Test Match Special - Ecclestone landmark on an historic day at Lord’s

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

Alison Mitchell is alongside 2017 World Cup winner Alex Hartley, Indian cricket journalist Annesha Ghosh, and Ashes-winning bowler Steven Finn for reaction to an historic day at Lord’s where Sophie Ecclestone became England’s leading wicket-taker as the stadium hosts its first ever Test match.Hear from Ecclestone, as well as Smriti Mandhana who scored 83 for India on the first day of the Test.Plus, Alison speaks to some of England’s past greats.

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That's a good bad billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. An historic day of test cricket then at Lords saw England's women's clothes on 21 for 1 in reply to India's first innings of 285 all out. Their inning 74.5 over is the first ever women's test match being staged at this ground, witnessed by nearly 11,000 spectators on a warm, hot, sultry day. And England opting to put India in this morning, that's the Brunt winning the toss,

opting to bowl first on a pitch that's offered a little bit up front for the seamers, but Smitty Mandana put on a stand of 89 for the fourth wicket with Harmanprey that formed the bulk of India's first innings. Lauren Filer became the bowler to take the first test wicket for an English woman at Lord. She dismissed Sheffali Verma beauty of a delivery to have her caught behind for a four ball duck. Yastika Batya didn't last too long. Lauren Bell, a beautiful delivery from over the wicket that knipped down the slope to bowl her. Jemima Rodrigues combined, first of all, with Mandana for a third wicket stand of 64. A couple of Indian wickets were given away, and particularly thinking, Rodrigues, Risha Gosha as well, out cheaply to Lauren Filer.

India were in a strong position at T, 202 for five, albeit Harman Prit core had been dismissed on the stroke of the break, giving Maddie Villiers a maiden test wickets, as Harman Preet was out for 58. Three half centuries then in that India lineup, his deep Tshama went on to make 57. But from a position of 229 for five, India lost their last five wickets for 56.

If you take it back to 190 for three, they lost their last seven for 95 as the spinners came into play. Sophie Eccleston backing up Maddie Villiers and Eccleston finishing with three for 68 and in the process becoming England's all time leading wicket taked taker across formats. 336 at that point taking her past Catherine Siverr Brunt. So it is a day that has seen nearly 300 runs and 11 wickets. Tammy Beaumont was that 11th wicket, the first England wicket to go down in her final test match. Shouldn't be her last innings though. There'll be a second innings. Tammy Beaumont, then LBW to Cantigone out for just two. So England then have a deficit of 264 in their first innings when they resume tomorrow with nine wickets in hand. My Boucher and Heather Knight will be the not out

batters. World Cup winner Alex Hartley alongside me, alongside a cricket writer from India, Anisha Ghosh. What do you make of the day's play? Alex, a lot of runs, 11 wickets. Who will be the happier tonight, do you think? That's a good question, isn't it? I think it's pretty honest even, to be honest with you. India should have reviewed that Heather Knight LBW, therefore India would have been on top of this game. England would have probably sent out a night watcher instead of the captain Nat Siverbrunt.

It was 10 minutes before the close, wasn't it, that LBW shout came up? Yeah, so look, I think it's pretty even Stevens. India would... I'll just pause you for a moment. We're going to go straight down to Melissa's story with Smitty Mandana. Smriti, thank you for speaking to us. First of all, a performance from yourself today,

three for a hundred and eight balls as well. You must be pleased with that performance, if not a little bit disappointed not to quite get over the line. I mean, very disappointed not get over the line for sure. And I mean, we're going really well. If that wicket would have not, my wicket would have not fell at that point. We would have gone past 400. So a little disappointing in that ways.

But nevertheless, I mean, I still feel that we got good runs on the board. When you heard that Nats of a Brunt on winning the task that elected to bowl first, Were you slightly surprised by that decision or just happy to get out there and get going on a fresh pitch? I was very happy to get going because in test matches, sometimes it's if you don't bat for a very long time, especially the whole first day or something. And then you just keep thinking about batting quite a lot. So it's good to get the first innings underway in terms of batting. But again, I mean, they got two, three early breakthrough. So I wouldn't say that, you know, they thought that there was something in the wicket first. sure, but they did create a few chances, but again, I mean, Jamie, Herman, Deepti, everyone batted really well.

And in terms of the conditions out there, was there any demons in the pitch? We saw a few deliveries turn and bounce slightly. But overall, do you think it's a good conditions to bat in? Yeah, I think it's good conditions to bat in. I mean, it's important to play very late. That was one thing which I thought that worked for all of us. But yeah, again, it's test match ticket. One ball is going to turn one ball is going to swing and they're going to do those things because it's red ball. We're so used to playing white balls that anything happens a little bit, a little more extra, then we start thinking it's the wicket, but sometimes it's it's test match cricket and you just have to keep going.

In terms of adapting between the formats, of course, the T20 World Cup just finished. You've had quite a small window in order to prepare as a team. What's that looked like for you to get ready for this test match? I mean, we did, like, I mean, we didn't qualify for the semi, so we did get four, five extra days. But we did take a few days off. We went, we did our stuff and get back together as a team. Had four to five good sessions with red ball. And, yeah, I mean, that's how women's cricket, we have to get ready for test matches.

