‘Into the pressure cooker again’ – assessing England’s World Cup chances

England women’s winter of turbulence led them to a summer of soul searching.

A disastrous T20 World Cup group-stage exit at the hands of West Indies was glossed over by beating South Africa away, only for a full-scale implosion down under as Australia inflicted a 16-0 defeat in the multi-format series.

Change was inevitable: Jon Lewis and Heather Knight out, Charlotte Edwards and Nat Sciver-Brunt were quickly ushered in.

In their first series together, they thrashed West Indies but it was merely met with a shrug of the shoulders from fans and media who had seen this narrative before. The subsequent T20 and one-day international series defeats by India showed the team’s struggles needed more than just a quick fix.

Now, they are about to enter the pressure cooker again.

Considering the inequalities that exist in women’s cricket between Australia, India, England and the rest, Edwards’ side should still be in the conversation as contenders to reach the final, and a semi-final spot should be the minimum expectation – as the coach herself admitted the day before the tournament opener.

Defending champions Australia are undoubtedly the favourites, while India’s rapid improvement over the last two years sees them as the closest challengers, especially on home soil.

England start their campaign with a tricky fixture on 3 October against South Africa, who they cannot take lightly despite their inconsistency.

For Edwards’ side though, considering the increased investment in the women’s game and its ever-growing professionalism, it is unlikely they have entered a tournament under this level of scrutiny before.

It has never been a question of the players’ potential – it is whether they can handle the pressure.

After the T20 World Cup and the Ashes, they faced heavy media scrutiny regarding their attitude on and off the field and this seemed to catch them by surprise, but they can be under no illusions about what will come if the same problems surface during this World Cup.

These problems include their batting weakness against spin, a drastic need to improve their fielding and how they cope with pressure situations or must-win moments.

Considering all the changes and the damage inflicted from the Ashes, there is little expectation for England to win this tournament – but the extent of the fallout if they don’t will depend on how they play and whether they have learned from previous mistakes.

If they are knocked out by simply being outplayed by a better side – most likely India or Australia – there will be no urgency to go back to the drawing board, but if there is little improvement in those areas, Edwards and Sciver-Brunt will come under fire.

The last 50-over World Cup in 2022 papered over a lot of the cracks as they lost three group-stage matches but still reached the final.

As well as bearing the pressure of her first tournament in charge, Sciver-Brunt’s all-round performances will also go a long way to deciding England’s fortunes.

So often, she is their sole saviour with the bat but she will at least have the comfort of Knight’s return from injury, providing extra stability and maturity in the middle order which they lacked against India this summer.

Edwards wasted no time in changing England’s opening partnership, reinstating Amy Jones with Tammy Beaumont, but again it was difficult to take too much from their back-to-back stands of more than 200 against West Indies considering the weakness of the bowling attack.

They were far less convincing against a superior India, with a stand of 54 sandwiched between partnerships of eight and seven.

England are also very inexperienced in India as only Knight, Beaumont and Danni Wyatt-Hodge have 10 or more ODIs to their name here – though they are more familiar with the conditions from the Women’s Premier League, a T20 franchise tournament.

In terms of the bowling, much will also depend on how many overs Sciver-Brunt can deliver, having not bowled since the Ashes because of an Achilles problem.

Edwards made the bold call to omit the experienced Kate Cross from the squad, which leaves Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer and Em Arlott as the quicks and Sarah Glenn, Charlie Dean, Linsey Smith and world number one Sophie Ecclestone as the spinners.

Bell has quickly become one of the first names on the England team sheet over the past two years, but there are still a lot of unknowns about the surfaces in India and Sri Lanka, with their group games due to be played at four different venues.

If the surfaces do not offer much spin, especially in the early stages, England could find themselves a seamer light or lacking Cross’ experience, with Arlott and Filer still searching for consistency in international cricket.

If England and the rest wanted to look at where they need to be in order to become contenders, the three-match series between India and Australia which preceded the World Cup provided just that.

Australia won 2-1 and claimed a convincing win in the series opener before India showed exactly what they are capable of at their best by inflicting the world champions’ heaviest ODI defeat in the second.

The decider was a record-breaking run-fest, with Australia scoring 412 and India giving the chase a real go, eventually bowled out for 369 with Smriti Mandhana’s 125 from 63 balls the highlight.

That game was in Delhi, which is not hosting any games of this tournament, but could be an indication of what is to come.

England have since beaten both teams in their warm-up fixtures, though it is unlikely Edwards or any of the side will become complacent from that, despite the encouraging signs of runs for Sciver-Brunt, Alice Capsey, Emma Lamb and Sophia Dunkley.

Edwards spoke of England being smarter, of batting long and having confidence in their game plan. It could be they achieve all of the above but it is still not enough to topple two teams that seem intent on taking women’s cricket to new levels.