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Christchurch, April 1 (IANS) England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone believes beating Australia in the final of ICC Women's Cricket World Cup would be the "perfect end" for her team and added that the defending champions are capable of pulling off an upset to end the clean slate of Meg Lanning & Co.
England have been on tour for the past three months, going winless in the 12-4 women's Ashes in Australia before losing to the same opponents in their World Cup opener on March 5 at Hamilton. But on Sunday, England will look to defend the title they won in 2017 at home when they meet Australia in the final at Hagley Oval.
"Beating the Aussies in the final, that'd be the perfect end for us. I can't really put into words after the Ashes we had. I really believe in this group on our day we can definitely beat the Aussies. And I think we've got a great chance to (do so)," said Ecclestone after England defeated South Africa by 137 runs in second semifinal.
Ecclestone stated that England will focus on their processes rather than think about Australia's weak points. "I don't think we worry about them too much. I think we worry about ourselves and just do what we can do and then know if we play our best cricket, and our batters bat the way they can or the bowlers' bowl -- we've got such a great unit as a team. So, we'll just focus on ourselves and do the best we can."
Ecclestone is currently the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 20 wickets. The start of the mega event wasn't a great one for her, conceding 77 runs in her 10 overs against Australia. Since then, Ecclestone has played an important hand in England's astonishing turnaround of winning five straight matches after losing the first three games, including picking her career-best figures of 6/36 in the semifinal against South Africa.
"Massive (turnaround). I think it's another great day out against the Aussies. I think it's fair to say so as it's (about) come back the way I did. I'm really proud of myself and the teams that fight back. So it's been amazing to watch that and obviously witnessed that myself and great to come out the way I did."
Ecclestone signed off by pointing towards 'nothing to lose' attitude as the key reason behind England's turnaround after a bad start to their World Cup defence.
"When we lost three of those (matches), there was a few tears in the changing room after the game. Everyone was very disappointed for how it'd gone."
"But I think the turning point was that we had a few meetings just to say we've got nothing to lose now, just go out and put what we're doing at the training ground into a game and go have no fear which I think we have done. We've not put out best cricket yet. So, getting through to the final is so good to see from this group."
--IANS
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