I mean, you know, we play so much of white ball, but there's one odd test match. And yeah, I'm really happy the way everyone really applied themselves in the practice. positions. Smriti, thank you very much and go well tomorrow. Thank you so much. Just going to head over to Sophie Eccleston who we've got waiting for us here. Sophie, hello, I'm good. Thank you. First of all, there we go, giving a bit of a hug from Smitty there on the side. Congratulations England's leading wicket-taker across all formats overtaking Catherine Siverbrunt, one of the legends we've seen in the house here today. How do you feel? Yeah, it's obviously pretty meant to be named the England that we could take a light. It's pretty

cool take over Kaferman's of a brunch as my hero growing up so yeah it's pretty special and i guess when you made your debut back in 2016 could you have imagined where your career is really propelled to already at such a young age yeah it's been a big 10 years but yeah no i would never have dreamt on anything like this but it's happened and yeah i've got no worse for fair i'm just absolutely buzzing it's happened now tell us about the conditions there because smriti mentioned a couple swinging a couple turning and bouncing as you would expect in test cricket but was there enough out there to excite you as a spin bowler for what's to come and obviously picking up a few wickets at the end there.

Yeah, definitely from Maddie's end. Maddie's brilliant today from that end, obviously in test debut, which is pretty cool. But there's a bit more swim from that end, probably not as much from the pilliline end. But yeah, it's got to keep digging in and hopefully get a few of the seamers were making it move off the seam.

So that's pretty cool to watch. So hopefully it settles down tomorrow, but a bit more will happen for us in our second in us. You mentioned Maddie there and bowling brilliantly. What was it like out there, the two of you as the spin options? Were there many conversations about plans going ahead? Yeah, it's pretty cool. We played for England together since we were really young.

So, yeah, to watch it make a Tastadian ball so well. I mean, it's been pretty cool to watch for the new brand. And, yeah, I hope it continues for the next and end. It feels quite strange that four days ago we were here for the T20 World Cup final, an emotional day. And for aside, a very small window in order to prepare for an entirely different format. So what has preparation looked like for you personally and as a team? Yeah, it was a bit of rough Monday for me, actually. Obviously, everyone saw how upset it was after the game. Yeah, I went home Monday morning and I was pretty upset.

I didn't really speak to him on Monday, but yeah, I was given myself a 24 hour a rule and then came back, trained and, yeah, bowed a bit. And then didn't really ball much yesterday. Obviously, leading to this test match. So it's been a quick turnaround, but it's been quite nice to get back out there. I can imagine going from four overs in T20s to what was it, almost 22 overs today. How's the shoulder feeling? And what does recovery look like for you at the end of each day so you can get back out there? Hopefully not too soon from an England perspective.

But what does that look like for you? Yeah, sure's pretty fine. to be fair, but it's more mentally to be fair. Obviously, you used to obviously have four overs, but yeah, 22 overs, I love test cricket from my favourite, so I absolutely love being out there bowling. And such a historic occasion as well, first women's test match at Lords to see over 11,000 people in today,

expected over 38,000 across the next four days as well. And seeing the pioneers of the game out on the outfield as well, it must feel really special as a player to be involved in this occasion. Yeah, it was a pretty special morning to walking out a long room and having so many of the ex players here watching. I think it was pretty cool to see, them all on the pitch, like how many people there were. And yeah, like we were upset and not just ourselves, but them as well.

And yeah, it was pretty special and a once in a lifetime. Sophie, congratulations again. Thanks for speaking to us. Thank you. Thanks to Melissa story for the reaction from England and the India Camps. Well, I'm sure everyone will be hoping that this isn't. Oh, I know what she means once in a lifetime in terms of getting out here and experience this for the first time.

But of course, it will not be once in a lifetime. England's women play a test at law. That should not be the case at all. Alex Hartley, but you were saying, so let's go back to the match. We reflect a bit on what both players. as I've said in a moment, Alex Hartley here with Aneshigosh as well. Alex, you were just reflecting on overall and on as even type of day, you feel. Yeah, I think so.

I, you know, I, I think India could have been on top had they have gone for that review. I would have loved to have known the conversation and why they didn't take it upstairs. Because I was actually so surprised it was given not out at the time and not out on field because it just looked very out whether or not Sue Redfern thought he was hitting outside the line of off stump could be my only only thing there. But yeah, definitely I would say it on as even. even going into tomorrow. Nasha, a story of a couple of missed opportunities for India.

Do you feel with the starts that three of the batters got with half centuries and Mandana in particular? 100%. There was an opportunity for the India vice captain to get to her third test. Century sure she did go past Mathali, Raj and Shubhangi Kolkhani Kolkani to get herself to number three trailing Shantarangaswamy and Sandhya Garwal on the highest ever run getters by Indian women's cricketers in this format. But as she rightly mentioned, it was an honest confession. on the part of Smithy Mandan in that interview with Melissa, that it was her wicket that literally

opened the gates for England, India were nicely positioned, nicely placed at 190 for three. And once Izzy Wong broke through that partnership and got the wicket of Smithis, they went on to lose seven wickets for 95 odd runs. They really left plenty of runs out there on the table and with Herman Preet, Corr also stroking a very fluent and dogged half century herself now becoming, you know, she's scored of 50 in her first outing at lords in all three formats. First T20 is, then ODI is in today as well. Quite a unique, quite a unique feed that from the India skipper.

