T20 World Cup: Nasser Hussain says England must be fearless to topple ‘standout favourites’ Australia | Cricket News

Ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup, Nasser Hussain looks at England’s chances, the rise of India, and South Africa’s decision to omit captain Dane van Niekerk on fitness grounds…

Women’s cricket has been changing in front of our eyes over the last few years.

We have seen that in global tournaments – there were over 80,000 people at the MCG for the last T20 World Cup final between Australia and India in 2020 – and various domestic competitions like the Hundred where women’s cricket has been eye-catching.

That has snowballed. The quality has gone up and names are being created.

Those names are much sought-after by franchise teams and the game-changer is the Women’s Premier League in India coming up, which will provide large sums of money if not life-changing sums. Being a women’s cricketer is now a viable career and it is about time.

It is a little bit of a distraction that the player auction takes place on February 13, the same day England play Ireland and South Africa face New Zealand in the World Cup.

Some players will be excited having been chosen and others will be disappointed not to have been picked.

With the extra exposure comes things that you have to keep an eye on but you would much rather have it this way than these high-class professional sportspeople being undervalued.

The T20 World Cup is a huge global event and it won’t be overshadowed. The auction may be a bit of a distraction for a day or two but this is a World Cup everyone wants to win, with Australia looking for three in a row. They are the standout favourites.

You only have to look at their record over the last few years, when they have been absolutely phenomenal. Not just in bilateral series but in world events. T20 World Cups, 50-over World Cups, Commonwealth Games. You name it, they’ve won it.

England and New Zealand will be in contention but you also have the emergence of India so they will be a real threat.

Then there is the host nation South Africa, albeit without their influential captain Dane van Niekerk. They beat India in a warm-up tournament so we can’t write them off.

‘You cannot be timid against Australia, you have to take them on’

England are a very good team and have had a bit of a turnaround of players since winning the 50-over World Cup in 2017. Some younger blood has come in, including the very exciting Alice Capsey.

They are very well led by Heather Knight. With the young talent around, you need that experience in high-pressure situations and that is exactly what Knight provides having been there and done it before in knockout games. She is a cool, calm leader.

New coach Jon Lewis has also tried to take on what he has learned from the men’s game and instil an aggressive, attacking style of cricket. That suits T20 and the batters England have in Capsey, Danni Wyatt, and Nat Sciver-Brunt.

Capsey really is a fearless cricketer. Sophia Dunkley is, too. And that is something England will have to be if they are to beat Australia.

Whether it’s a domestic game or playing for England, Capsey’s first thought is to hit the ball and hit it for boundaries. She is perfect for the brand England are looking to incorporate and she gives you a bowling option as well with her off-spin.

The problem for England, as with most sides, is that you go through the group stages and then are suddenly facing Australia where your standards need to be top notch.

It is quite the jump from facing everyone else to then facing Australia. If you do play Australia, you cannot be timid. You have to take them on.

With the ball, England have a trump card in Sophie Ecclestone, ranked the best bowler in the world in both white-ball formats. She is incredibly accurate, very tall and very difficult to get after.

She is not a massive spinner of the ball but T20 for spinners is a lot about bowling that heavy ball into the pitch, skidding it on and targeting the stumps, bringing lbw and bowled into play. Rashid Khan does that for Afghanistan in the men’s game and Sophie does it for England in the women’s.

Ecclestone doesn’t free up both sides of the wicket and if you miss, she hits. That means a lot of the time batters are happy to see off her four overs. The challenge for her then is to still be a wicket-taker when people are prepared to sit in against her.

She also thinks like a batter having played a number of innings down the order and takes that into her bowling, while she is a huge competitor. That is what I like most about her.

Being No 1 in the world sits very comfortably with her. When she is brought on by Knight, she invariably delivers.

‘South Africa would a better side with Van Niekerk’

For South Africa, the omission of Van Niekerk is a difficult one. You do need fitness tests but she has been an inspirational leader and is one of their best players with bat and ball.

My opinion is to always try and get your best side on the park and measure fitness as a combination of things, not just missing out on a set 2km run by 18 seconds. There is more involved in being a professional athlete than that.

From what we’ve heard, Dane also made a great effort to improve her fitness so put that in the equation as well. She is not someone who hasn’t been putting a shift in.

I know you have to look at the bigger picture but I always feel it should be about whether you are a better side with or without that person and I feel South Africa are better with Dane van Niekerk playing and leading. She is a captain that wants to win.

It is a big decision for South Africa to have made.

India, meanwhile, are a force to be reckoned with and in the next decade or so they will go from strength to strength.

The change happened once they got to that World Cup final at Lord’s in 2017 and with the Women’s Premier League coming up there is no going back. They used to be a sleeping giant but are no longer asleep. They are wide awake.

It used to be pretty much just Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami but you look at the players they have now – Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana.

Verma is still so young – she captained India to the Under-19 T20 World Cup title just recently – and Mandhana is about as elegant a cricketer as you get. She never gets ugly runs. Then in Deepti Sharma they have an outstanding bowler.

India have a lot of boxes ticked and if it is not to be for them in this World Cup it probably will be in future ones.

For Ireland, who beat Australia in a warm-up and are in England and India’s World Cup group, they have to believe they can make the knockout stages.

You could say for them that it is about causing an upset against the bigger sides but you have to aim high and if you get out of the group you never know what can happen. The shorter the format, the more chance of an upset.

If Ireland could get out of the group it would be a massive success for them and good for the game as you don’t just want the top sides dominating.

Watch the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup live on Sky Sports throughout February. South Africa vs Sri Lanka begins the tournament from 5pm on Friday (4.30pm on air) with England starting their campaign on Saturday against West Indies (12.30pm on air ahead of 1pm first ball).