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Lord’s, London: Game. Set. Match. India took roughly 90 minutes on day four to finish the job and secure a 270-run victory over England in this historic first Women’s Test at Lord’s Cricket Ground. The off spin of Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma wrapped up things quickly for India as England were bowled out for 186.
Despite the knowledge of a possible early finish, fans turned up in droves as the MCC announced that tickets for this final day would be free. Sneh Rana wasted no time and forced a pull from Amy Jones to Shafali Verma in mid-wicket to end the set batter’s innings at 54. Sophie Ecclestone, following her history making five wicket haul on day three showed off her competency with the bat, making an in vain attacking charge.
Her support was however dwindling courtesy of Deepti Sharma, who bowled both Issy Wong and Lauren Bell who did their level best to just block the ball. Lauren Filer did more of the same, but with more success as India resorted to bowling to rotation, desperate to take the final wicket as a slew of appeals, reviews, near misses and dropped chances followed. Ecclestone capitalized scoring her maiden half-century in international cricket.
But India’s itch was finally scratched right after, when Rana broke through Ecclestone’s gate, finishing England off on 186, and ensuring a 270-run win for India, the third largest in Women’s Test Cricket.
What they said
Heather Knight, England: (On her international retirement) “If I’m honest. I probably knew at the start of this year, I was, yeah, sort of thinking this might be the case. Obviously, a really exciting summer, an amazing summer to be involved in.
“Home World Cup and a Test match and, yeah, I probably knew that I had one big shift to give and whether I had the energy to give any more. I wasn’t totally sure, but probably at the start of the summer I knew, yeah, that I wanted to give my all this summer and then that was probably the right time to step away.”
Amol Muzumdar, Indian head coach: (On Yastika Bhatia) “I think it was a special knock, needless to say that coming at Lords has to be a brilliant one, one which she and all the team members would remember. Not just that, I was really impressed the way she has come out of the injuries.”
“Last couple of years, she has been tormented with some major injuries and, you know, the way she has defied all those things and stayed true to the game. Also, her shot selection was superb, I felt, and she paced her innings really well. So, I guess it was a lovely knock to watch from outside.”
(On the prospect of a Women’s World Test Championship) “Obviously, we would be pleased if that happens. I have always maintained this, that Test cricket is the ultimate format of the game and our group knows it.
“This, not just the leadership group, but also the players coming through, they also know it, that Test cricket is something that we really pride ourselves in, and, yeah, we have played three Test matches, we will be playing three Test matches in this year. We played one in Australia, we have played now here at Lord’s and then we have got one in South Africa in December.
So, I think there are three Test matches in a year.”
“Why not? I mean, but I am not the one to judge it or throw light on it. But, I think, yeah, if that happens, great.”
