England's women's cricket team is entering their World Cup semi-final with a level of self-assurance described by coach Charlotte Edwards as unprecedented. The team has achieved this confidence following a dominant group stage performance where they went undefeated.
Edwards highlighted the team's powerful batting as a significant positive, noting their ability to score over 200 runs against Sri Lanka and Scotland, and a strong 186-7 on a challenging pitch against the West Indies. Their most recent victory saw them chase a target of 164 with 2.4 overs to spare, thanks to an unbeaten 89 from Danni Wyatt-Hodge.
"The goal was to win the group," Edwards said. "To go through unbeaten is really pleasing. Our batting has been particularly powerful and a real positive for us."
Preparing for the Knockout Stage
The team also demonstrated strong bowling on a good pitch during their recent matches. "We seem to be getting better with each game which is really good going into the business end of the tournament," Edwards added.
While England awaits the conclusion of Group One to determine their semi-final opponent, India or South Africa are the most probable contenders. The timing of their semi-final match also remains to be confirmed, with options on Tuesday or Thursday. The Tuesday match has been scheduled to accommodate Indian television viewership, meaning England would play on that day if India qualifies for the second spot in Group One. Otherwise, they would play on Thursday.
"We obviously know now with the teams we are likely to play in the semi-finals, one are world champions of the ODIs [India] and one have played in every World Cup final for the last three years [South Africa] so it is not going to be easy," Edwards acknowledged. "But we are going in with the most confidence we have ever done into a semi-final and with a lot of belief."