Everyone in the UK will be able to enjoy live action of the Women’s Cricket World Cup final, with the build-up starting from 1am this Sunday on Sky Sports Main Event (401), the Sky Sports Cricket World Cup channel (404), Sky Showcase (106) and the Sky Sports YouTube channel
As England prepares to face Australia in the Women’s World Cup final, captain Heather Knight is looking forward to making “history” and “creating a wonderful tale.”
If Knight’s charges repeat their 2017 victory at Hagley Oval on Sunday, they would become the first England team to successfully defend the Women’s World Cup crown.
England lost their first three matches in this year’s tournament and were in danger of an early elimination but have since won five games in a row, reaching the final with a thumping 137-run victory over South Africa in Thursday’s semi-final.
“I believe winning will mean more considering the start we had, and being able to turn it around would be extraordinary,” Heather Knight remarked during her pre-final news conference. It would be much more special if we could win.
“We have a chance to make history by being the first England team to [win back-to-back titles], and that’s a thrilling prospect.”
“The stage has been created for us to tell a wonderful tale, but it is a blank slate, and we and Australia will enter as equals.” It is determined by how well a person performs on the day and how well he or she handles pressure.
I thought we were out, to be honest, after three defeats in a row and I was pretty down but then when I did the maths I saw that if things went our way a little bit we were still in with a reasonable shot. It feels like we have built up a lot of momentum now and we feel like we can do a job against Australia.
‘There is a lot of enthusiasm among the group.’ Being a part of the World Cup finals is what you set out to achieve, what you prepare for, what you want to be a part of, so there’s a lot of enthusiasm among the group.
“We won’t dwell on 2017, because it’s a whole new day, a brand new game, and an opportunity for us to go out and demonstrate what we’re capable of.”
“However, I believe that the happy memories of winning the 50-over World Cup that many of our players have will be quite beneficial to us.”
Knowing that we can handle pressure and that when games are close and everything are on the line, we have players who can bring their best game and rise to the situation.”
England has lost four of their past seven one-day internationals against Australia, including four this year.
Knight’s squad was defeated in all three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) during a multi-format Women’s Ashes series, which they lost 12-4, and then again in the opening game of the World Cup, where they narrowly failed to chase down a target of 311 in Hamilton.
Australia has won all eight of its games in this campaign, as well as 37 of their previous 38 One-Day Internationals.
Published By: Manan Khurana
Edited By: Subbuthai Padma
