Australia v England: Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 final

Australia v England: Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 final – live!

Over-by-over updates from the decider at Hagley Oval
Start time in Christchurch is 1pm/11am AEDT/2am BST
Any thoughts? Email Megan or tweet @meganmaurice

Welcome! Well, after four weeks of fierce competition, we’ve reached the final and it’s Australia v England - the first time these two nations have met in a World Cup final since 1988, which is quite frankly wild. It would have seemed an unlikely scenario earlier in the tournament. England started with three losses on the trot and looked every bit as hapless as they did during the Ashes. But somehow they rallied, Danni Wyatt started scoring runs, Katherine Brunt started looking fearsome again and Sophie Ecclestone showed why she is such a world class spinner. It started with a dominant win over England, followed by a clutch victory over New Zealand. They sailed past Pakistan and Bangladesh and found themselves in a semi final against South Africa. It was in that game where they really showed their turnaround in form, putting 293 on the board, before bowling SA out for 156 in 38 overs. It’s been an incredible run and they won’t want to waste this opportunity they’ve given themselves.

In contrast, Australia has barely been challenged. There have been a couple of instances where they lost early wickets and to the casual observer may have looked like they were in trouble. But their batting line up is just so deep and they have so much belief that there’s never a moment of panic. They were unconvincing against Bangladesh and India took them into the final over of the match, but Beth Mooney’s unflappable nature just keeps on propelling them towards wins. It will take a particularly special effort from England to beat them today, but anything can happen in a World Cup final. If England finds a way to make Australia panic, to finally shift them even slightly out of their comfort zone, they could be in with a chance.