done before.
“I think we know as a group that we are really talented and that if we just stay calm out there tomorrow, we have a really good chance of winning. They are under a lot of pressure as well. Everyone is in a semi-final.”
England are tossing up whether to make any changes to their XI for the knockout contest, with the fitness of No.1 ranked ODI spinner Sophie Ecclestone to be closely monitored in the lead-up after the left-armer hurt her shoulder against New Zealand in their final league stage match.
“She had a scan after the last game and she’s got a minor injury in her shoulder, but she’s training this evening, so we’re pretty confident that she’ll be ready for tomorrow’s game,” Sciver-Brunt said of Ecclestone.
“There probably is an acknowledgement that she might not be 100 percent, but the player that she is, she’ll be wanting to get out onto that pitch regardless of how she’s feeling. Hopefully a bit of adrenaline will help her as well.”
Source: ICC
--Agencies