And then Dipti Sharma playing yet another lower order, very well-crafted knock, but none of them getting themselves into three digits and subsequently on the honours board. I think India would feel they left an important and a big opportunity to make a statement in the first innings with the bat. fine margins, isn't it? If that wicket had been reviewed, although the LBW had been reviewed at the end and England two down, it just feels like it would have swung things a little bit more in India's favour. A good day overall it felt in terms of the crowd and seeing that the number of runs scored it and those wickets go down as well. Lauren Filer became the first wicket taker. I mean, absolutely peach of a delivery, wasn't it, for her to dismiss Shafali Verma. Yeah, it was a lovely delivery using the slope to her advantage as well. Sheffali Verma just squaring herself up ever so slightly. There are a couple of couple of soft dismissals. Don't get me wrong, along the way. Mandana herself fishing outside the off-stump thing, she'll be really disappointed with that.

Sheffali Verme on reflection, the ball didn't do all that much, but it was a lovely delivery from Lauren Fyler to take the first wicket here. From England fast bowler, Stephen Finn's with us as well. Finney. Yeah, what did you make of the England bowling performance at Lauren Filer with that first wicket in particular? Yeah, it was a beauty, wasn't it? There were a few in there as well. The Lauren Bell dismissal swinging in and then nipping off. away was an absolute ripper as well. And you're always under a bit more pressure when you win the toss and you opt to bowl first. And your captain says, we feel as though it's going to do a

bit in the morning session. And then it might flatten out as the day goes on. You do snatch at your opportunity sometimes. And, and yeah, England missed their mark a little bit in that first hour or so. And the Indian batters capitalised on that. But I think what England did really well after that point was realigned and had a really simple game plan that stifled India, especially in that afternoon session. And even though there were a couple of partnerships,

they never really got away, which then means that when you do make the breakthrough like Izzy Wong did, you then all come in, piling in behind that. And I think that that's something that England were really impressive

with today was just hanging in there because I think the caveat to all of this is and the thing that can be missed is that these guys were playing a T20 World Cup final five days ago. And the preparation that you need to put in your body to be able to bowl for the entirety of a day

in test cricket, I think, is underestimated when you're just either sat up here watching it or in the stands watching it. So for England to be able to maintain their discipline throughout the day, as they did, as a bowling unit, I think deserves being commended for. And the stamina as well, bowling is elongated spells. We'll talk about Maddie Villas in a moment, a 19 overspell, either side of tea. Just to reflect a bit more on the Sophie Eccleston story, Alex. She's come through a shoulder dislocation as well in 2023. The journey that she's been on to become England's leading wicket-taker now across formats, she sounded genuinely stoked to hold that record now from Catherine Siverbrant, who she's said was one of her idols.

She said it was pretty mint, which really made me giggle. And I love the fact she's not lost that personality and lost that, you know, that little bit of edge about herself. She deserves it, absolutely deserves it. She's an incredible cricketer. What she has done over the last 10 years, I mean, it has been a 10-year career. She's still so young. as well. Made a debut back in 2016 and has been world-class ever since. So to be able to switch between formats like she does, to be able to have been the world's best for as long as she has, you know, 20-23 picking up 10 wickets against Australia and then here picking up three, the back end of the day and also not being threatened by Maddie Villiers at the other end,

almost championing, championing her and saying, you're bowling really nicely, you keep going. And she's not a jealous teammate at all. She, you know, she's not in it for the accolades and the trophies. Obviously, a World Cup trophy. Everyone's in it for that. But she's not in it for, you know, world records and things like that. She's just that good. She ticks them off along the way.

And she was happy to allude to just what an emotional day it was for them on Sunday, the World Cup final defeat. And we all saw Sophie Eccleston on her backside sitting beyond the boundary, just looking disconsolate, sort of almost head on her knees with Georgia Vowl's comforting arm. The opposition player, but you, WPL teammates with her arm around and consoling her. So yeah, gave herself 24 hours. Probably a good, that's a good rule to have the 24 hour rule.

We can all do with that on occasions. If you've had a bit of a major disappointment, but yeah, have to bounce back from that and turn up to play a test match. It's a highly commendable. Phil, you have some numbers for us around Eccleston. Yeah, the numbers on Sophie Eccleston. Yes, she began the day on 335 international wickets level with Catherine Sira Brunt. Those three wickets she took today.

Obviously took it to 338, also going past Elise Perry, just Doolangoswami with 355. Deepty Sharma, one of her wickets today, 356 stand ahead of her. Here's another number. She's got 43 test wickets. The most number of test wickets taken is Mary Duggan, 77. Ah. So maybe, just maybe that might be within her sights. Mary Duggan, one of the players who had a portrait unveiled of them today.

