England targets semi-final spot with win over New Zealand

• England’s Jenny Gunn: “We have been playing with a bit of freedom, we’re taking each game as it comes and we enjoy playing for our country.”
• New Zealand captain Suzie Bates: “We have confidence as a group and players getting in form, which will only put us in a good place.”
• The match can be watched live on Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports Mix, its website and app in the UK; on SKY Sport 4, Skygo, Fanpass and Sky.co.nz in New Zealand
• The pre-match audios, photographs from the England v New Zealand match and post-match video interviews to be available at the Online Media Zone

Jenny Gunn believes England is now playing with freedom in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 and claims the team is full of confidence as it looks to seal a semi-final place with a win over New Zealand on Wednesday.

Victory for the host, which currently leads the table, at The County Ground in Derby will guarantee passage to the knockout stage with one group match remaining.

But New Zealand is also in the hunt for a last-four spot and needs a victory to strengthen its position for a qualification spot.

Right-arm seamer Gunn held her nerve to defend 16 in the final over of England’s previous match against Australia, sealing a first ICC WWC victory over the Southern Stars since 1993 by three runs, and is relishing the tense race for semi-final places.

“It’s always brilliant to beat Australia and the game between South Africa and India [won by South Africa] has also thrown the competition wide open and that’s what women’s cricket is about,” she said.

“Anyone can win from here, it’s brilliant to get that victory over Australia to head into the New Zealand match.

“We’re a family, we do get on and once we take the field it’s nice to be with everyone and be there for the fight, it’s really good fun.

“We have been playing with a bit of freedom, we’re taking each game as it comes and we enjoy playing for our country.”

While a win for England would send it into the last-four, New Zealand will only book a semi-final spot with one game left if South Africa and Australia lose their matches and the White Ferns side wins.

It is far more likely that its qualification hopes come down to the final round of matches but after an eight-wicket win over Pakistan in the last match, captain Suzie Bates is adamant her side – for whom Amy Satterthwaite will make her 100th ODI appearance if she plays on Wednesday – is feeling good about the crucial period.

“It’s hard to take too much from previous matches in this tournament, but we have confidence as a group and players getting in form, which will only put us in a good place,” said Bates.

“The beauty of this team is having not just good cricket players but great people, we’re all here for the same reasons and we just want to win the World Cup.

“We’d love to perform like this against someone like Australia, England or India, we haven’t done that yet but it’s not to say that we can’t.

“It’s more about being able to transfer those skills where teams can bowl tighter for longer, that’s the style we want to play, we’ve just got to be able to do it more often.

“I can’t wait for England, we haven’t played them a lot – they are a really talented side and have had some really good scores in this tournament. But we match up pretty well and it should be a really good game.”

In the United Kingdom, the match can be watched live on Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports Mix, its website and app, while it can be watched in New Zealand on SKY Sport 4, Skygo, Fanpass and Sky.co.nz. For further information, contact your local listings.

Squads:

England: Heather Knight (captain), Tamsin Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Georgia Elwiss, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Beth Langston, Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield and Danielle Wyatt

New Zealand: Suzie Bates (captain), Erin Bermingham, Sophie Devine, Maddie Green, Holly Huddleston, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Katey Martin, Thamsyn Newton, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu

Umpires: Jacqueline Williams and Ahsan Raza

Match referee: Steve Bernard

Points Table (as of 10 July)