By James Reid
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt hailed a ‘special’ innings from team-mate Heather Knight, as her side booked their place in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-finals.
Knight produced a brilliant knock of 109 to anchor England with the bat; the former captain required just 91 balls to mark her 300th international cap with a century.
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Sciver-Brunt combined with Knight for a partnership of 113, which was central to England setting India a total of 289.
It proved just too much for the hosts, who fell four runs short, and the England captain was full of praise for her long-serving team-mate.
“That innings special,” she said. “The use of her sweeps and reverse sweeps made it so difficult for the Indians to bowl at her and she showed some brilliant intent throughout.
“I am so, so happy. Everyone showed how calm they were and were really clear in what they wanted to do.”
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Knight was similarly thrilled to be able to produce such a big contribution and felt she was able to grasp the opportunity of a batting-friendly pitch Indore with both hands.
“It’s just nice to get in conditions where it felt a little bit more conducive to batting,” she said.
“I just got myself in and felt like I wanted to put the accelerator down.
“I was a bit frustrated with how I got out, I felt like we could have pushed it well above 300.
“Three hundred caps as well, so I was desperate to put in a statement performance on a big cap occasion. I am really pleased that I did that.
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“I am really pleased with a match-defining innings, that’s what I wanted after not contributing too much in the last two games.”
India’s target of 289 would have been a record run-chase in ODIs for the hosts but they looked set to reach it comfortably thanks to the efforts of Smriti Mandhana (88) and Harmanpreet Kaur (70).
However, England were able to slowly rein in the Indian run-rate with spinner Linsey Smith a key part of the fightback.
She lauded England’s mindset in continuing to chip away despite periods where the Indian batters were on top.
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“About 12 months ago we would have thrown the game away and not taken it as deep as we could,” said Smith.
“We’ve still not played out best game I don’t think. You don’t always want to write off a game but the fight that we showed there was amazing.”
By contrast, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was left to rue what went wrong as her side slumped to a third straight defeat at their home World Cup.
Her partnership with Mandhana, plus a half-century from Deepti Sharma, left victory within touching distance but India were ultimately unable to get over the line at the death.
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She said: “Smriti’s wicket was a turning point for us. We still had too many batters who can bat.
“I don’t know how things went the other way but credit goes to England, they didn’t lose hope. They kept bowling and kept getting wickets.
“It’s a bad feeling because when you put so much hard work in and take the game to the end, it is a very heart-breaking moment.
“We are playing good cricket but it is that last line we need to cross now. Our last three games, we showed good cricket but always ended up on the losing side. The next game is very important for us and we will cross that line.”
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