Womens’ World Cup Final: Another Extraordinary Win for England

 

Womens’ World Cup Final: Another Extraordinary Win for England

July 23^rd 2017

Having held their nerve to beat Australia by 3 runs in the group stages and, again, to sneak past South Africa in the Semi-Final with 2 balls to spare, England produced the heist of the tournament to win the Final against India.

The Indians had already shown that if you let Raut, or Mandhana, or Kaur, or Raj get a start, they would take the game away from you. India did that to England in the first game of the tournament and inflicted a crushing defeat. In that game England were never at the races. The only occasion when the Indian batting failed in the tournament was in their group game against Australia: apart from that they had been a revelation and had made a billion Indians believe that their women could reign supreme, just as their men do. Sweet revenge against Australia in the Semi-Final, in which the Australians suffered a defeat far heavier than the run margin suggests, made one think that maybe this was going to be India’s year: the first time that someone outside the big three won the tournament.

England’s struggles to set a competitive target on a used strip suggested that we were in for one of those low-scoring classics that are so much tenser, so much more thrilling than a 400 plays 400 game with short boundaries and neutered bowlers. And so it proved.

When a side is 191-3, needing just 29 to win from 44 balls, you expect them to win 19 times out of 20. This though was the twentieth time and just as they had in the Semi-Final, when England looked to have lost the game, suddenly calm nerves prevailed… on one side at least. India panicked. No other word for it. There was no reason why the fall of Raut, who seemed to be leading a rout, should lead to the fall of six wickets in thirty-six balls. Anya Shrubsole thundered in like a train with headlights so bright that the Indian rabbits were dazzled and transfixed. Logic went out to lunch. 191-3 became 191-4, then 196-5, then 200-6, then 201-7. Surely India couldn’t lose this? Surely?

Well, they did.

Pandey and Sharma seemed to be inching India to victory until Pandey got over-excited, charging down the pitch after a non-existent run. Had Sarah Taylor failed to capture the bad throw, India might yet have scrambled home. Yet Hurricane Shrubsole was not to be denied.

Penultimate over of the match. England managed to shell a catch and yet Shrubsole still took just four balls to finish it off.

Even if Anya Shrubsore and Nat Scriver and Tammy Beaumont took the headlines, none of them was THE true match-winner on the day. However, the match-winner was not eligible for the Player of the Match award because it was the sell-out crowd of 27000. When Raut fell, 27000 throats – more than half of them women (surely a first for Lord’s) – roared as one. The energy levels were amazing. It was not Anya Shrubsole delivering her thunderbolts: they were propelled by 27000 fans who believed as one, shouted as one and drove their team, as one. Lord’s has never seen or heard anything like it and it was about time that they did.

Cricket is changing. Womens’ cricket is changing even more. For the first time, a Womens’ World Cup was watched by proper crowds, from the first group game to the Final. And they saw some brilliant performance including:

·       14 centuries, three of them 150+,

·       Four five-wicket hauls and Shrubsole’s 6-for,

·       The first completely new shot – the Nat-Meg – since Kevin Pietersen invented the switch hit,

·       And a player who scored an astonishing 208 of her 269 runs (77.3%) as fours and sixes (46 of 260 deliveries faced).

In the end, the best team – just – won the tournament – just!

Well done England! You were brilliant!