Women’s World Cup: England head home hammered by South Africa

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Off stump out of the ground, a delighted Marazan Cap makes the early breakthrough again. North Boulder Dragon. There the night goes. England have lost their second wicket. They haven't got a run on the board. Cap's got them both. We could just go straight to Ultra Edge because that would tell us everything. That's it. There's an edge. Sammy Beaumont out and England are one for three. The clerk bowls a very full ball which is chipped in the air and is caught. And that is it. That is the game. Sune Luce takes the catch at mid off. England have been bowled out for 194. They lose this match by 125 runs. South Africa stride into the final.

So England are out of the World cup, beaten by a South Africa side who were inspired by their captain. It was a brilliant innings of 169 from the outstanding Laura Wolfhardt. South Africa winning in the end by 125 runs as fast bowl at Marizan. Cap took 5 for 20. England at one stage were 1 for 3 in pursuit of what would have been a record 320. They've been soundly beaten here in Guwahati and they crash out of the World cup at the semi final stage, A venue where they beat South Africa having bowled them out for just 69 in their tournament opener. But it could not have been more different under the lights of Assam tonight with Laura Wolfhard absolutely brilliant and almost as brilliant if not making a case for player of the match herself, Marisan Cap Then with the ball, South Africa head to the final to face either India or Australia. But what a performance. Absolutely outstanding from South Africa who have bundled England out at the semi final stage. Alex Hart, their World cup winner with England in 2017 has been watching on as has Daniel Norcross for Test match special. And Alex will get lots of reaction from from both camps in due course. But initially it is the sort of night that South Africa would have dreamt of.

Yeah, memorable, memorable night for South Africa. As you say, it's one that they would have dreamt of, especially after being bundled out for 69 in that first game. It is the perfect revenge, isn't it? It's the perfect comeback for South Africa and it's everything they would have wanted to have absolutely dominate England today and show them that, yeah, we didn't play great in that first game and yes we were below average, but this is the sort of game that we can play.

Daniel, your thoughts initially before we hear from player of the match Laura Wolfard.

Just what great resilience South Africa have shown in this tournament. After that very first game you just mentioned, they bounced back to win five of the next six games or five of the next five games. Then they lost to Australia really badly in their last game, bowled out for under 100 and yet that would be their most recent memory. They've come here, they put that behind them and it's pretty much complete performance. You know, Marizan Cap was struggling with a bit of cramp so she wasn't able to bowl her full 10 overs. But they were just superb today, led right from the top by their skipper and innings of 169 that we will talk about for many, many days to come. It'll I think going down in folklore a bit like Harman pre caused one in 2017 against Australia. It's definitely up there with it, the ICC play.

Here is Laura Wolfar to South African captain Laura Volfart. To present the award we have Mr. Raghuram Bhat, the honorary treasurer of the BCCI. Congratulations to Laura. 169 of 143 Bold 24s and 4 sixes at a strike rate of 118.18. I know you haven't even had a chance to catch your breath, but a record breaking knock, your first ever World cup knock, the first captain to score a century in a knockout game in a World cup and a first South African to 5000 ODI runs. How does it feel to be Laura Volva tonight?

Yeah, still feels a bit unreal. I think that's sort of the thing that you dream about as A kid is scoring 100 in a, in a World cup and a World cup mockup game as well. So, yeah, very special day and so glad we won in the end.

You said at the toss getting runs on the board in the semi final could prove crucial. When you walked out to bat there with Tasman Brits, what was the chat between the two of you and how did you plan going about that innings?

Yeah, we knew the start would be crucial. I think Taz and I have been really strong at the top of the order and I think when we bet well up top, it sort of feeds off to the rest of the lineup. So really happy we were able to get that, that partnership up front, but we did identify quite early. It was a decent wicket so we just wanted to keep going. I had a few other batting partners about it really well. So, yeah, really nice that we, we got to a big score because it was a pretty flat wicket in the end.

Partnerships were always going to be important. Lots of wonderful offside play for you. But towards the end when you accelerated some great leg side play, was that tactical or were you just going with the momentum of the inning?

