Test Match Special - Women’s World Cup: England win classic against India

Episode Date: October 19, 2025

Henry Moeran is in Indore alongside 2017 World Cup winner Alex Hartley, TMS commentator Daniel Norcross, and TMS statistician Phil Long for reaction as England beat India in a thriller to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals.Plus, here the thoughts of player-of-the-match Heather Knight after her knock of 109, and both captains Nat Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet Kaur give their analysis of the match.

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I'm Chip Klanixel, host of Resilient Edge, a business vitality podcast paid and presented by Deloitte. Learn how the right data strategy can turn the data your company has into real ROI. Available now, wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio, 5 live. Smith in, driven airily. Oh, now then, down to Longhoff. Who takes the catch?

Well, would you believe it? What Sweetie Mandana done there? Lindsay Smith. Bowles a ball, which goes spooning in the air. It clears Tammy Bowman at Shortford. It dribbles to the boundary. It matters not because England arms are aloft, and they've won by four runs. So England win an absolute.

Thriller in Indoor, beating India by four runs. Having set a target of 289, India were on course to win it. They were in a fabulous position. They should have won the game. Smriti Mandana on 88, gave her wicked away. Dipti Sharma on 50, gave her wicked away. It opened the door for England, and England made sure that they restricted the runs and got the victory that seized them through to the final four.

The crowd fell silent. England jubilant, still unbeaten in the tournament. They're through to the semifinals for India, where there is enormous pressure on them now because they have to win their remaining two matches in the group stages against New Zealand and Bangladesh to qualify for the semifinals of a home World Cup. So many expected them as a bare minimum to reach the final four.

World Cup winner Alex Hartley is alongside me. I will be joined in just a moment by Daniel Norcross as well. And goodness me, we've seen a thrilling game of cricket. Player of the match, no question about that. Will be England's Heather Knight, who scored 109 of 91 deliveries in the first innings, as England hit their highest total against India in this country, 288 for 8. It looked like it would be chased down with ease. In the end, England get the victory that by rights they had no justification in doing.

India required a runner ball with seven wickets in hand and 10 overs remaining. they couldn't get over the line and they couldn't get over the line because they were unable to find a way of keeping their nerve when those big wickets fell those coming in couldn't get going quickly enough and England get the win in indoor

and the Holcar Stadium packed full fell silent on Davali weekend. A remarkable game of cricket will go through it all in all its gory detail in a moment but we'll be hearing in just a second with Heather Knight, the England former captain, having scored 109, down on the boundary edge,

looking very happy indeed, and why wouldn't she? She has played quite brilliantly here today in a memorable England victory that seals a place in the semi-finals of this year's 50-over World Cup, and she's chatting to NASA Hussein. Our player of the match is Heather Knight for a wonderful hundred. She receives the award from Tash Farrant, an old teammate, a bit of a hug.

Heather Watt played your third ODI-I-100 and you must feel one of your most important. Yeah, really pleased. Just nice to get in conditions where it felt a little bit more conducive to batting and, yeah, I just got myself in and I felt like I wanted to put the accelerator down. I felt like we probably needed 300 on that pitch actually

because it was a quick outfield. A bit frustrated with how I'd go out in the end. I felt like if a set bat was there, we would have pushed it well above 300. But yeah, really pleased, obviously, 300 caps as well, so I was desperate to put in a sort of statement performance I guess on a big cap occasion so really pleased I did that I did that best pitch you played on in the tournament and you've had to keep yourself going as a team

to make sure you were ready when you did get on a good surface yeah definitely I think it was a tiny bit slow maybe at the start but definitely compared to the pitches we've had in in terms of the amount of spin and felt like I had a lot more boundary options and yeah just nice to be able to free up a little bit I think to want to got myself in and being quite free to play reverse sweeps and yeah I got a couple of top hedges got like a with those but yeah really pleased with sort of a match defining innings I guess that's what I wanted after not contributing to match the last two games you've always been a good player of spin you've added a variety of sweeps now why so many sweeps today just different conditions

it just felt like it was really working for me today felt like my reverse was on there was a gap there and obviously any sort of nudge on it it sort of went away to the boundary and because it was a little bit sort of slow bounce I found down the ground quite hard so it felt like going square of the wicket suited me quite well and sometimes just on a day it just feels like the right option and you just keep sticking to it and yeah it worked for me today the England captaincy was something you love doing being back in the ranks do you feel a bit of weight being lifted off your shoulder that you can just concentrate on batting or is that too easy to say yeah I don't know it's just different isn't it like I think having that responsibility is

always really good for me with the bat so it's just finding that mindset that works for me and trying to get the best out of myself that's what I'm trying to find obviously in a slight different role and yeah try and find it quite well which is nice and australia next having qualified um how much you're looking forward to that yeah they're obviously a quality team that um going really well in this competition and a good chance for us to to test ourselves against the best team in the world so yeah confidence high we've qualified and ultimately we want to get towards the top end of the table um come come the semi-finals well play today excellent again thanks nice cheers thoughts there of the former england captain heather knight who's hundred and nine today

