If you score a century in Women’s ODIs, you will almost certainly win the game: a whopping 86% of the 348 centuries scored in Women’s ODIs before today resulted in a win. (Intriguingly, this is far higher than in the men’s game where it is only 73%.)
So the writing was on the wall for England when Laura Wolvaardt went past 100 in the 40th over; but to ensure that South Africa reached their first 50-over World Cup final, there was still work to do. With 10 overs remaining, Wolvaardt was on 102 and South Africa were 202-5, 80-100 runs short of where they needed to be. England were still in the game, especially a ball later when Annerie Dercksen tried to reverse sweep Sophie Ecclestone and played-on. South Africa had the platform, and the long middle order right down to Nadine de Klerk – a very handy player to have coming in at 9 – but Wolvaardt’s job was still to turn a good innings into a great one.
The “Milwaukee” (so-called because unlike the Manhattan, it has just a few towers on its skyline) says it all. In those last 10 overs, South Africa built an Empire State Building – 117 runs, at a Strike Rate of almost 200. Wolvaardt herself scored a further 68 runs off just 27 balls, at a Strike Rate of 252, as South Africa posted 319. Australia might have chased that; India could possibly have on their day; England were never going to.
Charlotte Edwards said after the game that she felt like England could have chased 280; and I accept there’s a certain logic there, that when faced with a chase of 320 you have to take risks and are more likely to get bowled out. But given that England were 1-3 after losing Amy Jones, Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont, all for nought before a single run had been scored off the bat, Edwards’s assertion feels like a “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” too far.
Notwithstanding that England’s assassin was 35-year-old Marizanne Kapp – who took 5-20 in one of the great performances of her long career – there’s a certain irony in the fact that the real problem here is age. At 32 (Jones) and 34 (Knight and Beaumont) the years are starting to take their toll, and while experience can counterbalance that to a certain extent, no one is immune to the march of time on the eyes in particular – you just aren’t seeing the ball as well as you were when you were 25. Yes, Jones and Beaumont got good balls (I’m not so sure Knight did); but good balls is what you get at this level – cook ’em, or get out of the kitchen!
Although I tipped England to win this World Cup just a couple of days ago (with the caveat that they didn’t deserve to!) I’ve been pretty consistent in saying this was the wrong team to take to this tournament. They had already proved during the Ashes that they weren’t good enough, and this is the same team – the only new player in this squad, Em Arlott, barely got a look-in – playing just one match when Lauren Bell was unwell.
I’m not suggesting a side led by Grace Scrivens would have won the World Cup – far from it, there’s a good chance they wouldn’t have even made the semi-finals. But at least the rebuild would have begun for the World Cups in 2029 and 2033, by which time Scrivens will still be nearly 4 years younger than Nat Sciver-Brunt is today.
2029 and 2033 are where we need to be looking now, which means it is (or should be) the end of the road for Jones, Beaumont, Knight, Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt-Hodge and probably Sophia Dunkley too. None of them will thank me for saying it – they are all desperate to continue long enough to play in a home T20 World Cup next summer, and the Olympics in the summer after that. And perhaps there is a case for giving them one more shot in the T20 format in 2026; but where the squad for this World Cup (particularly the batting) looked to the past, the next ODI team that England select needs to be looking towards the future.
As someone once said: Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. The beginning that begun in 2016 under Mark Robinson, has now ended under Charlotte Edwards – the very player he sacked to usher in his new era. Now it’s her turn to wield the knife.
You’d hope that some of these players will see the writing on the wall and go with dignity; but in her post-match presser, NSB said: “This will hurt but hopefully in time we’ll be able to take the learnings from it and move forward.” Sadly, that suggests that she doesn’t get it – this team wasn’t good enough to beat the best in January 2025; it wasn’t good enough to beat the best in October 2025; and it won’t ever be good enough. It’s time to hand over to a new group of players that one day might be.
CRICKETher 
With global tournaments coming thick and fast, there isn’t a perfect moment for renewal. But the same group can only deliver the same outcomes for so long — and both the team, and the cricketing public, are clearly ready for something new.
