‘The past is the past’ – semi-finalists put history behind them

The Windies and England were the respective winners then, at the cost of Australia and India. Will the weight of history change how the four teams approach the matches at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium in Antigua on Thursday, 22 November?

“No, it doesn't,” insisted Stafanie Taylor, the Windies captain, on the eve of the game. “That's the past, and tomorrow is definitely what comes. I have a feeling that the Aussies might look at it as a revenge, but for us, that's the past, and tomorrow's game is definitely what counts.”

Meg Lanning, the Australian captain, too preferred to look ahead at a match-up between two “exciting” teams. “It's a new game tomorrow,” she said. “We're really excited about the opportunity that we've got to play in a World Cup semi-final in front of a really big crowd.

“We were speaking earlier today about just really embracing that opportunity. You don't get to get back here very often, so we're just really looking forward to the opportunity to come up against a good team and hopefully put on a good show.”

Lanning also pointed out that there were members in her side without any of the baggage of that previous game. “The best thing about them is that they're really composed under pressure,” she said. “I think it's very easy to get caught up in worry, I guess, about the stage that you're playing on, but we're going out there to enjoy what we do.”

India have previously spoken about how they rewatched the Lord’s final they lost to England and worked to put it behind them.

“We're taking it as another game,” said Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain. “We just need to focus on what we have done well in the last league games and those things we need to just continue now.

“We need to live in the present. At present we're doing really well, I think. Other than thinking about the past we just need to think what we need to do in the next game.”

More than the result in the World Cup final, England want to remember how they found success in a high-pressure game.

“We take confidence from the fact that we performed in knockout matches before, but I don't think it (the 50-over final) counts for anything with the game tomorrow. It's a different format, different team for India, different captain for them and things like that,” said Heather Knight, the England captain.

“It's all going to be about tomorrow. We know T20 cricket, it's whoever turns up on the day … It's about us going out and putting on a really strong performance, showing the good things that we've done.”