England v Bangladesh: Women’s Cricket World Cup – live!

14th over: England 47-2 (Beaumont 16, Sciver 14) Drinks. A cagey first installment of this game. Someone is going to take it by the scruff of the neck in the next hour or so. Time for a brew.

13th over: England 44-2 (Beaumont 15, Sciver 12) Just a single off Ritu’s first. Bit of a plod so far for England, they are going at 3.38 runs per over.

12th over: England 43-2 (Beaumont 15, Sciver 11) England can’t break the shackles. Ritu Moni is going to float down some medium pacers with the keeper stood up to the stumps.

11th over: England 39-2 (Beaumont 14, Sciver 8) Just a couple from the over. 19 year old left-arm spinner Nahida Akter is coming into the attack.

10th over: England 37-2 (Beaumont 13, Sciver 7) Powerplay done and dusted. Sciver looks busy, cutting and driving to pick up five from the over. The suns is fully out now in Wellington, so that’s something.

9th over: England 32-2 (Beaumont 12, Sciver 3) Beaumont picks up two with a well placed clip through mid-wicket. She’s been consistent in this World Cup without yet posting a match defining score. Today Tammy eh?

8th over: England 30-2 (Beaumont 10, Sciver 3) Two early wickets gone for England then, that won’t settle the jitters. Nat Sciver is the new batter and she’s into her work with a single to fine leg and a whip off the pads for two.

The captain is gone! Caught by her opposite number behind the stumps. Salma Khatun bowled her the doosra and it was too close too cut, a spike on the snicko betrays Knight and she has to trudge off.

7th over: England 24-1 (Beaumont 9, Knight 4) Just a couple from a Knight sweep. Bangladesh bowling tidily, keeping the pressure on England.

6th over: England 20-1 (Beaumont 9, Knight 4) Cat and mouse stuff from Salma and Tammy Beaumont, the batter looking to attack but the bowler landing the ball on a dime. A paddle to the vacant ‘45 area brings a couple. The pitch looks a bit two-paced, Nasser reckons a score of 220 would be decent.

5th over: England 18-1 (Beaumont 7, Knight 1) Skipper Knight is at the crease early again. She’s off the mark immediately with a flick to mid-wicket for a leisurely single.

Gone! England lose Wyatt – scything in the air to point and the catch is taken! England remain the only side in the tournament not to post an opening partnership of fifty so far in the tournament.

4th over: England 14-0 (Beaumont 7, Wyatt 6) Tight over from Salma, just a Wyatt single off it.

England will go through with a win. How they do it, net run-rate wise could affect who they end up playing in the semis, with obviously Australia the side to avoid. Whoever finishes in fourth place will face Meg Lanning and co. At the moment it could be England, India or, if one of those two lose today, West Indies.

3rd over: England 13-0 (Beaumont 7, Wyatt 5) A nicely timed push for two through the covers from Beaumont brings the only runs from the over.

2nd over: England 11-0 (Beaumont 5, Wyatt 5) Salma Khatun’s spin. Salma starts with four dots before she drops short and Wyatt pounces to carve her square for four.

1st over: England 7-0 (Beaumont 5, Wyatt 1) Beaumont nudges one into leg to get England’s cause underway. Jahanara struggles with her run up slightly as she did in the windy conditions against Australia. It looks a lot brighter and less blustery in Wellington today. Wyatt gets off the mark with a single too. Four! Beaumont drives through cover for the first boundary of the game. England are up ‘n’ runnin.

Danni Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont take guard on this used Wellington wicket. Jahanara Alam has the ball in hand. Let’s play!

The players head out for the anthems. There’s just about enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers, as my ol’ Ma would say. No idea either, she lives in landlocked Derbyshire.

England: Tammy Beaumont, Danielle Wyatt, *Heather Knight, Natalie Sciver, +Amy Jones, Sophia Dunkley, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Charlotte Dean, Freya Davies.

Bangladesh: Sharmin Akhter, Shamima Sultana, Fargana Hoque, *+Nigar Sultana, Rumana Ahmed, Ritu Moni, Lata Mondal, Salma Khatun, Fahima Khatun, Nahida Akter, Jahanara Alam.

Hello and welcome to the night of nights for England’s female cricketers. A win against Bangladesh, who incidentally they have never met before in 50 over cricket, will see them grab a spot in the semi-finals.

It’s been a topsy-turvy campaign by England. They were gaping down the barrel of an early World Cup Exit after three defeats at the start of the tournament, ever since then it’s been pressure on – effectively playing elimination cricket in every match since.

Heather Knight will be desperately hoping that her side’s 2022 World Cup journey in New Zealand continues to go the way of the tortoise and the hare. That their ugly duckling early performances of dropped catches and wayward bowling continue to transform into something swan-like as the competition reaches the sharp end. Lose against Bangladesh today though and it will be Goodnight, Moon.

The signs are promising, some of those who had been having a ‘quieter’ time of it have stepped up. Danni Wyatt was in the runs and Katherine Brunt the wickets in the defeat of Pakistan. Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone, Nat Sciver and Sophia Dunkley have all performed consistently, so to the skipper herself.

“Everyone is peaking at the right time going into this game and then hopefully the semi-finals… it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” declared opener Tammy Beaumont in the run up to today’s match at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.

They won’t be taking Bangladesh lightly. Nigar Sultana’s side have beaten Pakistan and pushed both West Indies and India close. They nearly pulled off the shock of the tournament at a blustery Basin Reserve just a couple of days ago, reducing the unbeaten Aussies to 70-5 chasing a tricksy target of 135. If they’d been more proactive with the bat earlier on the piece then they could have pulled off a spectacular upset. They have a spin contingent that could damage England, especially with all the pressure on pale blue shoulders. I predict a bum-squeaker.

Play starts at 10pm GMT/11 AM local time.

Jim here with the call for the first half before Tanya takes over in the wee small hours. I’ll be back shortly with news of the toss and the teams. As ever do get in touch with your musings and mirth.

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