“It wasn’t a very nice day four years ago,” says the England captain, Heather Knight, recalling the last time her side faced Sunday’s opponents, Sri Lanka, in World Cup competition. It was 2013 when England, then the defending champions, suffered what remains the biggest upset in women’s ODI cricket as an Eshani Kaushalya cameo of 56 from 41 deliveries helped Sri Lanka to a one-wicket win off the final ball.
The victory was historic for Sri Lanka: their first against a top four side – Australia, England, New Zealand or India – though they did go on to turn over India in the same competition. Knight, 22 at the time, had the chance to watch the defeat on Tuesday during England’s win over Pakistan, with Sky airing the highlights when the rain arrived after 29.2 overs of the chase. She found it amusing yet was able to keep perspective: “It was four years ago.”
While England were shocked then, they are shrewd now. They toured Sri Lanka in October as part of the ICC Women’s Championship, winning an ODI series 4-0. They also played a World Cup warm-up match against Sri Lanka in Chesterfield, chasing a target of 156 in 30.2 overs before batting through to 50 overs and finishing on 348 for five. Knight finished with a hundred.
England also watched events in the week at Bristol, where Australia were stunned by a remarkable unbeaten 178 from Chamari Atapattu – the third-highest score in women’s ODIs. While Meg Lanning’s unbeaten 152 took Australia to their target of 258 with eight wickets and 37 balls to spare, it was another indication of the strides made by women’s teams over the past four years.
“Sri Lanka are a completely different team, in completely different conditions now and we won’t be taking them for granted,” says Knight. “They batted very well [against Australia]. Atapattu played a brilliant innings but tomorrow is all about how we play.”
Knight speaks as a woman in form. While the all-rounder Nat Sciver grabbed the stage with a spectacular 137 as England posted 377 for seven against Pakistan, Knight’s own maiden ODI century was very much an off-Broadway classic. “I was perfectly happy to let Nat take the headlines after that innings, it was really good to watch and felt like I was the more supporting role, which suits our partnership well. But to be honest it was more of a relief than anything. Felt like I’ve got a lot of fifties but not converted, so it was a monkey to get off my back.”
While there is welcome news that Lauren Winfield, whose recovery from a wrist injury has her in the mix to rejoin Tammy Beaumont at the top of the order, there are a couple of areas for concern. The opening bowler Anya Shrubsole picked up a knee injury in training, which will be assessed before the match. While the benefit may be that the head coach, Mark Robinson, can get competitive overs into the legs of one of his reserve bowlers, knee injuries are rarely straightforward and England will be hoping that Shrubsole can overcome hers with little fuss.
The match will also be played on a used wicket. Prepared fresh for England men’s T20 against South Africa on 23 June, it has since been used for two women’s World Cup matches in the past week. It is expected to take turn, which will suit Sri Lanka and their plethora of spin options.
Robinson was diplomatic when he was asked about the surface: “We’ve got to play on what we’ve got to play on. It might play brilliantly. It’s got some wear in it but the key bit is you want the surface to play well, you want to play good cricket. You want to be able to perform and not be hamstrung by how the wickets are. So hopefully it’ll play well, the sun will shine and England win. And Knight gets another hundred.”