The late Mary Duggan, former England captain, Captain, still the world's leading wicket-taker in test cricket, but it was quite an occasion before play started, having portraits unveiled of Enid Bakewell, the late Mary Duggan and late Jam Britain, as well as Myrtle McLagan as well, who went on this England's first tour of Australia in 1934, 35, all part of the day of celebrating women's cricket and in particular women's test cricketers here on this historic occasion. Maddie Villiers then, Alex, you mentioned her. She's come back into this England side, into this test team. But it's been a couple of years since she's played international cricket. She's a story of going away, working hard, county cricket coming back in. Yeah, and going up to Durham out of a comfort zone, moving clubs, looking for new opportunities. And she's just thriving, you know, she's a brilliant, brilliant player. I think you think of Maddie and you think of T20 cricket because she is so good in the field and the way she's able to adapt her game.

But the fact that she's come in and just, she's both lovely, she went just over four and over today. So she would probably a little bit more expensive than she would have liked her. Her bad ball was the short one that was angled down the leg side, kept getting pulled up the hill here. But other than that, you know, she bought an absolute belter to get rid of Harmon Preet call, turning the ball up the hill. And yeah, you know, she looked very at home today. And it's a good advocate for the domestic system, right? Because I think the criticism of the England team has been that it's been a closed shot maybe before Charlotte Edwards came in. and there hasn't been those other players, you know,

before or able to have the ability to perform in domestic cricket because there hasn't been that structure there to the professional level there is now. So hopefully as time passes, there'll be more stories like Maddie Villas, people who've got the opportunity to go out of the limelight for a period of time, work hard at their game, comes back, gets their opportunity. And she bowled the ball of the day for me today. It was an absolute beauty to get rid of Harm and Priam. And what are your, what was some of your reflections,

what's from Riti Mandana had to say? to Melissa's story. Well, the fact that she missed out on a hundred being the foremost of the talking points and she was playing her 300 international match for India and hey, you don't get an opportunity to score a test hundred for the first time at Lords because it happens only once in 142 years, so she would be rowing that missed opportunity but Smithi will have a say again when India come out to bat in that second innings. But her role as a vice captain and how, She goes on to shape DRS decisions is also going to be key because India lost out on what would have been a well-deserved second wicket for Kranty Gaud because Herman Preet decided against taking the DRS when Heather Knight was on just a solitary run and England could well have been 13 for two.

And this decision making around the DRS have seen India oscillate between indecision review system to desperation review system that happened a fair bit during the ODI World Cup that India one on home soil last year. So as captain vice captain combination, Herman Preet and Smithy will have a big role to play should there be similar opportunities coming their way. And as we were recording at the start of this conversation, I did see a lot of the slip catchers having fielding practice under the watch of Avishkar Salvi,

the bowling coach and Smitty herself might be standing at maybe silly point with the helmet on and even in the slip cordon. So her role is not over yet. as deputy to Herman Preet as a good catcher. She'll have a big say even in this bowling innings of India's. Phil, what have you got for us? Yeah, day of first. We've mentioned it quite a lot.

Very quick list of those first. The first ball bowed by Lauren Bell, the first ball faced by Smeetimandana. The first wicket, Lauren Filer. First catch, Amy Jones. First four. Yastika Batia. First six and first 50. Smeetimandana.

The first maiden bowled by Sophie Eccleston. What we didn't have today is the first fife and the first hundred, but we have got three more days to go. Plenty to come. That's for sure. 38,000 tickets sold across this match. It's a four-day game, nearly 11,000 in today that did see England keep chipping away and just not allow India to continue with those big partnerships that they had.

Has the pitch changed much during the day, Vinny, do you think? Maybe a touch firmer, actually, as the day's gone on. There was a bit of spin that the Maddie Villiers ball spun quite big, didn't it? But it wasn't extreme spin. You wouldn't expect that with the amounts of grass that there has been on the pitch. but that will be something to just keep an eye on as the game develops with the heat and I think there's a bit more of a win tomorrow as well

which could just dry out the underneath of the surface but I expect tomorrow to be the best day for batting here and that's something that England will have to capitalize on especially given not quite knowing what might happen to the pitch on days three and four with this extreme weather. Yeah and they've been in the field for what, the 74.5 overs of the Indian innings.

So again, that's a turnaround time for the open about. as they'll be hoping to rest the remainder of the lower middle order as much as possible. If Heather Knight's and Myiboucho can keep batting on for as long as they can. The occasion, Alex, today for it being, we mentioned all the first happening in terms of on the pitch, but the ceremonies we saw at the start, the bell ringing by the 1976 team, all the ex-players that have been here. What is it meant to, for you as an ex-player to be witnessing this occasion and everything that was put on around it to commemorate it?

Yeah, look, we were all talking about how it, the first feeling was disappointment and how it's taken so long for it to get to this. It shouldn't be a first now, but it is, but hopefully it's our last first. Hopefully there are no more first to come. And then ultimately it was about enjoying the day. And it was, you know, this morning was really wholesome. The fact that, you know, there was 55 of us. I don't think anyone will ever, 55 people ringing a bell for a cricket game won't be done again.

