FANS SLAM SKY TALK
It’s Sophie, so good as England reach semis Biggar blow gives Wales a headache at No10 for Twickenham
SOPHIE Ecclestone says England are hitting peak form after booking their place in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.
Heather Knight’s side thrashed West Indies by 46 runs, with Nat Sciver hitting 57 yesterday.
England have been dominant in Australia since losing their opening game to South Africa.
Spinner Ecclestone, who took 3-7 against the Windies, said: “The South Africa loss was a wake-up call for us all to be like, ‘We’re in the World Cup now, we need to up our game’. “Everyone just trained a bit harder and is in form now.” And Sciver, the top scorer so far in the tournament with 202 runs, likes the omens. She said: “We didn’t win the first game in the 2017 World Cup in England. Whoever we play in the semi-final it will be a big game.”
I’m English. But you definitely sense there’s a – call it what you want – an edge, an added emotion, a sense of occasion. There’s always more to it.
“From living there I’ve seen how much it means to them as a nation. I don’t think rugby has got sterile by any stretch of the imagination, but I suppose there’s a bit more emotion in a game like this. As a player it’s the game you want to play in.”
Underhill, 23, had the misfortune to watch England lose that 2015 World Cup game toWales in a Cardiff bar.
“It was full of Cardiff students from Surrey so it wasn’t the same atmosphere as I’m sure it was in Neath or St Helen’s,” added Underhill, speaking at an event for kit supplier Canterbury at Harwell RFC. “But there’s a bit more to the game than just rugby. None of us work at Westminster but it’s important to recognise what the game
means to both parties.” about which platform matches appear on going forward. “We would not rule anything out at this stage,” said a spokesperson.
Fans have taken to social media to heavily criticise the possibility of the championship being lost to terrestrial TV in a new £300million deal.
Ex-England prop Jeff Probyn joined the chorus of disapproval, saying: “It would be bad news were the Six Nations to agree to sell to pay per view as it would reduce exposure of the game when it is already in decline.”
As the debate rages, Six Nations chiefs will meet in Paris today to discuss the growing coronavirus crisis and the rescheduling of Ireland’s postponed match with Italy.