Charlotte Edwards has made a difference – but can anyone beat Australia?

The match-up at Indore on Wednesday between the tournament’s two unbeaten sides wasn’t as one-sided as an Australian six-wicket victory with nearly 10 overs to spare might suggest.

At least not quite. Neither of England’s mighty oaks – Heather Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt – contributed much with the bat, but the team still hauled themselves towards 250 thanks to a fighting 78 from a previously out-of-touch Tammy Beaumont and a sparky partnership of 61 between Alice Capsey and Charlie Dean in the final overs.

England’s bowlers reduced Australia to 24 for three and then 68 for four: Phoebe Litchfield, stumps dismantled; Georgia Voll, inelegantly missing a slog-sweep; Ellyse Perry giving a leading edge; and Beth Mooney pulling to midwicket. Injured captain Alyssa Healy was to be seen shaking her head.

It looked promising, but history wanted a word. England are yet to beat Australia in a World Cup game on neutral territory. In fact, they have only beaten them four times in World Cup games ever, the last win away from home was way back in 1988, in Melbourne, when Australia were bowled out for a dawdling 152 in 57.4 overs chasing 168 to win.

And so Australia clawed things back at Indore, as it always seemed they might, despite the optimism of WinViz, which doesn’t seem to have spent enough time watching the greatest female sports team in action.

England’s runs dried up in the middle overs, chugging along at 2.6 between overs 21-30 – helpless in the face of Alana King, whose 10 overs cost just 20 runs. She was even more imperious yesterday, taking a ODI career best and World Cup record 7-18 in seven overs as Australia swept aside South Africa by seven wickets to set up a semi-final against India on Thursday.

“We knew she was our key match-up,” a cheerful looking stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath said. “She matches up pretty well to nearly the entire batting line-up.”

A crushing defeat then, if one with brief sniffs of victory. Yet the England team who had gone undefeated into that match and who beat India with icy nerve a week ago to ensure their semi-final berth, are different from the one that slipped and slopped around Australia last winter.

Fitter, faster, with safer hands, as exemplified by Sciver-Brunt’s catch to dismiss Mooney off Sophie Ecclestone, held like a woman successfully clutching the back end of an escaping cat.

They are more energised too and have reacquired the mental strength to fight back – picking away at the powerful Indian middle order and restricting them when they needed a very gettable 27 from 18 balls – thanks to the spartan efforts of Linsey Smith “bowling a tight line into their heels”.

Could this new-look England go on to win the tournament? The No 1 reason for their transformation from Ashes whipping girls to semi-finalists is the wise poker-faced woman in the baseball cap sitting in the dugout. But unfortunately Charlotte Edwards can’t take to the field.

England need to rediscover a functioning middle order and find a way of being more proactive against King should they meet in next Sunday’s final.

Before then, they have the task of getting past South Africa on Wednesday, who will be licking their wounds after yesterday’s defeat. “There’s room for improvement,” Sciver-Blunt said on Wednesday. “We haven’t played our best game yet. We’ll be ready for them [Australia] if we do see them again.”

The bad news is that Australia have been the dominant team in this World Cup, without being at their dominant best before yesterday’s victory. Repeatedly, against Pakistan, against New Zealand, against England, they’ve been against the ropes.

Each time they’ve come back. And they have yet to hit their stride.

Photograph by Rafiq Maqbool/AP