Finalists England yet to hit top form: Knight
ENGLAND captain Heather Knight said her side are yet to reach their best in the Women’s World Cup, up, despite beating South Africa by two wickets at Bristol on Tuesday to reach the final.
Sarah Taylor top-scored ored for England with a crucial 76-ball 54 as South Africa fought ht back hard in the latter stages to take the semifinal down to thehe closing over in their attempt empt of defending 218.
Two-time World Cup winners England will find out whoho they play in Sunday’s sold-out ut final at Lord’s when reigning gning champions Australia take on India in Derby today. y.
“We haven’t put in the perfect performance togethgether,” Knight (pictured,, AFP) said afterwards, acknowledging there were areas England ne needed to improve in ahead of the final. “The wicket was used and quite tired, so we were q quite smart with our bowling. “Potentially i in the field there’s a few extra r runs in a close match like th that that plays on your mind a as it gets close. It’s not ideal tha that one of the top five didn’t b bat through and be there at t the end. It would have made it a lot easier. “There’ “There’s still one game to go an and if we put our perfect performance in then I I’ll be a very happy ca captain.” Se Set 219 to book a pla place in the showpi piece f inale, Eng- land made hard work of completing t he chase af ter losing si x wickets for 78 runs.
But they kept their cool in a nervy final over as Anya Shrubsole – with two runs required from three balls – hit her first delivery for four to secure victory.
That England were in a position to win the match after such a collapse was thanks to the third-wicket partnership of 78 from Knight and Taylor, who returned to the England fold for this tournament after a year-long break from the game.
But Knight admitted England could now allow themselves to think about playing at the “home of cricket”.
“It’s special,” Knight added, reflecting on England reaching their seventh World Cup final.
“We’ve known that the final is at Lord’s for a long time now and, trying not to think about it too much, it’s been at the forefront of our minds. It’s hard not to think about it.
“A final at Lord’s at a home World Cup, sold out, there’s nothing better than that for me. We set out to try and sing that song at Lord’s – everything we’ve done in the last 18 months has been towards that.”
Although defeated, South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk heralded her team’s effort, as they competed in their first World Cup semifinal since 2000, and hoped reaching the knockout round will inspire a new generation of players back home.
“After this tournament and the performances our team have put in, you know, a lot of girls get a bit more interested in the game and try and play it, and hopefully get excited for the game,” she said.