England fight to keep World Cup hope alive

England’s women go into battle against West Indies this morning needing a win to be sure of securing their place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals. Defeat, and England could be on the plane home from Australia.

England’s opening loss to South Africa makes today’s clash virtually sudden-death, despite Heather Knight’s side following it up with expected wins over Thailand and Pakistan.

In a tight group, a third victory would guarantee England a semi-final. And, while a loss would not necessarily mean an exit, given England’s high net run-rate, survival would depend on other results, most likely a couple of South Africa wins.

So the clear path for England is to win the one game that they can play. Limping into the knockouts thanks to someone else’s work would be worth little to a team who have struggled for cohesion and clarity during their month in Australia.

The West Indies should be beatable, with talk of conflict within their touring party seeming to fit with their halfhearted win over Thailand and loss to Pakistan. The England camp have paid due respect, but at the same time batter Lauren Winfield was realistic.

“West Indies are a team who, when they’re all up and energetic and firing, can beat anybody,” she said. “But equally you catch them on a day when they’re not hot and firing, and you can see a very different side. They are quite an up-and-down team. But they’ve won the competition before.”

They have, and the team still have proven batters such as Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews and Stafanie Taylor.

England’s players have made their group stage a knockout; now it is up to them to make the final strike.