Sophia Dunkley paid tribute to powerhouse all-rounders Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson after England crept closer to the Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals with a 38-run victory over Scotland.
Dunkley stepped up with a fine 57, albeit after being dropped three times, as she filled in for the injured Nat Sciver-Brunt in front of a crowd of 11,419, a record for a women’s match at Headingley.
But at 141 for five after 17 overs, there was still work to do and Kemp and Gibson duly delivered by plundering 59, including 11 boundaries in the last 17 balls, to lift England to 200 for five.
Kemp’s 39 not out off 16 deliveries and Gibson’s unbeaten 30 off 11 lifted England to a total that was beyond Scotland’s reach as the tournament hosts wrapped up a third victory from three Group B games.
“It was an absolutely amazing partnership and those two are amazing at their roles,” Dunkley said. “Kempy’s got so much power down the ground and Gibbo can hit square. They’re a great combination.
“To have a partnership like that at the end gives us as a top-order a lot of confidence. We can set the game up and then we can go really hard at the back end if we need to, which is great.
“I think we’ve probably lacked a little bit of power at the back end and it’s nice to have some real six-hitters coming in and giving us some momentum.
“They’re such great all-round players and to see a performance like that is really special.”
England likely only need to beat one of the West Indies or New Zealand next week to reach the knockout stages after Dunkley played a key role in her first appearance of the tournament on Saturday night.
She found herself as the odd batter out, effectively nudged out of the XI by Alice Capsey finding form against India before the tournament and Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones selected as England’s openers.
Sciver-Brunt reinjuring her left calf opened up a slot – with Charlie Dean taking on captaincy duties – and Dunkley will retain her spot at number three when England face the Windies at Lord’s on Wednesday.
“It’s never nice and it’s really disappointing,” Dunkley said after missing England’s first two games. “Obviously being here at a home World Cup, you bite your arm off to go and play for England out there.
“It’s been a little bit tough but we’ve got an amazing squad and a lot of depth. We’ve got a great, great squad to get into and it was nice to get out there today.”
Scotland were ragged in the field, with the three drops of Dunkley compounded by repeated errors on the boundary, and although they landed a few punches with the bat, they settled for 162 for seven.
“This was probably the biggest game of the tournament for us and we are just really proud of how we played,” said seamer Hannah Rainey.
“We gave away at least 20 runs in the field. We gave them too many. We didn’t hold ourselves to our standards and that’s how it went.”
