England's preparations for the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh this summer are going well.
Following a humiliating departure from the tournament's semi-final in February 2023, they have defeated six-time world champions Australia in the Ashes T20 series, triumphed over India and New Zealand on the road, and opened the 2024 season with a 3-0 series victory over Pakistan.
The only notable setback was a shocking series loss to Sri Lanka at the close of the previous summer.
They have improved the attacking style of cricket that head coach Jon Lewis has ingrained, but they will need to play almost flawlessly to defeat Australia.
Although England is in good form and will play a home T20 series against New Zealand later in the summer to boost confidence, there are still some unanswered questions regarding certain aspects of their game. If these are resolved, though, England should be a serious contender to win a world championship for the first time since 2017.
England is willing to take defeat as they want to adopt a more aggressive strategy, but their opening pair's consistency may need the greatest work.
England's opening combination has seen significant ups and downs since the conclusion of the 2015 T20 World Cup, which resulted in Sophia Dunkley's exclusion from the Pakistan series.
Over that period, the opening stand's average has only been 20.82, of the 10 countries who qualified for the tournament this year, only Bangladesh and Scotland are below them. Australia leads the way at the top with 43.57, followed by South Africa with 41.53.
Despite the less dramatic difference in their average powerplay score over that time, they are still in fifth place with 43. Importantly, with scores of 46.6 and 44.8, respectively, they are marginally ahead of Australia and India, who will probably be their hardest rivals.
Heather Knight, Amy Jones, and Nat Sciver-Brunt are a dependable, elite trio that make up England's middle order. Jones' player of the series performance against Pakistan was especially noteworthy following a lacklustre few years.
However, they are unable to complete the task and perform it consistently. While Wyatt and Dunkley established the relationship for a long amount of time, Bouchier and Wyatt are still getting used to opening together. However, both players will need to perform well in Bangladesh to relieve the burden on numbers four, five, and six.