England's desire was there for all to see. Even a defeated South Africa coach, Mandla Mashimbyi, couldn't help but notice that his side's T20 World Cup semi-final opponents "wanted it a little bit more today".
And so, England will face Australia in Sunday's title decider at Lord's, when the hosts will look to emulate their 50-over success of 2017.
Two of the three remaining members of that campaign, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight, were instrumental in securing a 40-run victory at The Oval against South Africa, who had had the better of them in recent World Cup knockouts.
The other, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, had lost her place in the starting XI by the time England lifted the trophy back then but she is now this tournament's leading run-scorer with 294 runs at 73.50 and a strike rate of 152.33. In a rare off night, Wyatt-Hodge managed just 12 on Thursday before she had her stumps rearranged by Marizanne Kapp, who combined with Shabnim Ismail for a destructive opening salvo that had England 23 for 3 inside the powerplay.
Then Sciver-Brunt and Knight, England's current and former captains, combined for a 133-run stand which defined the course of the match and turned the tables on South Africa, who had won their previous two semi-finals, at last year's 50-over World Cup and the 2023 T20 edition.
It had been uncertain until match eve whether Sciver-Brunt would even play, after a recurrence of a calf injury had kept her out for the previous three games. But an intensive rehabilitation programme had her more than ready for the moment. A boundary-laden 75 off 47 balls, the same number of deliveries faced by Knight for her 58, helped to lift England out of a hole and into the final.
"I was very nervous going in and I suppose quite emotional about it yesterday, the occasion and what we've been able to do as a team," Sciver-Brunt said. "Trying to live up to the three games I missed and still have an impact as a leader and as a captain.
"I managed to put those thoughts to bed for the warm-up starting, that is the moment where you switch on to game mode and get into the day. I'm just so excited and proud of what I've been able to do today."
It was the culmination of England's undefeated progression through the group stages, characterised by the batting group finally living up to the enviable depth they offered on paper, with players able to step up if others fail or are injured. That has largely been because of Wyatt-Hodge's scintillating form and Sophia Dunkley, who made way at No. 3 for Sciver-Brunt despite scoring 57, 14 and 49 not out in her three appearances.
In the matches she has played, Sciver-Brunt has been in fine touch too. That is despite two warm-up games, against Australia and India, representing the sum total of her match-specific preparation after she initially injured her calf playing domestic cricket on April 29. She has 169 runs for the tournament at 84.50 and 159.43 and this innings was her best so far.
"When you see a home World Cup in the diary, you always imagine yourself there at the final with a chance to lift the trophy, so that drive has always been there," Sciver-Brunt said. "It's a great common goal to have as a team, to be able to try and reach a final of a home edition of the World Cup.
"We probably didn't start the game as well as we'd want to but South Africa have some world-class opening bowlers that can tear batting line-ups apart. Heather and I knew we had a big job to do and used all of our experience."
Knight was replaced by Sciver-Brunt as captain last year following England's group-stage exit at the 2024 T20 World Cup and subsequent winless Ashes tour of Australia. Knight faced a race to be fit for the 2025 ODI World Cup after a serious hamstring injury but has remained one of England's most reliable performers with the bat since.
"Heather and I have shared some brilliant partnerships throughout our careers and we've got a great understanding between each other of each other's games and the overall plan of where we need to go as a side whilst batting," Sciver-Brunt said.
"To share it with her has been, I suppose, years in the making of us experiencing what we have in our careers and England through the years of ups and downs that we've had. When you sit down and think about it when it's all said and done, a really special moment for us both."
England's fielding has been much improved under Charlotte Edwards, who replaced Jon Lewis as head coach after the Ashes, where the fielding woes which had dogged England's T20 World Cup campaign of 2024 followed them.
"Lottie coming in after the Ashes where we were pretty poor and different times where we've had ups and downs with our fielding skill, it's something that we wanted to work on as a team and have commitment from everybody to do that," Sciver-Brunt said.
"The plan from Lottie and how we do that has been executed by Nick Wilton, our fielding coach, who encourages us to push ourselves as far as we can in the field and not put a ceiling on anything that we try and do."
Wilton's methods - some unconventional - also won high praise from Charlie Dean, who had stood in as captain for Sciver-Brunt and whose failed attempt to take a very tough chance off Annerie Dercksen running back from mid-off and leaping into the air, was a rare and minor blemish in the field for England on Thursday night. Sophie Ecclestone took two excellent catches to dismiss Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus while Wyatt-Hodge removed Sinalo Jafta with a stunning direct hit from backward point.
"It's his disco fielding nights," Dean said. "Under lights and I think he borrows his wife's glittery, sparkly jacket and we do a piece of fielding to each song that he has on. He pumps the music up and tries to get us all real hyped up.
"I love the way he goes about getting us really passionate about fielding and doing different things so that it's fun every time and I think we're getting into that space where we want to really show off with our fielding. There's that air of confidence about us now which has really grown over the last year."