Whether your take on England’s narrow win at the World Cup on Sunday was that they earned it or India threw it away, it definitely marked progress for Nat Sciver-Brunt’s side.

Keeping their cool in crunch moments has long been the team’s nemesis: in successive T20 World Cups and, most obviously, that 16-0 Ashes drubbing just under a year ago.

Yes, Australia are a brilliant team, one perhaps currently marching towards an eighth 50-over World Cup title, but England did not half shoot themselves in the foot last winter, freezing when it mattered most, losing games they could, perhaps should, have won.

In Indore at the weekend, though, that changed.

When the pressure was on, England held their nerve and India lost theirs as the World Cup co-hosts slipped to a third straight defeat and their unbeaten opponents secured a semi-final place.

At the start of the 42nd over, India were only three wickets down and needing 56 from 54 deliveries with Smriti Mandhana 88 not out and looking destined for a century and Deepti Sharma having cantered to 35. There was only one likely winner.

And yet that team lost, amid a sea of rash strokes, sure, but also around confident England catching as Alice Capsey – one of those whose fielding has improved dramatically – Heather Knight and Sophia Dunkley did not suffer a case of butterfingers.

While Knight’s take in the covers was fairly routine, your mind did start wandering back to England’s raft of grassed chances in the defeat to West Indies during the 2024 T20 World Cup when Capsey and Dunkley had to settle under the swirling ball.

But this is a side with a bit more mettle, it seems. The fact they are still to be beaten in this tournament despite not being at their best is testament to that.

They recovered from a batting wobble to edge past Bangladesh and the win over Sri Lanka was not as much of a cakewalk as the 89-run victory margin suggested. The rain saved them from a shock defeat to Pakistan but they responded in style against India.

Former England seamer Tash Farrant says head coach Charlotte Edwards and captain Sciver-Brunt – who succeeded Jon Lewis and Knight in those roles after the Ashes – must take the brunt of the credit, telling Sky Sports: “Having Edwards as a coach is massive.

“She is a winner and for her winning comes first, more than how you play. I also think Sciver-Brunt has grown into her captaincy – interesting field placements, chatting to her bowlers, calm under pressure, using Knight and Charlie Dean.”

Concerns continue over lower middle order

The results so far have highlighted England’s fight but also exposed their issues.

The biggest of those issues is the middle order batting behind Knight and Sciver-Brunt. Those gun players have a hundred apiece – Knight also has a fifty in a brilliant return from a serious hamstring tear – and are averaging 78.33 and 47.75 respectively.

However, Nos 5, 6 and 7 in the order (Dunkley, Emma Lamb and Capsey) are averaging 11, 7.25 and 9.50 respectively.

With Danni Wyatt-Hodge an excellent player of spin – and next opponents Australia having excellent bowlers of that in Ash Gardner, Alana King, Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham – it may be time for a change, with Lamb perhaps most vulnerable.

Wednesday’s match against Australia, who, like England, are unbeaten with four wins and a rain-off, will be the acid test of whether Sciver-Brunt’s side have made significant steps since that Ashes debacle, but there are plenty of reasons for optimism.

The bottle they showed against India, the fielding improvements – England have only shelled three catches in the tournament this far – the form and fitness of Knight and principally their spinners, with frontliners Sophie Ecclestone (10), Charlie Dean (7) and Linsey Smith (7) taking 24 wickets combined.

While it was Ecclestone who went a long way to securing victory over India when Deepti holed out to Dunkley with 27 needed from 19 balls, it was fellow left-arm twirler Smith who sealed England’s win, shipping only nine of the 14 runs required off the last over.

That followed a terrific 48th over in which she only conceded four runs, with the 30-year-old’s drift into the right-handers and away from the lefties a crucial weapon in England’s arsenal.

There will be little room for error against Australia. The late collapse of 5-31 that stopped England passing 300 in Indore was not pounced upon by India but if it happens again on Wednesday, we can probably expect the title favourites to make them pay.

However, this England side are showing they can bounce back from knockbacks. There is a steel now that bodes well. If that can lead to a win over Australia, hopes of a fifth World Cup title will only increase.

England’s World Cup results and fixtures

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