Sort of just going with it. I think in the back of my mind I know I have those shots, but was really just wanting to get to the 40th over. I think that was really my goal today is to sort of hold things together and get to the 40th to let Nadine, Anari, Chloe, you know, really whack those last 10. And then I thought while I'm there I might as well try swing. So yeah, happy you got a few of those leg side boundaries. Maybe need to do that a bit earlier.

When you have a look at your career and some of the great knocks you've played, we look at the 184 that you scored back in 2024. Where does this stand for you in your career, Laura?

Probably has to be the top. I think just context of the game, World cup semi final, winning the game against a very strong side, a very strong bowling attack. Yeah, I Think it's right up there.

Congratulations. Our player of the match tonight, Laura.

Voluntary performance and What a last 10 overs. It was 117 runs coming from them. England actually in their run chase were neck and neck most of the way. But it was that amazing conclusion to the South African innings that powered them to that total of 319 for 7 and the ball was going to all parts. Daniel as, as Laura Wolfart did, did some remarkable hitting.

Well, it's crazy, isn't it, because you watch 50 over cricket and there has lots of phases and you see the phase when they're taking the singles and Laura Wolfhardt played in every single one of these phases. She played at the top of the order when it's the power play and you want to try and make the most of the field being up. Then she played the, the boring middle overs because they lost three quick wickets. And then there's a bit at the end when things go a bit bonkers. But she was so in and she was in such a fantastic vein of form at that point and in such a zone that I was watching it from upstairs. I just thought there isn't a single ball that's going to be bowled here that she's not going to hit to the boundary. It got this point when she just flipped into an entirely different gear. And we were watching a wholly new game of cricket. There was a. When they started the last turnovers at 202 for 6 and I remember on commentary Al was saying if they give it to 260 to even 250, if they can break this partnership, then England would be very happy. And then you started thinking, well if they can, England could keep them to 280. That's still 5, 300. Well they'll believe they can do 300. 319. It just kept going. They just kept getting bigger and bigger because the, the runs were being scored in enormous quantities in those last five or six overs. Bowlers like Lindsay Smith who've been brilliant for England in the death in this tournament, had no idea where to bowl. And it was just one of those things that happens in cricket when someone's completely in and there's, there's no threat, the ball can do them no harm and it just suddenly flies. Her first six came off 120th ball and then she hit four more of them. As she said then maybe I should have swung into the leg side a bit earlier. It was scintillating to watch.

It really was, it was one of the best knocks I've seen. I know that we, we spoke on air about Alyssa Healey in the, the previous World cup, in that World cup final. But that was the best knock I've seen since then. You know, it was unbelievable in a knockout game to. To do what she did to have put South Africa in the driving seat against a very good England side. You almost think, well, at the halfway stage, it was more or less done, was the game.

Yeah, well, it was, wasn't it? I mean, we sort of basically gave up on that. Just entirely gave up on it. Once they'd made it to 319, we kind of looked at each other and went, that's going to be too many. Even though it's a really good pitch, the problem is you've got to have a really good start and you've got to keep going.

Yeah.

And England did not have a really good start. They had the antithesis of it. And I think actually they were but so shell shocked by what happened in those last 10 overs that it, it seeped into the start of their innings, didn't it? That dramatic beginning where England were 1 for 3 off 1.1 overs. And the reason for that, as much as anything else, was that it felt like the batters that had come out were still dealing with the scars of what had occurred before. You know, there was. They were very loose dismissals and Amy Jones was out in the very first over. Bowled through the gate. Nothing much happening there. Then we got the. The Dragon from Heather Knight. Two gone down the first over. It was amazing.

Yeah, I think from then it was pretty much game over for England. When they get three down pretty early on, it's like, okay, where do we go from here? And look, there was still hope when Nat Silverbrunt was there and Danny Wyatt Hodge was there. He still had a tiny, tiny little bit of hope. But Marisankat with the ball, doing what she does best. I mean, tearing through the England top order. As Dan was saying, you know, not one of the top three scoring a run. Heather Knight chopping on and almost looking like, oh, I can't believe it. And then Tommy Bowman hadn't faced the ball in the first over and then gets out first ball reviews it, doesn't think she's hit it. But yeah, look, it's one of those where England were just outplayed by South Africa and England are the better side, they're more consistent. I mean, the stat before the game basically says enough in itself, the head to head. They've played 47 games. England have won 36 of those. South Africa have only won 10 of them. But now South Africa have won 11 out of those 48 and quite possibly won one of the most important games they'll have played.