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The positives first. England’s catching has improved, and they not only managed to beat India in their own backyard, but managed to do it from a tight match situation that they might have bottled 12 months ago. On the other hand, that India fixture was a group game and it never looked likely during the tournament that England would fail to make the top four. It still seems that the team has a problem with the pressures of ‘one off’ matches such as any knockout stage game. While you could try to say that we were beaten today by an innings for the ages, strangely enough these amazing individual efforts never seem to happen amongst teams playing Australia! Looking ahead, yes of course several players may not make the next 50 over World Cup, and while it would be too drastic to jettison all of them immediately, there surely has to be some new blood in the team and some recognition of the fact that a new four-year cycle commences now. It might seem like I’m singling out a player in making my next remark, but I’m not really. It’s just that if we really feel that Dunkley is among the strongest 11 available to us right now, then it’s unlikely we will be beating the best countries too often.
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There is an irony here.
If Beaumont and Wyatt were starting out now they would never become the stars they have become.
In their early England days they were, well, crap. But, in that era, the media were miles away and had no idea where various club grounds were located. There was no media clamour or BBC HYS burying your career. They had time, had opportunities to fail, but learnt, and boy did they learn.
Now, women’s cricket has what it has craved; coverage but there’s no free lunch and that comes with pressure and the demand for instant success.
An object lesson in patience is Wolvaardt. Not hers but South Africa’s. Her early career wasn’t brilliant (and very slow scoring rate) but they stuck with her, nurtured her and look at the diamond they have now.
Don’t envy Charlotte Edwards’ job one bit.
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A question: has Charlotte Edwards perhaps been guilty of assuming that the team was under-performing because of the previous coaching and that she was going to find some ‘quick fixes’ by focussing on winning as all that matters, and not thinking longer-term earlier? The suggestion in the interviews post this match was that she now understands the scale of the task ahead and it is time to look to the future – has that not been fairly obvious for many months as this site and others have been saying for quite a while?
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A broom needs to go through the current team as they do not have what it takes to win at the top level. South Africa gave England a cricketing lesson and I can only hope this brings about change. I don’t know what the answer is, but the current team is very unlikeable – I think a fresher team of players, and I include Glenn, Arlott, Dunkley and potentially Capsey (if not too poisoned by the existing culture) in this group, even if they did not immediately start winning but actively showed signs of a rebuild would be a vast improvement on the stale outfit that is currently in place.
Optically there is a clear lack of athleticism in the English team. The ECB might benefit from running an ‘Olympic Futures’-type programme to identify girls that have the athleticism to be professional sportswomen and then develop their cricket skills. I would hope there is a hunger for that and the cricket system is not so much of a closed shop. I watched The Hundred this year and some of the younger potential England players I hear spoken about looked overweight. This might be an uncomfortable subject but it is a problem that can and should be addressed in plain terms.
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The most disappointing thing about this World Cup for me has been the rain. Those maddening wash-outs aside it’s been fun to watch – the high scoring totals, the variety of wickets from spin and pace (including slow variations), the individual milestones. Of course It’s a shame to go into a ‘Major’ with low expectations for England but that’s where I am unfortunately – So to make the semis was actually kind of exciting and didn’t feel as frustrating as previous years. It even had Syd predicting an England win!! I I definitely still feel like the Comm Games T20 was THEE post-2017 emotional low point as an England fan (yes including the away Ashes).
Also how good is it to see that there will be a brand new name etched on the 50 over WC trophy! Lower ranked nations have got to be perking up and waxing that willow extra hard! And I look forward to experiencing measurable progress with England in future; like the way India’s progress has felt more gradual and sustained than out of the blue/fluke. I’m happy to give Edwards’ regime time to build something new. I still think NSB was fine for a ‘transition’ captain to this tournament, but I thought the bridge to the next might be clearer by now I guess.
England got as far in this campaign as the mighty Aussies did, who seem to have oven-ready captains up the wazoo! That’s knockout cricket for you; I’d defo put SA at the top of the “grit and unpredictability” charts and India with the “all round most-improved since the last 50 over WC” rosette which all seems a good formula for major trophy success. Fingers crossed for an entertaining final! 💃🏾
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“Fingers crossed for an entertaining final”
In a weird way its a shame the match of this World Cup, well any World Cup, well women’s cricket, has come in the Semi FInal.
It will take something to match it in the Final. Hope springs eternal.
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