But it was the first as well. Yeah, it was so lovely to see all the past players. And they've had a belt in day over in the long room today. There's so many of them. They've been split between two rooms, oldies and youngies apparently. But yeah, it was a beautiful day and look, it's great for the ECB to recognise that, you know, without those previous generations of cricketers who paved the way, you know, we might not have you even had the opportunity to have a first here at Lord. So yeah, a wholesome day and that disappointment sort of disappeared throughout the day.

Yeah, an enjoyable day's cricket, I think, all in all for all those spectators who are in. Anisha then what can we expect tomorrow from the Indian bowlers on this pitch, knowing that they've got nine more wickets to take and England of 264 behind? Well, I do expect some trial by spin kind of an approach to be adopted by India, simply because they need to take a leaf out of England's bowling book today. The most successful bowlers have been the spinners, five wickets shared between Sophie Eccleston and Madivilliers, and also the fact that the bulk of the overs, as Phil Long mentioned, during the course of a commentary in regular time has been delivered by spinners here.

We did see a solitary over by Sneherana, who has had a great success record when it comes to women's tests in England. Deepti Sharma would be high on confidence stroking that very important half century. But hey, the talk of the town is N. Sri Charani from Karapa, Andrapadesh, the leading wicket taker for India. The recently concluded T20 World Cup. And I have a feeling she's going to be India's drum card. But do not forget the paces, the two seam options that India have opted for. Sali Sadgare, wicketless so far, Tranti Gaud, getting prodigious movement into the right-handers. So maybe they'll start with both these seamers and then switch to spin maybe six overs into the start of day two.

So it'll keep an eye out for everybody. Then we've got a role to play. There were various times in the day, Phiney, where questions of, you know, you wonder whether the choice for England to bowl first was the right one. But the way they wrapped up the innings, has that question receded? Yeah, I think it justifies it. I think certainly when you turn up here, even though it was hot, that we were all down there this morning. There's quite a thick covering of thatchy grass, as we've become accustomed to seeing here at Lord. And it does feel as though if you are going to find movement, even if it is a hot day, it's going to happen in that.

first hour, two hours of the day as it happens, a couple of beauties were old in that time and they did take a couple of top order wickets. But it was hanging in there through the rest of the day that got England their rewards. And yeah, in a roundabout way, they're probably not too far off what they thought was going to happen. They just probably thought they'd take more wickets in the morning than the afternoon, but it was played in reverse. But yeah, I think 285 felt about right on that pitch. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballandour Award five times.

He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good Bad Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. To commemorate the first women's test at Lords, the pavilion was packed out with players of England's past.

I was outside the pavilion catching up with a few of them. But first, I spoke with cricket writer Emma John, who also has a role here with the MCC. I am the chair of the Heritage and Collections Committee at MCC. Our job is to look after the museum, the artworks, the incredible, enormous kind of collection of memorabilia, But also just to like make this place, this home of cricket, the home of the heritage of cricket and to really tell the story of the history of cricket in the most exciting ways we can. So at the start of the day today, Charlotte Edwards' portrait hanging proudly in the long room. Rachel Ho-ho Flint portrait hanging proudly in the long room.

Tell us what's been added to that this morning in front of a number of women. about 50, 60 or so, wasn't there? Past players to witness this unveiling. Yeah, and do you know what? Having seen that bell ringing, you know, that was a moment of high emotion for me watching that bell ringing, but there was this previous moment that was really special in the long room. We know that women have been historically underrepresented

in the artwork, in the long room, and there's a good reason for that, which is that, you know, traditionally, the people who get honoured and go on the walls at Lords, and get painted are people who've achieved great things often in test matches here. So this is a historic kind of imbalance that has been a big part of our journey to change. The thing that we did today was we commissioned some retrospective artworks, which are very unusual for us. You may remember the Martin Crow that got unveiled earlier during the New Zealand test,

the men's test. That was really unusual. of our first posthumous portraits. We're really going for this. So we commissioned the amazing Ange Bell, who is here today, to immortalise some greats from women's test cricket through the ages. People like Myrtle McLaghan, who scored the first century in a women's test match. She played in the very first women's test match, which was the Ashes series of 34-35. We've got Mary Duggan, another really important player and captain. Jan Britton, the iconic Jan Britton.

Enid Bakewell, obviously, also absolute legend, one of Wisden's five greatest women's players of all time. She was here to unveil her own portrait. And then there's also a fantastic portrait by Christian Evdew of the 1993 World Cup winning team. Emma, just wait here for a moment. Enid Bakewell, then. Legend of the game. Lovely to see you again. And you as well.

Tell me, Enid, do you like your portraits in the long room? It is a good one, isn't it? Yes. Now, that's smiling one. That's wonderful. So was that done, did you sit for that? Or was that done from photographs? I don't know where it's come from.

But the one that I do like as well is J.B's. Because she was a real character. Jan Britain. Like Jan Britain. Yeah. And she was so talented. She really was. And this is where conversation started

in education, because we're mentioning Britain's name. We need to tell people who don't know about her, about her. She had a 19-year international career. She's still the world's leading run scorer in test cricket, but she was the absolute premier batter of her day playing 27 tests between 1979 and 1998. And she sadly died of cancer in 2017 at the age of 58 in the September. So she was still alive when England won this, the 50-over world cup here. Yeah. She was a tremendous character. She was a wonderful fielder as well. And she supported Rachel.