Yeah, and it's a massively important step on their journey as well. They've been finalistic in the T20 World cup in the last two editions but it was that question as to whether they could break the duck, if you like, of, of 50 over cricket and managed to find a way of, of getting over the line in a 50 over tournament. And they've done so.

Here is alongside break for England. I've got the England captain Nativa Brun alongside me. Not much time to reflect on this, but what are your immediate thoughts after tonight's loss?

Well, what an incredible two innings from South Africa. I think, yeah, we weren't at our best today and I suppose to beat the best teams you have to, you have to put a whole, a whole game together. So yeah, we didn't do that today. I'm obviously hugely disappointed and yeah, it'll take a bit of time to sink in but yeah, just disappointed at the moment.

Wickets in the power play was going to be crucial and South Africa denied you that. But you did get that triple strike, three for three. You really felt that you were back in the game at that stage.

Yeah, definitely. I also think like during the power play and afterwards we didn't I suppose let the game go too far. We were pretty happy with the control that we had and we knew a wicket at one end would, we'd be able to make some inroads, which we did. And then obviously they got another partnership together.

209 for 6, 9 overs to go, go. You would have thought somewhere in the region of 260, 270 would have been comfortable, but when you got someone like Laura Wolfhard and the kind of form that she was in, pretty difficult to stop aside like that.

Absolutely. Obviously she, she had the, the best of the conditions, she knew what she was doing and, and really took advantage. And then you know, with some explosive batters coming in as well, making it very difficult for us. And yeah, like I said, you have to put a whole innings together at least and then obviously the second innings as well. But yeah, I think we stuck at it really well as a side and I suppose didn't let the occasion get to us. I think in the field and really pleased with everyone's energy throughout that 50 overs.

Coming out to chase 320, you had the batting resources, a giddy couple of balls up front and it really Just dismantled that top order. What could you have done differently now that you reflect on those first 10 overs?

I mean, obviously, Cappy Bol, Some brilliant deliveries and yeah, I mean, obviously with the start that they had with the bat, we wanted to emulate that. But, yeah, it wasn't. Wasn't as easy as just going out and trying to. Trying to bat the way that Wolfhart did. So, yeah, obviously it's not ideal losing three very quick wickets. So, yeah, that made the chase difficult from the start, but I think the way that Capsian and I suppose put together a partnership, it showed that we were up with where the South Africans were in their first innings. So, yeah, we obviously needed to do it for a lot longer than we did.

In the end, you've had a great campaign until today. When you walk back into that change room, what do you say to your team? There's some young players there, some of them in their first World cup, some. And still a long journey for them to travel.

Yeah, absolutely. I think we've come a long way since the summer. I think we've. We're a different size, certainly from then, and we've learned a lot about ourselves. I think obviously this, this will hurt, but, yeah, hopefully in time we'll be able to take the learnings from it and move forward because, yeah, we've made some great strides so far in, in quite a short space of time, but I think it's really exciting where we can go. Obviously, to beat the best teams, you have to really be at your best. And, yeah, hopefully we'll come back stronger the next time.

Hard luck tonight, Nat, and all the best for what's to come.

Thank you.

England captain Nat Siver Brunt, who was understandably a little downcast. Alex.

Yeah, I mean, she's going to be. She said it'll take a little while to reflect and, you know, think about what happened today. But ultimately she's just disappointed and that's, you know, she's. She is going to be. She's going to be gutted disappointed. You know, they've been knocked out of a. A World cup where they probably thought they had a proper chance of getting through to a World cup final. So, yeah, you know, everybody in that squad will be disappointed because England haven't played well today.

Phil Long, our scorer, is with me as well now, Phil, there was two crucial performances in the game referenced there by. By Cass chatting to Laura Wolfhart won the innings of Wolfart. Some numbers on that, please. And then the performance of Marazan Cap, particularly at the start of England's innings.

