Anya’s dream f inish England triumph is child’s play for super Shrubsole
“WHAT a place,” a breathless 10-year-old said to her dad as she looked out over Lord’s.
“I’d like to play here...for England in a World Cup final.”
That is the story revealed by Ian Shrubsole after he had watched his daughter Anya, now 25, become the star of the show on England’s glorious World Cup-winning afternoon at the Home of Cricket.
“It’s a dream, and a dream you never think is going to come true,” she said, taking five wickets in 19 balls to spark India’s collapse and delirious scenes.
The hosts were staring at defeat with India, chasing a modest 229, cruising at 190-3. Then up stepped Shrubsole to spark a whole host of dreams in a new generation of young female players.
A memorable match felt like a milestone occasion for the game and for women’s sport in this country.
Lord’s was sold out, while the worldwide television audience was expected to top 100million – and even the ticket touts were out in force all the way from St John’s Wood station.
England had lost to India in their opening game of the competition but impressive victories in the next six made them favourites to add to the cups they won in 1973, 1993 and 2009.
Captain Heather Knight won the toss and chose to bat, but she had departed for one when talisman Natalie Sciver arrived in the middle with England 63-3.
Sciver and Sarah Taylor put on 83 for the fourth wicket, but both were victims of a stunning spell of three wickets for two runs off 10 balls by fast bowler Jhulan Goswami.
There was no sign of the ‘Natmeg’, the through-thelegs shot that has helped make Sciver one of the stars of the tournament, as the circumstances called for a little more caution.
The only woman to make two centuries at this World Cup reached 50, but was then trapped lbw by Goswami.
Katherine Brunt made a breezy 34 and Jenny Gunn an unbeaten 25, but England’s total appeared distinctly vulnerable.
Yet Shrubsole got England off to a dream start by nicking the off-stump of the dangerous opener Smriti Mandhana for a duck in the second over.
When Mithali Raj got herself run out, by Sciver, going for a single that was never on, India were 43-2 and the encounter was finely poised.
However, that brought Harmanpreet Kaur, who destroyed Australia with a breathtaking unbeaten 171 in the semi-final, to the crease. She clubbed two mammoth sixes on her way to 51 before holing out to Tammy Beaumont, off Alex Hartley, going for a third.
But misfields and mistakes were creeping in to England’s cricket as the tension moved up a notch; Taylor missed a stumping to get rid of Poonam Raut and Knight dropped a catch offered by Veda Krishnamurthy.
The game seemed up by the time Raut, struggling with cramp, finally fell leg before to Shrubsole for 86, leaving India 191-4. But when Hartley accounted for Sushma Verma for a duck, and Shrubsole removed Krishnamurthy and Goswami in successive balls, England had a lifeline.
Shikha Pandey was run out, Deepti Sharma picked out Sciver off Shrubsole, and India were nine down.
Unbelievably, Gunn then dropped the most straightforward catch of the tournament from Rajeshwari Gayakwad just to ramp up the tension around Lord’s even further.
But to Gunn’s huge relief, Shrubsole got the job done with the next ball, clean bowling Gayakwad to spark celebrations on the pitch and bedlam in the stands.
I want to play here in a cup final