She was very friendly with Rachel. And Rachel needed some support as well. Who else have you been bumping into here, Enid, that you haven't seen for ages? Well, lots of people. It's amazing because you see a face and you think, oh, I know that name. Which name goes with it? You can remember them. It's great.

Yeah, it's great. Well, we know you've still got all your agility because you've practically gone viral on the BBC Sport Instagram pages for your little hurdle over the rope to get to the unveiling of your portrait. You've still got it. Yes, yeah. Well, I've got to prove, because I've got two false knees, you see. So normally I don't go up and down steps. I live in a bungalow.

Right. Can I just say, I have to say that I was there when Enid hurdled that value. I've never, that rope. I was never been so nervous. I told you, I said, no, Enid, because I was thinking of Jordan Henderson. I said, you know, we've already lost one great sportsman from a major tournament this week from an advertising hoarding. So, you know, but, you know, she's very supple. She's very supple.

No worry. Enoch, tell us what this day means to you. You were a World Cup winner in 1973. You've still been playing the way up to. I won't ask you what your exact day. Did you probably tell us? But it's wonderful that they're allowing it here. And we're actually maintain it.

And it's going to be a good game. Unfortunately, I have to leave on Sunday. Because my eldest daughter, I left for two and a half months with my parents. because they'd lost somebody before me and so they loved having her during the week. Well it's such a special day and we're delighted that you are here and you will now be visible to everybody forever because your portrait is in the long room. Incredible, isn't it? Wonderful, thank you. And it's lovely to see you again, yeah.

And you, Enid. Enjoy the rest of the day, weren't you? Thank you very much. Legend that is Enid Bakewell. Right, standing right behind me, Rosalie Birch, Rosalie Fairburn, now, 2005, player and gosh Rosalie what does this mean to you you've been you've been part of incredible days ashes winds and Trafalgar Square Parade and all of that in 2005 era what does this mean to you and what's it been like so far it's been an amazing day I mean we've been treated to lovely weather

but I mean I can't believe it was 21 years ago that we were playing here in the ashes but there was so few people watching and now we're here at lords these girls are getting to play in a historic day and It's just incredible to see so many people coming out to enjoy the cricket. And the game came on a lot before me, but the game has come on so much since I finished playing, you know, just slightly less than 20 years ago. I'm being in the committee room today with all the former players of all different generations. It's been great with loads of stories being shared and just appreciating kind of the part of history that we are, you know, we're privileged to be a part of. Who have you chatted to that you wouldn't have seen for a long, long time?

I had a brief chat with Jane Powell, who she just revealed to me that she's now coaching Sweden, the Sweden Women's National Team. That's a sign of growth in cricket in Europe, isn't it? Yeah, the Swedish team. Indeed, indeed. Yeah, all sorts. Kind of players of my generation, like Catherine Silverbrandt and Isha Gouwer and Lauren Griffiths, players that I've not seen for a while that I used to play with.

And then just chatting to a few of the older players and hearing some of their stuff. Have you spoken to any of those that were here in 1976 for that first women's ODI on this ground? I haven't yet because we, because there's so many of us, which is obviously wonderful, we're actually in two different rooms and we're just moving into the other rooms. So I intend to spend some time hearing their stories and how they're finding today because I'm sure it's extra special for them.

What, you know, before today, and I suppose in the years where there hasn't been a test match here at Lords, what were always your impressions of this ground you know, when you were growing up as a player, but with women not, I mean, there were so few test matches anyway, but not playing tests on this ground. What did that symbolise and what does this now symbolise? I think for me, this just felt kind of a place that we didn't really come to very often.

I think I maybe played one game here. It was the game when Claire Taylor scored her 156 or whatever. It was not out. So that was my experience of playing there. But it just didn't feel like a place that we were ever really going to play. It didn't even almost cross my mind that playing a table. tests at laws would ever be something we did. So it's just an incredible thing to be part of this occasion.

I played a few tests, actually, because we played more tests when I was part of the team. But we'd have played at smaller grounds. But incredible to be at such kind of a historic venue and obviously the home of cricket and to have so many people watching as well. Great to see you, Rosalie. Enjoy the rest of the day.

Thank you. Let's bring in. Jane Powell is coming in. Rosie's just name check to you, Jane. What coach of Sweden we now here? Yes, that's right. Yes, I'm coaching Sweden women's cricket team. Yeah, fabulous.

What's your day been like, though, since you've arrived here at Lords? What does this mean to you? With your history and connection with your game, tell us. I mean, to be honest, as a little girl, I had a dream of playing for England, playing at Lords, being a professional cricketer, and that was never to be. But this is just fantastic to see my dream being lived out in the players of today. What do you reckon of the morning's play so far? Yeah, it's a little bit slow, over's rate.

