England: English fans adore semifinals. The eight-wicket hammering of Australia at Edgbaston in 2019 and the ten-wicket annihilation of India in Adelaide last November were their best one-day and T20 cricket performances in the past five years, and possibly ever.

They are currently two victories away from a championship, which is the equivalent of the Ashes stage. Seven members of England's XI at Emirates Old Trafford this week have played in at least one of those two semi-final routs, despite the different format, different colored balls, and different colored uniforms. Two of them, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes, played in both.

The players for England appear to be more focused and more determined as a result of these circumstances. The 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand came after they breezed through the group stage, culminating in a loss to South Africa in what was essentially a dead-rubber match.

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The situation was significantly dissimilar from the two World Cup victories. They were on the verge of elimination in both competitions due to unexpected outcomes early in the group stages, necessitating four straight victories. They vowed to intensify their offensive strategy in both competitions. The clarity in both competitions brought out the best in them.

Before their first game against India in 2019 that they absolutely had to win, players had a rare team meeting at Edgbaston that psychologist David Young had arranged. According to Woakes in the book White Hot, England made the decision that "If we were going to lose, we were going to go down swinging." Stokes spoke up first that day after Young had urged her over coffee the day before.

And before England's first must-win game against New Zealand in 2022, Jos Buttler gave a similar speech at a training session at Brisbane's Allan Border Field.  "If anything, let's fall on the positive side every time," he told his team-mates. "We're not going to go through the next few games and come away thinking, 'I wish I took it on a bit more.'"

These events frequently gain greater significance after the fact, when they are recognized as turning points in narratives. Yet it was that clarity that Stokes alluded to at Lord's, in the aftermath of a defeat that left England two-nil down with three to play: "It's actually very exciting to know that the way in which we are playing our cricket couldn't be more perfect for the situation we find ourselves in."

In their defeat at Lord's, England's ultra-attacking batting style was closely observed, and it was anticipated that they would restrain themselves in Headingley. Instead, they doubled down and scored at their fastest pace of the series thus far in the third Test, 4.79 runs per over.

Woakes acknowledged the similarities with past World Cup victories when he entered the game and contributed significantly to that triumph. "It maps it out for you, doesn't it?" he said. "There are no ifs or buts or maybes: you've got no choice but to go and win. That probably suits this team nicely, as it has done the white-ball team when we've been in those situations.

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"Hopefully, those experiences of a few players can help them. Everyone knows that we've got to go out there and try and win: Ben's a big fan of not drawing Test matches. It does map it out for us and set it up for us that we have to go out there and win - and we are in Manchester, so I'm sure there'll be rain at some point."

Stokes stated that England's strategy will be influenced by the weather forecast, which is unfavorable throughout the week but especially over the weekend, underscoring their resolve to force a result. The difference between an Ashes Test and a World Cup semifinal is that only one team actually needs to win.

"A draw's good enough for them," Stokes said. Pat Cummins insisted that Australia's "first preference is always to try to win", citing their disappointment at drawing the 2019 series two-all. But he also conceded: "As the game progresses, you maybe start working out how risky you want to be."

"It makes everything that we've been doing more relevant," Stokes added. "If we were to shy away from the task at hand, that wouldn't get the best out of us as a team in terms of the personnel that we have at the moment. Knowing we need to win this one… probably suits us even more, to be honest."

The fact that England has had extraordinary success in fourth-inning run-chases under this system shows that they thrive on clarity, simplifying the sport's most complex format. Recent history says it will be entertaining to watch if they treat this Test match like an Ashes semifinal.

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