England women confident of reaching World Twenty20 final

The sides meet at midnight at the Sir Viv Richards stadium in Antigua with a win securing passage to a second World Cup final in just over a year, against Australia or hosts West Indies.

“We’re really excited about India, and about playing in a World Cup semi-final,” said Beaumont. “At one point when we were in Saint Lucia we weren’t sure if we were going to play any cricket at all because of the rain so it feels a bit of a bonus to have made it through.”

A loss against the West Indies in England’s final group game saw Beaumont and her side finish second in the group stage and led some to question the side’s batting but she says there is no reason for her and her fellow batswomen to not be confident.

“We have played some really good cricket but I think there’s more to come from us. We’ve only had one chance to bat first and we maybe haven’t scored the weight of runs yet that we would have liked to but that also means we’ve got a chance to go out there and really nail it with the bat.

“We’ve got so many talented batters – we chased down 200 against India in April – we just need it to click on the day or for someone to come off and go big.”

There have been suggestions that England’s route to the final is potentially the easier one, but Beaumont says: “I don’t think you can say that at all. It will be a very difficult match.

“India are a side we know really well. We played them in a tri-series in April and we know how dangerous they can be. Their bowlers are very effective and they’re one of the most in-form teams in this tournament.

“You look at someone like Harmanpreet Kaur and you know you’ve got a player who’s seriously dangerous. Then there’s Smriti Mandhana who obviously had a fantastic Kia Super League.”

The Kent and Southern Vipers opener is one of nine players in the squad with experience of winning the ICC Women’s World Cup at Lord’s in 2017, but alongside them will be three new faces in Sophia Dunkley, Kirstie Gordon and Linsey Smith.