But there's been some good stuff and there's been some not so good stuff, but it's nice to, I think it's evenly poised at the moment. I think with another couple of early wickets in the afternoon session, then you'd say that it was a good toss to win, although I can't help but think my dad always used to say win the toss. Think about putting them in and then back yourself. And another, Yorkshireman would have said wait till the other team's batted as well to see how good the total is. Right, well I wanted to ask you a serious question about the cricket, but I really just want to know what has it been like in the pavilion Who are you with? Who are you meeting up with? Are there some names and faces here that you haven't seen for a long long time? Yeah, there's a few of the 1976 people that used to scare me a little bit And they were my heroes heroines and it was lovely to be able to see them Chris Wattmowling Thomas

You need Bakewell, you know those people, but then it was great to see you know my teammates from 88 the 88 world Cup final Jill Smith, Lisa and I, you know, it's just lovely being around them again and just reminiscing about those those games and those tournaments. Yeah, what sort of stories have they got or have they been sharing any of their experience of being at Lords? They've all been sharing a few stories. Some are repeatable and some are not so repeatable, but you know, just different ones, you know, about looking after kids before they came, you know, all the sort of things that

you had to do in those days of making sure you did your you'd work and then go to play cricket. But yeah, I mean, fantastic memories. You know, it's one when we were at Lily Shaw and training and somebody suddenly got the idea you needed to be fitter. So the physio would met us in the morning. And we were about to run down the drive. And she came in her car and said,

every time I beat my horn, you go faster. And so it was like, you can imagine, it was great team building, but it wasn't against the physio. Was that like early editions of the bleep test? I think it was, although bleeped out for language, I'm afraid. Jane, awesome to see you. Love to see you.

Stick around, and I might come back to you because I'm going to bring in Claire Taylor, who is alongside you, part of the 1993 World Cup winning team. I met you in 2005 at the World Cup in South Africa. What's this day mean to you, Claire? It's unbelievable, absolutely. If you go back to, like Jane says, the early days, you wouldn't imagine this. And I think what's nice now is it's not women's cricket and men's cricket, it's just cricket.

and that's what it should be about. We've all got the same skills. We all bat the same, feel the same. They might be a bit stronger, but sometimes technically we're a lot more correct. But it's good to see just as cricket. You shouldn't have to put a label on it apart from cricket. And I think that's the most amazing thing.

And just to see so many people and smiling faces as well, it's amazing. And lots of fans being waived as well. I'm just looking around to paint the picture. It's a warm, lovely, solitary day here in front of the pavilion. It's the lunch break on day one of this historic women's test match at Lords, the first women's test. to be staged on this ground. It's got a very summary feel to it.

The dress code relax in the pavilion. There's a couple of kids down below me, just tossing a little cricket ball between the two of them and bouncing off the step, playing a little game of catch. As a girl sheltering under a hat, to have headphones around her neck. It's really, really wonderful scene, isn't it? Tell me about your memories, though, of 1993,

because again, so many of these matches don't get spoken about often because they're sort of not the platform. That's one of the great things about having a test match is that we've actually got so much time, to chat and allow stories to unfold and hear memories. Yeah, and we're all saying earlier on, we're all just the next generation of the story of women's cricket evolving and evolving.

I remember the evening before, we were all sewing sort of like England badges onto our shirts and we all had mismatched shirts. It was every you were sponsored by at the time. And I also remember like grandstand were covering the ashes, I think up at Headingley. England men had lost. So they switched straight away.

I think it was Ralph Della came down here. So they had the last. 10, 15 overs and that was just unheard of for us as well. And I think we didn't know how to take winning, if that made sense, because all of a sudden we're in all the newspapers, you're on TV a little bit. And it was for a week or so it was a great feeling. And I don't think the realisation of what we'd done

sunk in until about two or three weeks afterwards. You know, you just get lost in the day in the moment, which I remember, I was feeling up the top by the Warner stand up there and I think I took a catch. I don't think it was the last one. turned around there's a lot of Yorkshire girls in the back and we were just sort of like celebrating together so yeah it was quite funny because i remember um the other claire taylor the imposter the imposter um you remind people there there are two of course and some they remember i'm the original she's

imposter we know this um claire taylor nicknamed romper for those who might know you by nickname yeah uh here's the other one just as you say imposter hang on we just need her to stay away for a minute stay away she can't stay away i remember there was a pitch invasion and and tails was part of the pitch invasion and she brought this picture of her like next to me literally like that we had a photograph and she got a big glasses on at the time and you had to bring a memory to an england training camp and tales brought this she said like i knew you were called taylor and you were claire taylor and your middle name's claire so she changed it obviously to be more like me and he was just little memories like that you know again we probably

inspired a generation tales as generation even ones before that on a lot lower level there were what 4 000 at that final and for us that was that was nerve-wracking because like who are all these people You're using you where everyone was sat because you'd seen them come in. You know, so we're just another step on the way. 93 was just another step on the way. Because I don't think we had too much cricket after that, but that's just the way of the world, and you've just got to go with what you're given.

