Tuesday 3 March 2020 11:36, UK
England will face India in the semi-final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup on Thursday as they aim to book their place in the MCG final.
Having qualified for the last four with victory over West Indies on Sunday, Heather Knight's side had to wait for the remainder of the group fixtures to be completed before discovering their opponents.
South Africa's match against West Indies was rained off, giving them the point they needed to top Group B. England drop to second and will now face Group A winners India at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.
If history is anything to go by then England have plenty of reasons to be positive going into the match. They have beaten India in each of their five previous meetings at Women's T20 World Cups, including a comprehensive eight-wicket win in the 2018 semi-final in the Caribbean.
However, with more rain forecast in Sydney, England may not get the chance to extended that impressive record on Thursday and that could prove disastrous. With no reserve day in place for the semi-finals, the group winners, India and South Africa, would go through to the final in Melbourne, at the expense of runners-up England and Australia.
India boast a 100 per cent record in the tournament so far, most notably beating Australia in the opening match, and should the rain hold off, seamer Anya Shrubsole says England are well aware of the threat they pose.
"At the top of the order, Shafali Verma has been brilliant so far in this tournament and everyone knows how good a player Smriti Mandhana is," she told Sky Sports.
"I've played with her quite a lot and I know just how good she is, so they're a real threat at the top of the order. Then obviously their spin attack, everyone knows about it, it has performed pretty well so far this tournament so they're the threats we'll have to overcome if we're going to be successful against them."
Watch the Women's T20 World Cup semi-finals live from 3.30am on Thursday on Sky Sports Cricket.