Yeah, as you mentioned Laura Wolfhart. Yeah, she was the mainstay of that innings, wasn't she? 169 off 143 deliveries. That's the highest South African individual innings in the World cup. It's the second highest ever against England after Alisa Healey's 170 in the World cup final four years ago. Yeah, it took South Africa to their highest level World cup score. 319 for 7 during that innings. I think Laura Wolfhart now establish establishing herself as one of the greats. The sixth player to pass 5,000 ODI runs. Sorry, the sixth player to pass 5 thousand ODI runs. The sixth player to also hit 10 ODI centuries. She's fifth on the world cup all time list and now averages over 50 men. England required their highest second innings total to win an ODI. Before we knew it they were 1 for 3. The top three, Jones, Beaumont, Knight, all blasted away without scoring. That's the first time that had ever happened in ODIs for England. Met Mary's Ann Cap, went on to take 5 for 27 overs. Three maidens, 5 for 20. In doing so, she became the all time top wicket taker in women's World Cups. And in the end it meant that England suffered their second heaviest ever defeat at a World Cup.

In terms of nights not going as you expect. Now Alex, we, we know, we talked about lots of commentary, your prediction, no doubt that England will win and the.

I would like to put my hands up. I was wrong. I was wrong and I think, you know what, the way England have played in this World cup and got better and better and the way South Africa have been so up and down, I just had a feeling that England would.

Dominate and I totally agreed with you.

Yeah. You know, it just felt like England were going to make the World cup final. They had. You know, if you could pick any of the other three teams to play against in a World cup semi final, you're picking South Africa above Australia and India. But look, South Africa, they turned up and they dominated today and they outplayed England and fair play to them. I hold my hands up. I was wrong. South Africa, they were great today. They were unbelievable.

Now Phil Long sent a message to our group right at the start of the tournament after England beat South Africa so comprehensively by 10 wickets. Saying what, Phil?

My exact words were England are going to lose to South Africa in the semi final in Guwahati, aren't they?

So it's your fault, not my fault.

I got it 100 right out this time.

There you go. How about that, Phil? I mean, it's, it's quite the call, isn't it? But there was just a sense from the start of the game tonight, Alex, the way that Laura Wolfhart hit the, the ball to the boundary in the first over, there was a stealing this.

First two balls, first two balls. She looked completely on it, didn't she? She looked like she was in the mood. She was crunching the ball through the covers. Any width that England gave her, she crunched the ball through the covers and just took advantage of any width. And then, look, once she was in, she said it, as she said it herself, she said, you know, I, I slowed down a little bit throughout the middle, but Marzan Cat managed to, to take over and managed to, I guess, help her out and she started scoring a lot quicker. But yeah, look, it was the perfect ODI innings. It was better than the perfect ODI innings. It was unbelievable from, from Laura Wolfart, not only because she's captain and she's leading the way and she was, you know, doing what every captain wants to do for her country and, you know, their team, but the way she just went through the gears and then, then, you know, I think she was pretty honest in that press conference when she said, oh, I probably could have gone harder, a little bit quicker. Well, she could have got 200 fil.

She went from 100 to 169 in 28 balls.

Yeah. And she wanted to go harder, harder.

Extraordinary, wasn't it? Did England get much wrong in this game?

No, I don't think so. And I think that's why, you know, I'm not one of the, I'm not going to come out and slate the team because I actually don't think they did get much wrong, to be honest. I, I think they bowled well after, you know, England. When you compare the scores at the halfway stage of both innings, sorry, England were pretty much neck and neck. England had lost more wickets. So I don't think England did much wrong. They didn't drop loads of catches, they didn't have loads of Ms. Fields, they didn't bow loads of wides and loads of slot balls. What they could have done is probably go to a wide plan a little bit earlier, especially to Laura Wolfar, and try and, you know, make her change her game rather than just bowl on leg stump and she was able to hit all the bowlers into the leg side. But yeah, look, being knocked out of a World cup and being out outplayed, sometimes you just got to hold your hands up and say, we weren't good enough.

And you think England weren't good enough today, Daniel?

Yeah, they weren't. And Charlotte Edwards said exactly that to me and I think that's a disappointment. They weren't good enough today. But at the same time, you've got to temper that with a side playing about as well as they can play. You know, it's one of those very difficult things in sport and in cricket especially, because it's an individual game and it's a team game. And there were two incredible individual performances that South Africa had that in 50 over. Cricket aren't usually as effective as they are in T20 cricket because there's a more sinuous narrative to the game. But when you get an innings for the ages like Laura Wolfhearts and you see what impact that had on England and how it took the game away from England, I think it affected the way they batted, frankly. So you look at the two parts of it. Well, England didn't bowl too badly for the first 40 overs. Did they even bowl that badly in the last 10? They just got marmalised. And then with the bat, suddenly they're facing a really large target and they were. I felt they were a bit asleep in the first. I say asleep, I mean, I think they were tried to process what had happened at the back end of the innings. And you can't afford to do that when you got someone as good as Marisan Cat bowling at. You can't afford to not be really, really switched on. And they weren't. And so when you're one for three, you're not going to chase 320, are you? So we didn't see the best of England because their top three all got naught. And it's as I think Phil has said, it's the first time that a men's or women's team has had the top three all get ducks. And you don't recover from that when you're chasing such a mammoth target.

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Well, let's hear from the England Head Coach Daniel, you've been speaking to Charlotte Edwards on the boundary edge.

Your immediate reaction. So it's been a pretty tough day.

Yeah, it's really disappointing. I mean, you know, we had high hopes and of hopefully going further in this comp and obviously it hasn't worked out for us today. I think, you know, we've been completely outplayed by South Africa. I think two fantastic performances from one from Laura Wolfart. I think one of the, probably the, the best ODI innings I think you'll see and, and obviously an incredible spell of bowling from Marisan Cap and ultimately, you know, two of the big performers for them stepped up on, on the big stage today and yeah, obviously we, we'll be going home now.

Your team were in it at 202 for 5 as well going to those last 10 overs and then you've alluded to it, you got wolf hearted. I mean it was an amazing, amazing knock. Those last 10 overs. Is there anything you think your team could have done differently?

Yeah, obviously we'll reflect on that there, there'll be areas that we, we could have improved in but I think a lot of credit has to go to her and some of the striking there was was outstanding. It's very difficult to bowl at someone when they're in that type of form. Yeah. So I don't think that's for now. I think, you know, we're gonna have to dust ourselves down and, and obviously go back home. There'll be players going off to the WBBL now. But yeah, I think, you know, there are positives from this trip. I think we've got to sort of cling on to a few of them and, but ultimately we're defined on our results and today, you know, we've just obviously been knocked out of the World cup with. Which is, which is hugely disappointing for everyone.

Did those last 10 overs do you felt that it sort of bled into the way the top order batted because suddenly it was one for three. There was a little bit of uncharacteristic batting I think be safe to say from that top order blown away. First time that top three have gone for a duck and it was, I just felt watching on there might just have been a bit of a hangover from the trauma of the last half an hour.

Yeah, I mean you always probably say that with the situation. I mean, I haven't spoken to the players. I think I'm keeping away from them at the moment. But you know, it was a great spell of bowling. Yeah. And just disappointed. I thought it was a Great partnership from Nat and Capsy. That kind of gave us a glimmer of hope. And you kind of felt that Natsu Brunt had to kind of match what Laura Wolfhart did and that wasn't to be. So. So, yeah, we'll have to take it on the chin and. Yeah. Disappointing day.

Disappointing day. But has it been a disappointing tournament? I think there have been a lot of positives to come out of this. When you get the chance to reflect, what do you think you're going to look back on and go, you know, that's gone better?

Well, I've seen improvement and I think that's all you can ask for as a coach. You've seen improvements in the way we've gone about stuff. You know, we've asked the players to really, you know, go out there with. With clear plans of what they're trying to do in terms of winning matches. You know, we've won a lot of matches throughout this, this tournament, which is obviously something we, we should be proud of. But, yeah, it's obviously at the end of the day, it's on today, isn't it? And, And I think not to play our best cricket, we. We kind of said at the start of this, to win this, we're gonna have to play our best cricket. And we haven't today and we haven't been consistent enough today. So ultimately that's, you know, been our downfall.

Just briefly, to look across the tournament, though, the players for you that have shone, because there have been bright moments. I mean, there are come that some that have sort of come to maturity in a way. I think of Alice Captain getting her first ODI half century today. Lindsay Smith opening the bowling hasn't been doing that before for England. So, you know, there are differences to the England side that lost the ashes 16 nil. And it feels like there are changes afoot.

