England’s wonder women
Shrubsole brilliance completes fairytale
ANYA SHRUBSOLE bowled england to World Cup glory with a stunning late charge against india last night.
The seamer, 25, took six for 46, the best figures in a women’s World Cup final, including five for 11 in 19 balls at the death to snatch a nine-run victory.
india, cruising at 191 for three, were skittled for 219 and Shrubsole said: ‘it was unbelievable. one of the great things about this team is we never give up.’
When Anya Shrubsole was nine she stood in the Tavern Stand at Lord’s and aspired to playing in a World Cup final. now, after taking six Indian wickets in the most extraordinary performance, her wildest dreams have come true.
What a thrilling victory for england in what was billed as the biggest match in women’s cricket history and what a fitting hero they had in their unassuming 25- year- old vice- captain from Bath.
It was Shrubsole’s father, Ian, who tweeted a picture of his daughter on Saturday watching a men’s match at Lord’s in 2001 accompanied by Anya’s words ‘what a place. I’d love to play here for england in a World Cup final’.
Well, she did that and much, much more yesterday in what became a perfect finale to a tournament that, climaxing in a final in front of a near full-house at the home of cricket, has taken international women’s cricket to another level.
There may have been errors aplenty from both sides in a tense, low- scoring final but there was no disputing the excellence of Shrubsole in taking six for 46 and effecting a crucial run-out to snatch the World Cup from India’s grasp.
India’s first World Cup victory and the transformation of the women’s game in the sub- continent that would have come with it looked assured when they moved to 191 for three in pursuit of england’s 228 for seven.
But in an often chaotic finale, accompanied by an unusually excitable atmosphere at Lord’s, england, mainly in the form of Shrubsole, turned the tables.
Shrubsole had taken the first wicket to fall when she bowled Smriti Mandhana and now she was to return decisively, trapping India’s top scorer Punam Raut for 86 and then running through a line-up that froze to take five for 19 in 11 balls. It is the stuff of fairytales, let alone schoolgirl dreams.
A bowler who does not appear the most fleet-footed was also in the thick of the action to run out Shikha Pandey as tension enveloped an India side who had been rewarded with £60,000 each from their board for getting this far.
It was all over when Shrubsole bowled Rajeshwari Gayakwad with 10 needed off eight balls, the last of seven wickets to fall for 28, to seal england’s fourth World Cup at the longer distance and their first at home since 1993.
Back then, 24 years ago, the players wore skirts and had to have special permission from MCC to walk through the Long Room but how things have changed in a women’s game that has made rapid strides in this tournament.
India had beaten england in the tournament’s opening match but they came into this final as underdogs despite their thrilling semifinal victory over defending champions Australia at Derby.
england got off to a good enough start, with Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield having little difficulty in finding the boundary in an opening stand of 47.
But the introduction of spin on a used Lord’s pitch — why the ICC do not insist on fresh strips on big occasions is a mystery — pegged england back and they were faltering when heather Knight became the third to fall for 63.
The key batters in Sarah Taylor and nat Sciver added 83, but with england poised for a formidable score of 250-plus, India’s most experienced bowler Jhulan Goswami claimed Taylor and Fran Wilson in successive balls.
Sciver went on to make 51, hitting five of england’s 18 fours, but when she became the third victim for the outstanding Goswami, the last hopes of a match-defining ‘home’ total disappeared with her. The shortfall looked like being costly for england, not least when harmanpreet Kaur, who hit an incredible 171 off 115 balls in the semi-final, was swinging the left-arm spin of Alex hartley for two big sixes.
But hartley has had a welcome knack of dismissing big players and when she had Kaur calmly caught on the boundary by Beaumont, england sensed their opportunity.
The otherwise immaculate Taylor missed a rare stumping to reprieve Raut on 64 and Knight allowed Veda Krishnamurthy to slip through her usually reliable fingers on 14.
But Shrubsole bowled Gayakwad — the ball after Jenny Gunn had dropped a dolly — to spark pandemonium among the 26,000 crowd and secure prize money of £500,000 from the ICC to be shared equally among england’s 15-woman squad.
The cash will be the least of england’s priorities right now. Instead this could well be the liftoff moment for women’s cricket, not least in India where a female IPL could soon follow this tournament. This is clearly just the beginning for this england team and the women’s game around the world.