England Women kept their heads to beat Australia in World Cup

The last time England beat Australia in the World Cup, Charlotte Edwards was still three summers off making her international debut, Nat Sciver was not yet one, and Take That were top of the charts with Pray.

Much like that best-selling hit, this three-run thriller at Bristol will go down as an instant classic.

However, England needed no divine intervention for inspiration, their spirited team performance answered any calls for help they may have made in the lead up to their first World Cup win over Australia in 24 years.

That previous victory, in 1993, was on the way to England winning the tournament at Lord's. As omens go, England couldn't ask for much better this time round as they seek a fourth World Cup trophy and their first piece of silverware in eight years.

This wasn't any old encounter between the sides, though. This was a new-age conflict: a reinvented England attempting to defy a reassembled Australia built on a trio of spinners. With identities changed, so did the outcome. Sixteen days into this tournament and here was the contest everyone had been waiting for. The romance and spectacle only an established rivalry can create.

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For just over six hours, the crowd, swollen to 4,316 due to weekend freedom and welcoming weather, didn't risk moving too far from the action. Even the large contingent of children present hummed around the boundary edge enjoying their games as well as the one taking place in the middle.

It also offered an opportunity to see how far England had come in the past year since they were bundled out of the World T20 by Australia at the semi-final stage. That defeat prompted coach Mark Robinson to call on his charges to toughen up.

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He didn't mean just physically, although fitness was a 'non-negotiable' area of required development. But psychologically they had to manage difficult situations better, something only truly achieved if they could believe in themselves with greater conviction. The manner in which they sought victory here demonstrated how far they've improved in that capacity.

From Tammy Beaumont's gritty 49, to Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn's lower-order thrash and then resolve with the ball, England persevered where in more recent times they would have buckled. Even misfields and dropped catches towards the conclusion didn't derail them.

Pressure, an intangible force in sport, can do funny things to people. For England, it had previously given them the bends when coming up against Australia. Four times out of the last four completed World Cup fixtures between these two sides Australia claimed the bragging rights. No decompression chamber was needed on the fifth meeting.

Australia understandably came into this match as favourites, a title they've held for a while now. Going by this defeat, their grip is beginning to loosen however. Yet when the heads clear in the morning and hearts no longer beat so dramatically at the tight finish to proceedings, Meg Lanning and team will know that they weren't far off victory.

This was a match decided by small moments; those incidents that you only notice turn the course of events upon review. It speaks volumes for England's progression that they held their nerve and were the ones victorious in those instances.

No one personifies how quickly England's fortunes have changed than young spinner Alex Hartley. Only last year, she suffered an international debut to forget. In her next series, a tour to the West Indies, she was involved in a warm-up fixture where she describes as having a "meltdown" as the ball came out all over the place.

Yet fast-forward nine months and it would fitting to call her the Ice Maiden, so cool was she against the best batter in the world, Lanning. Mixing up her pace, Hartley duped the Australian captain down the wicket and spun it enough to clatter the off stump. More importantly, she restricted Australia during a period in the match where they were best set to go big and maintain their unbeaten World Cup run.

But this was a match where every member of the side contributed. They had to if they wanted to succeed. Australia tried to trifle with England - they used imaginative fields, possessed two of the best batters in the sport, and exchanged pleasantries in a manner only Australians do - but it was the hosts who got to put the cherry on the top.

England will qualify for the ICC Women's World Cup semi-finals on Wednesday if they beat New Zealand. Watch the match on our FREE live stream, as well as on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports Mix from 10.20am.