Event’s main wicket-taker says if England play their finest they’ll beat Australia within the remaining on Sunday
“Beating the Aussies in the final, I can’t really put it into words after the Ashes we had,” she mentioned. “I really believe in this group and on our day we can definitely beat the Aussies – we’ve got a great chance.
“I do know if we play our greatest cricket and our batters bat the best way they’ll and the bowlers bowl the best way they’ll, we have such a terrific unit as a crew, so we’ll simply deal with ourselves and do one of the best we are able to.”
Still just 22 years old, Ecclestone’s team-mates often say they forget how young she is, given how long she has been a mainstay of the England side. She has already played nearly 100 white-ball matches for her country and four Tests and was first named as the ICC’s No. 1 T20I bowler at the age of 20. During this World Cup she overtook Jess Jonassen, her opposite number in the Australian camp, as No. 1 ODI bowler.
But a global title has eluded her. A member of the England side which finished runners-up to Australia at the 2018 T20 World Cup and the side which watched India advance at the T20 World Cup when their semi-final was washed out in Sydney two years ago, this is Ecclestone’s first appearance at a 50-over World Cup.
Ecclestone is a fierce competitor, enjoying a battle with formidable South Africa seamer Shabnim Ismail during the semi-final. It started when Ecclestone hit Ismail for three consecutive fours in the final over of England’s innings, apparently turned verbal when Ismail bowled her with the last ball and ended with a cheeky finger-to-lips “shush” gesture from Ecclestone when Ismail became one of her six wickets.
“There have been a couple of verbals after I obtained out, it was all enjoyable and video games on the pitch,” Ecclestone said. “I wished to get even, so it was fairly good off the pitch afterwards, it is all tremendous now. It is nice to have that battle on the pitch and to be tremendous off the pitch.
“To get that first five-for and to bowl as well as I am at the minute, I feel great and have a lot of rhythm, it’s a great feeling for me. I didn’t have a great day out against the Aussies, I think it’s fair to say. To come back the way I did, I’m really proud of myself. The team has fought back as well, it’s been amazing to witness that.”
England will probably area 5 members of their 2017 champion aspect towards Australia, towards whom they did not register a win throughout their multi-format Ashes collection instantly earlier than travelling to New Zealand.
Ecclestone put England’s turnaround after that and their poor begin to the World Cup right down to adopting a fearless perspective once they had nothing to lose.
“When we lost three from three, there were a few tears in the changing room after the game, everyone was very disappointed with how we’d gone,” she mentioned. “But I think the turning point was having a few meetings to just say that we had nothing to lose now, so just put what we do in training out into a game and go out with no fear. We still haven’t played our best cricket, so to get through to the final without playing our best cricket is obviously so good to see from this group.”
Now, with the World Cup to lose, England will want “no fear” greater than ever.
Valkerie Baynes is a common editor at ESPNcricinfo
