Ellyse Perry Australia
The master of reinvention, you cannot keep Perry out of the game. She used to sit happy in the top four, now she bats down at No 7, and with Australia’s top six that means the majority of the time not even getting a look-in. So she is doing it with the ball instead: eight wickets so far this tournament at an economy rate of 5.07. With semi-final figures of two for two she ripped the heart out of West Indies’ chase before it really got going: no one would be surprised to see her repeating the feat against England.
Alyssa Healy Australia
Healy is already the odds-on favourite for player of the tournament, whatever the result in the final. The stats tell the story: she has 203 runs, two half-centuries and four awards for being player of the match. Australia’s only defeat in the tournament came after she sustained a knock on the head against India and could not join the run chase: her return to full fitness, announced only 90 minutes before the semi-final took place, had Australians the world over breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Amy Jones England
Having played second fiddle to Sarah Taylor since her debut in 2013, this has been Jones’s coming-of-age tournament. Thoroughly competent behind the stumps, she is also England’s leading run-scorer. Her half-century in the semi-final against India spoke volumes about her maturity as a player: a sensible innings on a difficult pitch, she took her side to a comfortable win and showed her own worth in the process. Before the tournament all the talk was of how England would manage without Taylor: that seems a long time ago now.
Kirstie Gordon England
A year ago Gordon was playing for Scotland without expectation of even a Super League contract. Now she is about to participate in a World Cup final: it’s been a meteoric rise. The left-arm spinner is an attacking option who takes wickets at key moments, with her international scalps so far including Deandra Dottin and Harmanpreet Kaur. She is also England’s leading wicket-taker in the competition. “She’s really taken to international cricket very naturally,” Amy Jones said of Gordon after the semi-final. England will be relying on her to break key partnerships against Australia.
