Watch England vs South Africa at ICC Women's T20 World Cup live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.30am on Sunday
Saturday 22 February 2020 11:44, UK
Lisa Keightley is targeting at least the semi-finals with England at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in her new role as head coach.
England take on South Africa in their opening match of the tournament at the WACA on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, and Australia-born Keightley - who took over from Mark Robinson in January - hopes to reach the final four at a minimum.
"I think we've all talked about how we want to be in the semis and how do we do that? It's game by game," she told Sky Sports.
"India were really competitive and won against Australia and I think it's going to be a World Cup that's going to be really close.
"If you don't bring it and you don't adapt in a game or get the real key moments right you can easily lose. We've got a huge game against South Africa and it will be an absolute ripper. We just need to hold our nerve and start well."
The former coach of four-time champions Australia has been tasked with revitalising an England side who are seeking their second Women's T20 World Cup title in Australia.
Their quest starts in Perth and Keightley is confident her knowledge of her home away from home - the WACA ground - will help get England off to a positive start.
"We've had six out of the 15 in the squad play here over the last three years so I've just asked the players to share with each other and ask questions in the training sessions," Keightley added.
"We will have a hit on the pitches and we just have conversations with the spinners and the batters on what length is hard at the WACA - the same with the seamers.
"So we've just been sharing information and then along the way I can add in stuff that they're missing out throughout the sessions if they haven't picked up on it."
Prior to coaching Western Australia and Perth Scorchers, Keightley served as England Women's first full-time academy head coach between 2009 and 2015.
The 48-year-old also revealed that her relationship with Heather Knight is blossoming and says the captain has made her new role a little easier.
"I've known Heather for a long time but I probably haven't worked with Heather much because she was always in the England team and I was generally with the academy team," Keightley said.
"I think over the last month and a half we've caught up a lot and have a lot of conversations to work out which are our strengths and which things we want to lead on.
"It's coming together and it's definitely a lot more natural moving forward. I've really enjoyed working with her. She's obviously a captain, all the players look up to her and she leads well on the field for us and off the field so it makes my job easy."
Watch England's opening game of the Women's T20 World Cup against South Africa, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.30am on Sunday.