Claire Taylor, the other Claire Taylor, they've got the OG standing next to you here. I'm the imposter. I am Claire Taylor, the younger, or the imposter, as they call me. Is that right, I mean, tell us from your perspective of being in the stands for a 1993 World Cup final, seeing an England team win, How old were you then and what cricket were you playing at that time? So I'm on the England Junior Pathway,

played against Holland in one of the warm up games. I've been part of the fundraising with Ruth. As Ruth Prudeau, late Ruth Prudeau, who was coach of the 93 World Cup winning two. Yeah, so we were playing some fundraising games before that, won't we? So I've been in and around the squad and of course there's this player called Claire Taylor that played football for England as well. I know if we forgot to mention that, didn't we? Yeah, and so I've been playing cricket and football growing up.

I'm, yeah. And to be in the grandstand with my mum and one of my best friends and to watch these girls play some great cricket Susie Kitson took that amazing catch Janet Britton took the catch to win the match and we all ran on and there was only one person I wanted a photo with and then to be able to bring that in 2000 to the camp and say this was a moment of inspiration for me and we hear so many of those stories so I think Nat Sivabunt talks about coming to the 2009 World Cup Alice Capsie talks about coming to the 2017 World Cup and you can really see

that and not all of the girls and young boys who come to these games will play cricket for England but if we can inspire them to love cricket in the same way that we have and the joy that it's given us over the years I mean that's great really good back to 1993 were you in the the dressing rooms as they are now and you were all fully coming through the long room tell us about how they work there's one story I don't really felt there's one player came down to tell them all the stories I won't name names coming down the stairs and needed to go through the long room and was still smoking a cigarette at the

time so casually just asked one of the members if they wouldn't mind holding a cigarette but for a while she went on the pitch and again they fade into into one you know I remember Joe Chamberlain she was our Ian Botham of the team and really she'd done nothing up until the final then Joe was only Joe Cam was star of the show kind of thing going back to Kitty's catch it was amazing first slip she'd die full length and we got in the hood on and I said kitty amazing catch she went I just thought I'm not chasing that's at boundary so she thought she better catch it instead.

But yeah, little moments, Joe Chamberlain running out, a direct hit running out Debbie Hockley. And I was directly behind her. And her arms started going everywhere. And the only way I could celebrate was just to put my arms around a waist and just get my head out of the way because her arms are going everywhere. But yeah, just little moments.

So build up to it is probably better, because we'd lost to the Kiwis in the round robin. We needed to beat the Australians, which we'd never done. We decided to try a new tactic called Hoyking, where we're here through Couchot Corner, So somebody like the late great Jan Britain, Alien to Jan, Alien to Carol Hodgers, but they took it on board. We went down to the net and we tried hoiking.

Roof wasn't quite, didn't like that word, so it was called controlled aggression instead. And I remember Hodgie in the game down at Guildford, she scored a ton. They've got a seven two field at the Aussies thinking she's going to hit it there. And last minute she's knocking everything to Cowshod. She scored a ton, almost like winners a game. And she brought up her a century with a great drive, straight back, And it was absolutely that was unbelievable. That was a highlight for me,

was just the way Hodgy embraced doing what she needed to do for the team. Yeah, amazing. Claire, you have had some extraordinary moments on this ground. People will, of course, remember the incredible innings you played in the semi-final of the 2009, T20 World Cup final, which was a game-changing

innings for those who witnessed it at the Oval. Sorry, what ground did I say there? T-20 World Cup semi-final at the Oval, before then the final here at Lords. For you, and you're involved with the MCC as well, can you sum up, I guess, the trajectory of the game, but also where it's going to from now, because this is the first occasion, but it shouldn't be the last. And famously in 1976, it was 11 years before the women came back and played their second international game on this ground. Absolutely. So, I mean, I've been part of that lucky generation that's been able to play a number of international fixtures here.

The current generation of players coming through are even luckier because they get to play their domestic cricket here. So for us, you know, walking out at Lords when we got to play here, perhaps once every three years or so, it was nerve-wracking. It was a huge privilege and you want to play your best at Lords, but almost, we'll set of the opposition. And that fear almost moored with this is the home of cricket. So for this generation of players to come and play a test match here, to have had the experiences as part of the hundreds, to already play at Lords. Hopefully they can bring their best cricket here, put on a real spectacle for us today.

And I know you're probably too self-effacing to say, so perhaps get Jane to pay tribute to Claire because she was the first woman to be named as a wisdom cricketer of the year, which was an accolade that by no particular dinner, just always gone to men. And an absolute game changer, again, the visibility, the status to be up there

and really stand out and to inspire others. Yeah, I think, you know, the accolades for Claire Taylor. Both Claire Taylars are not as well known as they should be. And, you know, she deserve fully that wisdom player of the year. And she still deserves it for the work that she continues to do to promote women in the game as well. And Rompra as well is completely immersed in cricket still and both still fully doing the best for the game. And that's all that we can ask for really from anybody.

Well, thanks to all those England legends for joining. And thank you for listening. for this episode. Make sure you're subscribed so that you never miss a thing. TMS is on air daily at 10.30am for the duration of this women's test at Lords and we have ball by ball comtery of England's men playing their

white ball series against India with the final T20 live from Southampton at 2.15 on Saturday afternoon. This song when he gets to a bit the whole place goes so good, so good.

Good, so good. You gotta do the arm bit too. So funny. I love that bit. We know that feeling. The World Cup, 2026. On 5 Live in BBC Sounds. He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history.

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