Yeah, I mean, delighted for Alice today. I think she's really taken her opportunity this, this tournament and has shown everyone what she can do. And obviously Lindsay's been, you know, one of our key bowlers. There's been lots of, you know, highlights, but, yeah, I think that's what we'll go back and reflect on. And obviously, obviously, we've got a big winter ahead of us of a big training block in preparation for the T20 now. And I think, you know, that will become the next focus once we've dusted ourselves down from this.

Charlotte, I can tell you're disappointed. It was a very tough day today. But I have to say South Africa had just a Fantastic day and it's not going to happen like that every week.

Yeah, they did and I think a full credit has to go to them and I'm sure, you know, they'll be travelling to Mumbai tomorrow and let's see who they. They face in the final commiserations.

And thanks for joining us.

Thank you.

Thoughts there? Charlotte was chatting to Daniel Norcross. Very honestly, I thought there, Alex.

Yeah. I think you have to be, don't you, as a coach, you've got to be honest, you know, about where, where you went wrong and how you were outplayed, if you were outplayed. And that's what we want. We don't, you know, we don't want to be lied to. We. We watch the games, we see the games, we follow this team. We've seen every single England women's team for the past 10 years or whatever it is between us. So, yeah, look, I think good honesty from Charlotte Edwards. England weren't good enough today and very disappointing for the, for the team, but they will learn from it and they will grow.

She was gutted. Yeah. You could sort of tell she was really, really. I mean, disappointed does not do it justice. She was really, really upset, I think, because she knows that the players could do that much more. And I think also she knows that against South Africa, they were favourites to win. This is the first time that South Africa have won an ODI against England batting first, isn't it? But at the same time, she's got. She talks about needing time to reflect and I don't really know how you do reflect on somebody scoring 169 against you. I mean, the. Harmon Preet knocked Australia out of the World Cup.

They did reflect and they changed and realized they had to adapt and move.

Yeah. And. And Charlotte Edwards has been coach for six months. You know, I think what she's able to do is get England to. To dig deeper and to stay in games longer. And I think if, you know, we're really honest at 202 for 5, England on that pitch would have felt pretty happy with how they'd come back into the game after South Africa had been 116 for none. So, you know, you are looking at a game that had lots of different twists and turns in it. It's just. It got away from them in that epic and extraordinary last 40 minutes of South Africa's innings. And England weren't able to counter punch. They needed to get through the power play. One down, probably with 50 on the board. What they didn't need was to be 1 for 3, naught for 2 after 5 balls and 1 for 3 after 7. So. And you know, when I say those, these things happen, perhaps those things shouldn't happen. You know, perhaps Amy Jones shouldn't be letting the ball get between bat and pad and be bold. Second ball. You know, perhaps Heather shouldn't be hanging a bat out to dry and having the ball just come back onto her stumps. Perhaps Tammy shouldn't be playing the shot that she was playing because they weren't three great balls, really. They were three slightly. Well, just unfocused shots, weren't they? And it was in stark contrast to how South Africa started their innings when they were right on it right from the start. Crisp drives from Laura Wolfhardt getting on top of England's bowlers.

As a wider look at the. The tournament and where England are at, Alex, I think it is worth looking at whether this is a successful tournament or not, because Charlotte Edwards said ahead of it that, you know, getting to the semi final was a minimum. They beat India, but they probably should have lost to Pakistan. They were thrashed by Australia. They should be the second best team in the world with their resources. But where do we assess it?

I think they're in a pretty good place, to be honest. I know they've not got through to a World cup final and like you say, they probably would have lost to Pakistan, but the difference in the team from what we saw in January is. Is actually remarkable. You know, the way they keep themselves in the game for as long as possible. They don't give up, they keep fighting. Even today, you know, Danny Wyatt Hodge at the end there, she's still trying to find boundaries. She's still trying to win the game. She's, you know, she was determined. So I think the, you know, the attitude has completely changed. They look like they want to fight. The fitness has got better, the fieldings got better. So, yes, they haven't had the result of winning a World cup, but actually, I think it has been a success because we've seen a massive change in this side from January.

