England seamer rips through India with devastating spell as Heather Knight's side take title
Friday 10 April 2020 13:01, UK
England Women's hopes of winning the 2017 World Cup looked all but over in the final against India - until up stepped up Anya Shrubsole.
The seamer's five wickets in 19 balls and match figures of 6-46 led a storming England comeback as the hosts broke India's hearts and won the title for the fourth time.
In the latest edition of Throwback Thursday, our weekly cricket feature in which our writers look back on some memorable feats of years gone by, David Ruse recalls a seesaw showdown at Lord's and why he wasn't entirely against an India victory...
When writing match reports, you are often privileged enough to be in press boxes and broadcast areas, with greats of the game dotted around every which way you look.
But one of my most memorable afternoons spent trying to cobble together a passable piece came in the Sky Sports offices in west London in July 2017.
England Women were aiming to win a global ICC event on home soil, something the men's team had failed to do a month previously in the Champions Trophy when they were dumped out by Pakistan in the semi-finals but, of course, went on to do on a quite remarkable Sunday afternoon at Lord's in July 2019.
Win is exactly what England Women did, just not as routinely as I initially expected when I wandered in that day, with it requiring an Anya Shrubsole special to snatch victory from the gaping jaws of defeat.
True, Heather Knight's side had not found the tournament plain sailing.
There was an opening-day defeat to India and then, after they had reeled off a series of convincing victories, a fraught three-run win over defending champions Australia in Bristol - their first over the Southern Stars in a Word Cup since 1993 - as Jenny Gunn held her nerve in the final over.
A seesaw semi-final also threatened to go South Africa's way as England slipped from 139-2 to 217-8 chasing 219 to win, only for the ice-cool Shrubsole to promptly slap the first ball she faced through point for four and England into the showpiece showdown at Lord's.
PODCAST: Women's Cricket Special
We knew England had a wobble in them, then, but this was only India's second final - they had been trounced by Australia in their first back in 2005 - and the scene was seemingly set for the hosts to triumph in front of a sold-out, family-oriented crowd and win the World Cup for a fourth time.
I wasn't that alarmed at halfway, even though England's total of 228-7 - in which Nat Sciver top-scored with 51, Sarah Taylor made 45 and Gunn, Katherine Brunt and Laura Marsh added lower-order contributions - was a working score rather than a big one.
When Shrubsole (who else!?) castled Smriti Mandhana through bat and pad in the second over for a duck, I began to envisage how my match report would pan out.
An England victory looked even more likely when India captain Mithali Raj was run out via a Sciver-Taylor combination for 17 after failing to dive for her ground. India were 43-2, with a big hitter and the skipper back in the shed. Report sorted, I foolishly thought.
First came India moving close to what appeared an inevitable triumph as Harmanpreet Kaur - days after crunching Australia for a stunning 171 not out from just 115 balls in the semi-finals - put on 95 with Punam Raut for the third wicket and Raut added a further 54 with Veda Krishnamurthy for the fourth - England's woes exacerbated by a Knight dropped catch and a Taylor missed stumping.
With eight overs to go, India required 47 from 48 balls and I now knew exactly how my report would go: "India stunned hosts England to win the World Cup yada yada yada…" And I'm rather ashamed to admit that a little bit of me was okay with that.
You see, for as much as we love to watch nail-biting sporting finishes - and weren't we blessed with them courtesy of Ben Stokes' World Cup and Ashes heroics in 2019 (Charlton's last-second play-off final win over Sunderland was another highlight of mine) - they can be a pain in the backside to write about with pressure to file on the whistle.
A rewrite was needed, though, as Shrubsole produced the bowling spell of her life, culminating in knocking back Rajeshwari Gayakwad's off stump to seal victory.
A drawback of seeing this from the office - other than the obvious one of not being live at the game - was that the people logging the final around the corner were watching on a feed a few moments ahead.
So, I knew something had happened before I'd seen it for myself and quickly became cognisant that a hearty cheer meant Shrubsole had probably struck again. My report was in tatters at that point. My nerves even more so.
Shrubsole 5-20 in a 22-ball spell - and not to forget run out of Shika Pandey from point - ensured India slumped from 191-3 to 219 all out to lose by nine runs, though the first two deliveries of that stint could hardly have gone worse, as Krishnamurthy whacked back-to-back boundaries through the off-side.
Three balls later, though, and the seamer began her burst in earnest by pinning Raut lbw. England had a key wicket. They had another in the next over as spinner Alex Hartley bowled Sushma Verma on the sweep. India were beginning to get jittery.
I had no idea what my top line was going to be but Shrubsole soon crystalised that for me.
In the 45th over she had Krishnamurthy caught on the slog and bowled Jhulan Goswami with a delicious in-swinger. In the 47th, she came mightily close to having Deepti Sharma stumped. In the 48th she chucked the ball to Taylor to run out Pandey.
Then came the 49th when Shrubsole went through a gamut of emotions, starting with excitement as she had Sharma pouched by Sciver at midwicket to complete her five-wicket haul and leave India nine down and still needing 11 to win - the point at which I'd categorically decided England couldn't mess this up. Now my report really was sorted.
Shrubsole's delight turned to frustration two deliveries later as Gunn inexplicably dropped Gayakwad at mid-off to leave England waiting a little longer. Knight admitted afterwards that she thought Gunn had spilled the World Cup title but she hadn't. Shrubsole had seized it for England long before then and made absolutely sure Knight would hold it aloft when she bowled Gayakwad with another in-jagger.
England had won the World Cup. The bumper crowd was in ecstasy. My report was filed only marginally later than I was happy with. My job now to remember to go back into it and add the picture of Shrubsole's celebration when it was available to use.
I hoped I'd done a thrilling finish justice and, even if I hadn't, it served as good practice for when I had to write about another stunning World Cup final climax at Lord's two years later. You remember the one…
