Sophie Ecclestone hopes England can avoid their tendency to “get a bit ahead of ourselves” and focus on what is immediately in front of them at the T20 World Cup.
A win over the West Indies on Tuesday will guarantee England top spot in Group B and, on paper at least, an easier semi-final as they would not meet defending champions and firm favourites Australia.
Defeat would leave them, the Windies and South Africa on six points apiece, leaving net run-rate to determine which two teams progress to the knockout stages, with England’s currently the best.
England are one win away from topping their group at the T20 World Cup (Altaf Qadri/AP)
Ecclestone, though, insisted England must not fall into a familiar pitfall of thinking too much about the permutations and concentrate only on claiming a fourth win from four matches in their group.
“We’ve had a conversation about what the distractions are and I think that we sometimes get a bit ahead of ourselves,” said Ecclestone, who has taken four wickets in three outings.
“I think it’s staying in the moment, staying present and we know that we’ve got a big game on Tuesday against the West Indies.”
Asked what staying in the moment means, Ecclestone responded: “A massive one personally is that I just enjoy myself. You never know when your last game for England is going to be, as brutal as that is.
“It’s going out on that pitch and enjoying yourself. We’ve got a great group around us. We all enjoy ourselves and we play our best cricket when we’re all enjoying ourselves.”
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After wins over Bangladesh, South Africa and Scotland in Sharjah, England head to Dubai to take on a side boasting several big-hitters, including Hayley Matthews, Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor.
While Matthews and Taylor have yet to hit their straps, Dottin has contributed a couple of rapid cameos in wins over Scotland and Bangladesh and Ecclestone is relishing the upcoming contest.
“I love going against the world’s best and me and Deandra have great battles when we play against each other,” said Ecclestone, who has dismissed her former Manchester Originals team-mate Dottin twice in five T20 innings.
“We are people that want to get one up on each other because we play against each other so often and play in the same team with each other. It’s very exciting.
“I’ll look at how they go about their things but I’m not going to concentrate on them too much and go about the way I’m doing stuff.”
Ecclestone has been the top-ranked T20 bowler in the world since February 2020 – she is also number one in ODIs – but blanched at suggestions she is the leader of England’s spin attack.
Indeed, the 25-year-old says she takes as many learnings from Sarah Glenn, Charlie Dean and Linsey Smith – England’s other frontline spinners at this World Cup – as she dishes out.
“Especially with four spinners in the team, we all do different things,” added Ecclestone, whose economy rate of 4.08 is one of the tightest in the tournament.
“I’m still learning off Charlie, Glenny, and Linsey, about how they go about their work. It’s obviously really interesting for me and I need to keep learning as I get older.
“(This tournament) has been a bit of a challenge for me. I’ve been comparing myself to other spinners sometimes about how much bounce and turn I get compared to others.
“I think I need to stop comparing myself to them and because I get so much more bounce so my lengths vary from pitch to pitch and spinner to spinner. It’s been really interesting.”