Yeah, I mean, I think to the last tournament. We watched that together in Dubai and Sharjah and you just didn't feel that they were focused on the actual tournament. And things sort of came up and surprised them that, that turning out to be a knockout game. Like, how on earth did it turn out to be a knockout game out of. Out of nowhere? And they didn't seem to be prepared already for it, whereas this time I didn't feel that that's the case at all. And yet, you know, Al talked about fitness there. I think Alice Capsi is a really great example of this. In this tournament. She was frequently going from long on to long on. She was bowling, she was batting in the middle order, not initially very successfully, but towards the back end of the tournament was finding her feet. She was a live wire in the field. And I think it's safe to say that she wasn't that 12 months ago. And she's going to be a very important player for England over the years because we talk about, you know, the players that are new, they've come in eight of the same team played in the last semi final. Yeah. Right. So it's not like there's a massive churn of players. So when you're looking at the people that have come in, they are Lauren Bell, they're Lindsay Smith, they're Alice Capsy and you want to see how they're getting on. Lauren Bell's fielding has improved vastly. Her bowling's got better. Lindsay Smith's given another dimension and Alice Caps is an improved player.

But again, when the pressure's really on. England have been sadly beaten in a knockout match and it is now years and years.

But you can't. You can't expect that to change overnight. It's never going to change overnight. It's going to take a while for. You know, how many times do England play under pressure? It's only in World Cups. It's going to take a long time for that. And Ashes, it's going to take a long time for that to. That to change. And I actually think you've got to give the team a little bit of leeway. You've got to. They've got to get better at playing spin. They've got to get better at playing the in swinging ball. They've got to get better at playing under pressure. They've got better in the field, they've got fitter. You can't do it all at once.

And I think that is a point that's worth making. I think the worry from England's point of view is they would have come into this game much as we all did. And Alex, you were. You're the one that's going to be given the.

I'm deleting social media.

Well, don't. You said you had no doubt and you would qualify. I think many of us had a high confidence that England would.

Yeah. But you know, I think we're blindsided by the pitch because we've been at Guwahati and Watched three games here and it was a completely different surface. It was designed actually for England's bowling attack. They loved bowling on this and yet what we found actually was a really true, really good bouncy surface. And England's premier bowler was nursing a bit of an injury and I think her first couple of overs were very exploratory. They were very much like not quite on it. I know she did, yeah, she came back. She came back really well. But I guess what I'm saying is I, I think what we thought was that it was going to be a matchup where England spinners were going to be in the perfect place against the South African side that had the wrong makeup. Well, what actually happened is that South Africa's depth of batting that just kept on coming in. England was perfectly suited to the conditions and in a way, batting first, getting that 116 run opening standard gave them the platform to be really courageous and really bold. And so you got to take your hat off to them. The reason why we thought that the game would pan out differently is because we hadn't seen a pitch like that here before. We'd seen kind of like the opposite.

Yep. And it really interesting the way that the game played out. It is worth pointing out Laura Wolfard, as she said in that interview, she would have had a bowl first as well. And it worked out well for them. I mean, cricket is in an interesting place in, in this country or in England with India, I suppose, being the comparison in this tournament of the pressure that's been on them to perform. They've got a big game against Australia now. Our attention from an England perspective rather turns towards next summer where there's a glorious opportunity. We've seen the effects of the red roses, the lionesses and all of that sort of thing. Next summer, home T20 World Cup. I mean, there is something in the quite near future for England to really get their teeth to stuck in.

Yeah, how exciting. Yeah, how exciting for, for England to have a home World cup, you know, played at proper stadiums. You know, we're gonna have sellouts. We're playing at the oval on Friday nights, Thursday nights. You know, there's actually no place better to play cricket. I'm sure you'll enjoy that one, Dan. But no, it's, it's a real exciting opportunity for England to. And they've got a. Their minds will shift. There'll be some, you know, 50 over cricket that's played, but they've got. Though I'm guessing I've not seen the schedule. I'm guessing they'll have loads of T20 cricket. They'll, you know, go to Abu Dhabi and have a camp or whatever they'll do in the winter. But yeah, really exciting for that World Cup.

