England determined to maintain momentum ahead of South Africa semi-final

England are determined to carry the momentum of their Women's T20 World Cup group stage success through the knockout phase of the tournament.

The hosts had secured their place in the semi-finals with a game in hand and remained unbeaten in five matches after a thumping nine-wicket victory over New Zealand at The Oval on Saturday night.

That win was built on an unbroken century partnership between Danni Wyatt-Hodge, the tournament's leading run-scorer by some distance, and Sophia Dunkley.

"That was a really pleasing performance for us," Dunkley said. "We really wanted to finish off the job and to cement that top spot. Momentum going into next week is absolutely crucial, which is great, and [we need] just to not let up and to get too complacent with it.

"We're confident from our performances and now we've got some good stuff to look back on but going into next week, it's completely new, fresh. We've got five wins on the board, but that all goes and we've got to stay really level in the moment. We've definitely got some momentum and confidence going into next week.

Against the White Ferns, England chased down a target of 164 with 16 balls to spare, equalling their own record for the highest successful run chase in Women's T20 World Cups, achieved against Australia at The Oval in the semi-final of their triumphant campaign in 2009. Australia broke that record when they chased 171 at Lord's on Sunday to knock India out of the tournament.

"We probably haven't had a big score to chase throughout the tournament, so it's been great that we've been able to do that today and tick that one off and to show that we can do that quite comfortably," Dunkley said. "Probably in the past we've had struggles with a little bit of those bigger totals, chasing, so it's definitely nice to do that before a big week coming up.

"Our batting coach has been really pushing us to try and get better and to tick off some of these things that maybe we haven't done so much in the past. There's been some big goals of ours as a batting group to really work towards."

One of the highlights of England's campaign has been their batting. Wyatt-Hodge set the standard with her 105 not out in the tournament opener against Sri Lanka followed by 65 against West Indies and a 53-ball 89 not out against New Zealand.

Along with contributions from Dunkley, Alice Capsey and Nat Sciver-Brunt at the top of the order, and finishing pair Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson, England look a far more rounded side. How they match up against tougher opponents at the pressure end of the tournament will be the real test.

That test begins on Thursday, back at The Oval, against South Africa, runners-up at the last three World Cups across formats.

South Africa secured a nervy four-wicket win against Bangladesh on Sunday, then had to wait to have their progression to the semi-finals confirmed by Australia's six-wicket victory over India.

The last time England and South Africa met in a T20I was when England toured there in late 2024 and swept the series 3-0. But they have met more recently, in the ODI World Cup semi-final last October, which South Africa won by 125 runs.

England didn't play an international match between that game and the start of their home ODI series with New Zealand on May 10. During that time, players either joined franchise competitions or practised by themselves before convening for a series of three training camps in Oman and South Africa.

While the lack of competitive matches might have looked, on the surface, like questionable preparation for a global tournament, Dunkley and others, including Capsey, have said they found a rare chunk of time purely to train and work on technical aspects of their game hugely beneficial.

"We had a really good prep phase, a lot of time to work on our games and add things into our game that we wanted to do to grow as cricketers," Dunkley said. "That has been really key, just having a lot of time to do that because I guess with our schedule, you don't really get that time very often.

"I definitely have really enjoyed that over the winter. I just tried to develop some new shots into my game and a few more options against spin and things that probably have made me feel a bit stuck in the past."

Dunkley wasn't even in England's starting XI at the beginning of this Women's T20 World Cup after a lacklustre start to the summer in which she scored just 98 runs across six T20I innings against New Zealand and India with a top score of 26. But a calf muscle injury to captain Sciver-Brunt opened the door.

Dunkley has taken her opportunity with scores of 57 against Scotland, 14 against West Indies and an unbeaten 49 off 38 against New Zealand. And yet, she might have to make way whenever Sciver-Brunt returns.

"A slightly rocky start to the summer but the main thing for me was coming in to be ready and to contribute to England," Dunkley said. "The main thing is just to get the win on the board, which is what we've done five times throughout this group stage, which is great, and to contribute to that is really pleasing. I'm pleased I was ready to go and to step in when I needed to."

Wyatt-Hodge had a slightly unusual lead-in to the tournament. She played only the last two T20Is against India beforehand, scoring 29 and 5, plus practice games against Australia and India, when she made 4 and 3, after taking parental leave for the birth of her baby daughter, Daisy. But it seems to have been ideal preparation for her.

Wyatt-Hodge tops the tournament run charts with 282 runs so far, setting a record for a single edition of the Women's T20 World Cup. Those runs have come at an average of 94.00 and strike rate of 153.26.

"She's definitely on fire this tournament for sure," Dunkley said. "Maybe little Daisy's helped. When Danni gets going and she's on a roll, she's really hard to stop. I've seen her bat like this for years and years now and it's no surprise to me that she's absolutely smashing it."

The pair are great mates and Wyatt-Hodge couldn't have been more pleased for Dunkley after Saturday night's game.

"I'm so proud of her," Wyatt-Hodge told Sky Sports. "She was very disappointed to miss out at the start of the tournament, but I said to her, things change quickly. Nat's got that bad calf, so I said, be ready, and she's trained so well.

"She's been great around the group and I'm just absolutely chuffed to bits to get another hundred partnership with her out there with her tonight at The Oval and she just comes out with intent every time she goes out there and I'm so happy for her."