“There’s extra pressure from everywhere,” Sciver-Brunt told reporters at Edgbaston on tournament eve. “Being the host nation, first home World Cup for me leading, the Lionesses and the Red Roses doing such a brilliant job in their tournaments, the state of women’s cricket, the list goes on in terms of where you could add up the pressure.
“I guess we’re sat here feeling that pressure as a privilege. We’re in a time in the world where women’s cricket is waiting for a platform in cricket to expand and explode. It just so happens that we’re the 15 people who have the opportunity to do that at this time.
“Inside our Team England bubble we’re trying to stay composed despite the pressure. There’ll be different times where it’s more difficult to not let the outside noise in, but I suppose we’re in a privileged position to be able to feel that. I’m really excited about what’s to come.”
“We are coming in with the underdog tag because we need to earn something,” Athapaththu said. “But I know England have a little bit of pressure because they are playing in their home conditions, and first game, and a lot of expectation.
“We don’t have that kind of pressure. So, we just need to play our fearless cricket. And if we can play our best cricket tomorrow, I know we can challenge and we can make history.”
The line-up which beat India by five runs on Wednesday – in which Jones opened with Wyatt-Hodge, followed by Sciver-Brunt, Capsey and Heather Knight – offers scope to move players around the upper- and middle-orders.
And while she wouldn’t give any details before the toss, Sciver-Brunt said of Jones: “The balance that she gives with maybe a Danni White-Hodge, I think that her experience and playing different types of bowling, that maybe Danni’s strength isn’t as high in, that gives a really good combination at the top of the order.”
And the ace in the pack to emerge so far this year has been Smith, who stormed into the No. 1 spot on the ICC’s T20I bowling charts after a brilliant start to the summer.
Player of the series against New Zealand, who found her low, skiddy trajectory and scrooge-like approach to the powerplay near impossible to read, Smith faced a sterner test against India, against whom she took just one wicket from two T20s. Ecclestone, meanwhile, played all three games against India for just one wicket and Corteen-Coleman one from one with the superior economy rate of the three.
“There’s a lot of pressure on places at the minute, which is a really good spot for this squad to be in,” Smith told ESPNcricinfo ahead of the India series. “It can only drive us to keep improving and also keep pushing the squad on, which is really exciting.
“Tilly… brings a lot of excitement, a lot of energy and is really hungry to learn, which is great and it’s great for the likes of me and Soph as well, to push us on and to have those conversations. She can give us snippets, we can give her snippets and it’s a really healthy place to be in.”
“I think it would be pretty tough to get all three of them in the XI,” she said. “We have a squad of 15 players, all of whom could be part of our XI. There’ll be some disappointed people because everybody so far in the summer has put their hand up with different performances at different times.
“We know that we’ll need to call upon every one of those 15 people during this tournament, it’s not just about the XI. I suppose it makes for some tough conversations.
“You might think, ‘why have they got three of the same type of spinner?’ but everybody gives a different look. There’s a huge height difference between Sophie and Linsey, Tilly has that young exuberance and skill and talent. It’s an asset for us to have all three of them on our side.”
For all their shuffling of the deck through the summer so far, it all comes down to this for England. The way the cards fall in the first game could very well set the tone for their tournament.
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo
