Lisa Keightley: Ashes drubbing has not dented England’s World Cup belief

Lisa Keightley claimed confidence is high within England’s ranks ahead of the defence of their Women’s World Cup despite a miserable Ashes campaign.

England failed to win once as they crumbled to a 12-4 points defeat in their multi-format series against Australia, who are now strong favourites to dethrone Heather Knight’s side as global 50-over champions in New Zealand.

While Keightley insisted there are few parallels between bilateral series and global competitions, England’s head coach believes her side have some insight into Australia’s tactics ahead of their opener at Hamilton on Saturday.

Keightley said: “We know what’s coming, they know what’s coming, we need to put both (batting and bowling plans) together and get over the line.

“The players are in a good place and they’re looking forward to it. There is a lot of belief. The players and the coaching staff believe we’ve got what it takes to win a World Cup.

“I think they’re definitely different tournaments to a series or an Ashes or multi-format series. You get on a roll, momentum’s really big. If you don’t play your best cricket I think it’s very easy to get an upset.

“I’m happy to be where we are and Australia be favourites, that’s for sure. That becomes an extra pressure – if Australia look at it that way, I’m not too sure.

“But there is a number of teams where if you play well on your day and take your chances, you can win a game of cricket, whether that’s against Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, etc.”

Keightley confirmed Tash Farrant is back with the squad after a bout of food poisoning while Lauren Winfield-Hill will rejoin Tammy Beaumont at the top of the order, having been dropped for the final game of the Ashes last month.

Winfield-Hill