England women forced their way into the final by clinching five must-win matches on the trot. But beating Australia – who have been undefeated in the tournament and have thrashed England in recent times – is a whole different thing. The world no. 1 bowler Sophie Ecclestone believes they’ve got the ammunition to upset the overwhelming favourites in the all-important clash.
“Beating the Aussies in the final, I can’t really put it into words after the Ashes we had. I really believe in this group and on our day we can definitely beat the Aussies. We’ve got such a great unit as a team, so we’ll just focus on ourselves and do the best we can,”
Ecclestone said, as per Sky Sports.
The 22-year-old has been instrumental in England’s comeback after losing the first three matches of the tournament. She is the leading wicket-taker in the competition, having snared 20 wickets at an average of 12.85 and economy of 3.40 rpo.
“When we lost three from three, there were a few tears in the changing room after the game, everyone was very disappointed. But I think the turning point was having a few meetings to just say that we had nothing to lose now,”
she added.
Ecclestone claimed her career-best figures of six for 36 in the crucial semifinal match against in-form South Africa. She has already played nearly 100 limited overs matches for England, and became the world no. 1 T20I bowler at the age of 20. Ecclestone overtook Jess Jonassen – Australia’s no. 1 spinner – in the ongoing WC as no. 1 ODI bowler.
Her one regret, however, is that she hasn’t won a major trophy with her national team yet. She was part of the English side that finished as the runners-up to Australia in the 2018 T20 World Cup and the side that crashed out of the 2020 T20 World Cup as their semifinal match against India was washed out due to rain. This is Ecclestone’s first appearance in an ODI WC.
England were hammered by Australia in the ODI leg of the Women’s Ashes 2022 by 3-0 in February. They couldn’t manage to beat the Aussies in any of the formats. In the World Cup group fixture as well, Australia defeated England by 12 runs. Ecclestone conceded 77 off her 10 overs in that match – something she’d be desperately looking to correct in the big final on April 3.
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