England have been eliminated from the World Cup following a defeat in a match they were expected to win, due to a surprise performance which nobody saw coming. Sound familiar? This is because it applies to two events involving England which occurred almost exactly a year apart: on Wednesday, their 50-over semi-final exit at the hands of South Africa; a year ago, their loss in a crucial group stage match against West Indies in the 20-over version.
The Interim Period
During that time, there was a whitewash in the Ashes and a thorough analysis which was meant to change everything. Was it successful? Time to delve a little more closely into those two World Cup eliminations. In 2024, England collapsed, missed multiple opportunities, and allowed a bish-bash-bosh innings from Qiana Joseph to win the day. More recently, a player with superb skill and composure – the South Africa captain, Laura Wolvaardt – showed why she is among the elite in cricket. She offered up precisely one chance – a catch to Alice Capsey at long-on – and England took it. Unfortunately, she had accumulated 169 runs by that point.
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This may not offer the England head coach, Charlotte Edwards, much comfort as she returns from her first World Cup as manager – she is a results driven coach, and a loss is a loss. But she has already made a difference. From the low point of multiple fielding errors in a single day of Test cricket in Melbourne, six months later England secured more chances this World Cup than any other team. That’s an improvement.
The Batting Collapse
The issue arose following Wolvaardt’s knock. Did anyone inside that England dressing room truly confident they were able to reach a total of more than 300? Certainly no one outside it did. England’s rapid decline to nought for two and 1/3 provoked a reaction not of horror but of resigned acceptance.
“We do need to enhance our batting performance – I don’t think it’s been consistent enough at times,” Edwards said after the match. Therein lies the concern. There have been multiple totals of more than 300 in this tournament: three of them were hit by Australia, three by India, and two by South Africa. This is the new normal in women’s ODI cricket: in order to rival the world’s best, England need a batting order which can confidently expect to surpass 300 runs. But when nobody except Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight has a track record of consistently scoring meaningful runs, well, the numbers speak for themselves.
Collaborative Innings
Capsey’s century stand with Sciver-Brunt in the semi-final had some value – Capsey showed that she can bat sensibly, at least for 70 balls – but it was insufficient to win the game. Compare and contrast with South Africa, who were able to add 117 runs from their last 10 overs, surpassing the 300-run mark, because Wolvaardt had confidence in the batters coming in below her and felt she had the liberty to hit out. “Aware of our resources in the sheds with the last 10 coming up, I thought I’d better have a swing,” she explained to Sky Sports.
Heather Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt were the only England batters to score runs consistently during the tournament.
Managerial Decisions
When Edwards was hired in April, her challenge was whether to stick or twist: she chose to allow an ageing ODI side who had bombed in the Ashes one last shot at World Cup glory. This proved incorrect. England come back with the worst of both worlds: empty-handed, and with no foundations on which to restructure over the next four years. Five of their top six from the semi-final are probably not featuring in another 50-over World Cup.
A new strategy is now imminent, as Edwards herself indicated. “This is the conclusion of a phase,” she said. “We’ve got to look at the future now.”
Future Prospects
It’s about time: an opportunity to evaluate at the young left-hander Grace Scrivens, the young wicketkeeper Seren Smale and the 18-year-old left-arm spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman.
The nagging worry is that it might already be too late: England’s most recent set of central contracts were finalized on 1 October. The cricket board has not yet published a full list of retained athletes, but it isn’t difficult to deduce that the current World Cup squad are the main beneficiaries.
The Path Ahead
Stagnation and complacency were the dual enemies on which the Ashes whitewash was built – it’s crucial for Edwards to signal that she is serious about preventing their return.