And look, we say this all the time, T20 does bring teams closer together. New Zealand won the last T20 World Cup. England on their day have got the personnel to be able to win T20 matches. They've got fantastic bowlers suited for that. Looking at the way Lindsay Smith's bowling, you can see them going in with a similar kind of bowling attack, even in English conditions. What they haven't quite hit the heights of in this tournament is power hitting. We've, I think we've seen teams better at that. And over 50 over cricket, it's a little bit more difficult to assess because the power comes right at the back end, doesn't it? But I'm thinking about, say, the garden. Yeah, David? Well, you see, this is, this is what I mean. And I'm thinking some an injection of new personnel, not wholesale changes. But in T20 you're able to pick a wild card who can smash it. Yeah, because you've got 11 resources to bat, so you can afford to try somebody out who's got a really high ceiling and who might win you a game on the day. Today, Laura Wolfhardt won them a game in the last 10 overs of the innings in T20. Somebody like Davida Perrin could do that.

Well, there is plenty of time for us to get stuck into that in, in the coming weeks and months. But in the meantime, I guess there is the slightly broader world cricket question as to whether India have the opportunity to overtake England or South Africa beginning to draw level. Are we at that sort of territory in terms of the chasing pack behind Australia?

I mean, Australia are way above everybody. We know that India have beaten England on a few occasions and probably become the second best team in the world. They're only going to get better with the wpl, you know, if, if they win this World Cup, I guess they'll have more money pumped into their domestic setup, therefore they'll get better and better. It's not when. It's not if India win a World cup, it's when. And I think that they will just. Could they have the potential to dominate in about 10 years time?

Yeah, absolutely. I think they're two totally different teams that you're looking at here. For South Africa, this is the last hurrah of players who, as Phil Long points out, five of these players played in the semi final against England eight years ago and then four years ago they are Wolfhardt Lease Cap Tryon and Ayabonga Kaka. And the problem that South Africa have got is that we're seeing the same names over and over again. They have played so much cricket, they are so experienced that they have done really well in this tournament with those players. But those players, what's behind them? With India you got exactly a different thing which is they don't quite know who to pick because they're getting so many players coming through from the WPL with the money that's coming in, they've got more and more professional players to choose from. So yeah, in the meantime, what England have got to hope is that their new county system, the fact that there are more professionals playing, that they're playing more cricket than ever before. Don't forget that Charlotte Edwards made England's players basically played domestic cricket at the start of the season. So you were seeing the likes of Heather Knight playing in April. You're seeing Alice Caps, he played time and time and time again for Surrey in the early part of the season and you're going to hope that that's going to bring results. I mean, I've seen players in the domestic game get so much better just this year alone and the power hitting improving massively. Now it's a matter of continuing that upward progress.

Well, England have won 14 of 21 completed matches since Charlotte Edwards took over as as head coach us in ODIs. And from the start of 2024 to when Charlotte Edwards was appointed, England won 34 of their 44 matches. So actually they've had a dip from 70% to 66% but I think the sample size is not big enough and the change is much deeper than that. I think I feel very differently looking at this England defeat in a World cup match and an Ashes match to how I felt a year ago, Alex, and just a final thought from you. It may be the same story in terms of England's elimination. It is a very different feeling.

No, it's the start of something new, isn't it? It sounds cliche that, but it is. It's the start of this team building and working and finding ways to win. And yes, they've got to get better under pressure. They'll be disappointed about today, but I think I can take a loss like that when, when I've seen them play the way they have throughout this tournament. It'll be one of those where they'll be disappointed for a while but actually when they look back on the games that they got over the line line on that. Games that would have lost it previously. They can sort of take pride in that. The way that they've changed, the way they fielded, the way that they were top of the table with catch percentage, you know, all these things that are starting to make changes. This team are going to be getting better and better.

Well, my thanks to Alex Hartley, to Daniel Norcross and to Phil Long. South Africa will find out their opponents on Thursday. Australia taking on India from Navi Mumbai. You can hear every ball of that on BBC Sounds from 9:15 on Thursday morning as well as the final on Sunday at the same time. But that's it for England in this World cup and for this podcast as well. Make sure that you're subscribed so you never miss an episode, including no Balls with Kate Cross and Alex. They've been speaking to the Australian skipper Elise Healy, so make sure that you check that out on the stream there as well. You'll find lots of material ahead of the Men's Ashes. So, so much to enjoy from Test match Special, albeit without England's women heading to a World cup final. Thank you so much for listening. We'll speak to you next time.

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