When England take on New Zealand at Lord’s today in the final of the women’s World Twenty20 they will do so knowing a beguiling hat-trick is within reach, since they already hold the Ashes and the 50-over World Cup.

The increasingly professional aura that surrounds the women’s game in this country has generated a string of victories and bred the kind of confidence the men’s side regards as a holy grail. Had Paul Collingwood’s team slipped to 43 for two in the seventh over in pursuit of 164, as the women did in Friday’s semi-final against Australia at The Oval, resignation might have set in among their long-suffering support.

But the world’s No 1 batsman Claire Taylor timed the recovery to perfection, square-driving Sarah Andrews for the winning boundary with three balls and eight wickets to spare. Her stand with the previously unheralded Beth Morgan was worth 122 from 79 deliveries. It was quite simply world-class. Now New Zealand, beaten in the World Cup final in Sydney in March, stand between England and a trophy that could confirm them as the nation’s greatest female team in any sport.

“The side have dealt with the expectation really well,” says Charlotte Edwards, the captain and a recent recipient of an MBE. “They’re just a lovely bunch of girls and it hasn’t gone to their heads at all. I said six months ago that, for us, the 50-over tournament was the ultimate prize, but I think if we win the 20-over competition, the profile of women’s cricket could go from strength to strength.”

Crucial to England’s rise to the top of the women’s game was the introduction in April 2008 of eight coaching contracts — five full-time, three part-time — and the players queue up to praise the backing they received from the England and Wales Cricket Board. Yet their prize player, Taylor, opted not to take a contract at all, preferring to maintain a work-life balance that has allowed her to resurrect her career as a management consultant based at Reading University while indulging her passion for the violin.

Taylor’s startling progress has been symptomatic of the team’s success. When the England coach, Mark Lane, first encountered her 10 years ago, she kept wicket and batted at No 9 with what Lane describes as a bottom-handed hockey technique. But Lane’s one-to-one tuition, every Tuesday night in Guildford for the best part of a decade, helped turn her into the wicket every other side now cherishes.

“He made me a more effective player,” she says. “He works on technique, like all good coaches, but he’s also very good on how to pace an innings, how to go about a runchase, how to move the field around.” Taylor’s 76 off 53 balls against Australia was a case in point. Even when England needed 98 off 10 overs, Taylor — as befits a maths graduate from Oxford — kept the rate in check.

If New Zealand don’t get her out today, the chances are England will win. And that, says Clare Connor, the head of the women’s game in England, would cement the team’s standing in the public consciousness. “It’s a massive stage and the chance to secure another ICC trophy within the space of two months,” she says. “It’s the biggest opportunity women’s cricket has ever had.”

England may begin as favourites but concerns over the depth of their batting remain. They started the tournament with a 10-wicket win over India, but a score of 40 for one against Sri Lanka quickly turned into 119 for seven, while 42 without loss against Pakistan became 123 all out. That made the performance of Morgan, who on Friday chipped in with 46 not out, all the more encouraging: in 58 international innings, she has scored just one half-century.

England’s potential frailty once the openers, Sarah Taylor and Edwards, and Claire Taylor are back in the pavilion even prompted the New Zealanders to suggest they would prefer to meet England rather than Australia in the final. But Edwards is having none of it. “I’m sure they’ll have seen the girls bat and they’ll be slightly worried about that,” she said. “It’s been reported they think we’ve got a fragile middle order, so I hope we’ve proved a few people wrong. New Zealand have got a hell of a lot to prove to us after losing out in Sydney.”

The contrasting fates of the two captains after that World Cup final in March reveal a lot about the advantage England have over the rest of the world. While Edwards had the continued backing of the board, New Zealand’s Haidee Tiffen cited a loss of earnings on tour as her reason for stepping down. “If I was paid properly, I’d still be playing,” she wrote on the Cricinfo website.

The amateurism of the opposition is doing England’s cause no harm at all, and Taylor believes the structure put in place by the England hierarchy is maintaining their edge. “There are now higher expectations as to how much work the team puts in,” she says. “We’re a well-drilled squad and there’s plenty of time to practise, including a recent trip to Bangalore. It is an advantage.”