On Sunday night, England won the Women’s Cricket World Cup for the fourth time, beating a panic-stricken India by nine runs in an epic thriller. England’s medium-pacer Anya Shrubsole was voted Player of the Match for her splendid spell of 6-46.
India looked a winner until the last 45 minutes of the engrossing dual at a sold-out Lord’s.
But panic engulfed India. The target was achievable; in the last 20 overs the required run-rate was never more than six runs per over.
In reply to England’s 7 for 228 (Natalie Sciver 51, India’s veteran medium-pacer Jhulan Goswami 3-23 and was close to a hat-trick at one stage), India was cruising at 3-191 in 42.5 overs. They needed only 38 runs to win the World Cup off 43 balls with seven wickets in hand.
But panic grabbed them once Harmanpreet Kaur – the heroine of the semi-final against Australia – fell for 51 and the gallant Punam Raut departed for a well-made 86 despite an injury.
I partly blame India’s experienced skipper Mithali Raj for this mayhem.
She should have instructed her players not to lift the ball and sacrifice their wickets unnecessarily but get them in ones and twos by clever placements.
The target was in their pocket but mindless slogging gave England the ultimate joy.
This is how the procession started after being on top at 3-191 in 42.5 overs. It became 4-191, 5-196 in 43.3 overs, 6-200 in 44.4, 7-201 in 45, 8-218 in 47.3, 9-216 in 48.1 and 219 all out in 48.4 overs.
England won the thriller by nine runs. The Indian women were too dejected to utter a word although they congratulated the winners.
(AP Photo/Rui Vieira)
It was all over for India and all ecstasy for the worthy winner England, who kept cool heads. The Player of the Tournament was England’s opening batter, Tammy Beaumont, who scored the most runs – 410 runs at 45.55 with one century (highest score 148) and one fifty.
An ecstatic England captain Heather Knight summed up at the presentation: “I can’t stop smiling. The girls have been outstanding. We’ve made it hard for ourselves but we’ve won some tight games. All that we’ve done in the last 18 months was to deal with situations where the heat was on. Anya Shrubsole, what a hero. What a day!”
India’s dejected skipper Mithali Raj responded: “Yes, I’m proud. It wasn’t easy for England but credit to them for keeping their nerve. There was a time where the match was in the balance, but we panicked.
“I’m very proud of the girls… Jhulan [Goswami] is an experienced bowler and has always delivered when the team has needed her to. It could’ve been a match-winning performance but I knew England have depth. All the youngsters tried their best, I’m sure this experience will help them.
Now, people back home will have a different perspective about women’s cricket.”
The next World Cup will be held in New Zealand in 2021. Hopefully, Australia will win it then for a record seventh time.
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