The English Team versus The South African Squad – Women's Cricket Global Tournament Starts
Quiet now! All discussions have ended, for now at least, while England’s World Cup is set to start. Unfortunately, they face a challenging match against South Africa. Fortunately, they open with a stern test against South Africa. Success today would give England instant momentum and justify the careful optimism from their pre-competition talk.
Pre-Competition Confidence
An excellent win against the Australians in their last warm-up has boosted that self-assurance, although the individual performances by Alice Capsey (scoring 88 not out) and Sarah Glenn (5 for 32) caused a small team-selection puzzle for Charlotte Edwards.
Edwards is known for her success, so there’s no danger of England setting their sights low. Yet, externally they find themselves in a somewhat uncommon situation where their tournament benchmark is quite obvious.
Tournament Expectations
Falling short of the semis could be a slight surprise, despite the progress made by usual lower-ranked teams. Making it to the championship match in front of the Aussies or Indians, the primary frontrunners to lift the trophy, would represent a major feat. Should England emerge victorious… no, let’s not go there. It’s far too soon for that sort of talk.
Today’s match begins at half past ten in the morning BST.