of 91 deliveries contributed so heavily to England's victory, but so much more to it than just that. Alex Hartley, World Cup winner with England in 2017. What a game of cricket. Well, we said at the start, I was so excited at the start. I couldn't sit still. It was the game we've all been waiting for. We've had some exciting moments in games,

but we haven't had a game that's gone right down to the wire. We've not had a rip snortering. We absolutely had that today. You know, and I think England proved the deeper you can take a game the more opportunity you give yourself to win. And, you know, they never let their heads drop. England, even when India were on top, you know, India ultimately should have won that game. But I think England bowed fantastically well.

And I think Lindsay Smith has been the unsung hero there. One for 40 off her 10, bowling at the death as well. She was absolutely fantastic. And, yeah, I think that the game changed when Smitty Mandanfell for 88, bowled by Lindsay Smith and a simple catch for Alice Capsie in the deep. Daniel Norcross, how have India lost that game? I genuinely don't have a clue, but what I can observe is that 50 over cricket

is kind of brilliant because it allows for these absolute absurdities to play out. I think we established what they needed, 62 off the last 60 with seven wickets in hand. They had Smriti Marnan are going really well. They had Dipti Sharma going really well, and in many ways, more important player for India

than, say, Harman Preet, who'd got out earlier because Dipti has been there at the end of so many chases in all sorts of formats, be there 100, 20, 50 over cricket. And they were just cruising it. And it was Manderer's dismissal that came out of absolutely nowhere. And then what happens is,

and this is a wonderful thing about 50 over cricket, there's still enough time for someone else to make a mistake. And that's what it amounted to. I mean, look, I'm not going to take anything away from the way Lindsay Smith, bowled at the back end there and silver brunt actually who has been struggling with their bowling she ended up with 247 off 8 she didn't feel particularly threatening but she stuck to her plans a lot of pace off time and time again and but you know

England didn't threaten they didn't look like taking wickets for dozens of overs at a time so I don't really know I think India lost that game as much as England won it but England stayed in it they didn't make many mistakes. They didn't drop catches. They fielded well. Their ground fielding was good. They were tigerish and they didn't let up. At the halfway stage I thought they were

20 runs short. I thought they blew it a bit at the back end of their own innings and I think they probably did actually. Well they lost three for eight and 14 balls, didn't they? And there's still those questions on if Heather Knight and Nat Siverbrunt don't score runs or that partnership is broken where are the runs coming

from? And England had a huge opportunity to get 320 on the board. You know, 300 on the board, but they didn't. I think that they're the question marks when you're looking in the middle order and it was different conditions today, you know, different circumstance for what we've seen in the previous games, but it's Dunkley, Lamb

and Capsie that are struggling for form with the bat at the minute. You've got to think, can you get Danny Wyatt Hodge into that starting 11? Somehow, I don't know how you do that, who you dropped for that. It's going to have to be either Sophia Duncly or Emma Lamb. Dan? I was going to suggest

talking about exactly that. I think the pressure's on Tammy Beaumont for me because at the top of the order today she's been a great, great player for England but her returns have not been great in this World Cup and what she did today was really struggle with a perceived weakness

at the ball coming in and by actually sort of like going through a net almost trying to prove to herself how not to get out she chewed up a whole load of balls when England had won the toss they wanted to bat they wanted to get out and be dynamic and what did she end up with it was

22 or 43. 22 or 43, exactly. And that really meant that England were sort of behind where they wanted to be. They kind of caught up with that fabulous partnership between Knight and Siverbrun. But Amy Jones did what she often does, which is flattered to deceive, a really good 56, but then got out. So it still then relied on these two old stages to put it together. So what I might suggest is, in talking to Al's point, Emma Lamb opens with Tammy Beaumont and you squeeze with Amy Jones. I think that's such a big call

when you're winning games of cricket is to completely change the bat in order the easier thing to do is just have one change batter for a batter and then everyone else has their role I think it'd be such a big call if that call was to be made I think it would have had to have been done

before the World Cup started Here come the two captains It's Harma pre-call with NASA who said You got it down to a runner ball virtually 57 off 57 with wickets in hand How did you lose that game? Well I think Smith's Wigger was something

which was a turning point for us and I think still we had too many batters who can bat but I think I don't know how things went other way but credit goes to England team they didn't lose the hope they keep bowling and keep getting wickets there

what's the mood like in that dressing room right now well definitely it's a very you know it's a bad feeling because when you have put so much hard work and you kept you know taking the game till the end but last five five six overs, didn't went according to your plan. I think, yeah, I mean, I'm less awards, but

definitely it's a very heartbreaking moment. That's three close games in a row you've lost now. Do you look at that as a bit of a concern? You can't quite get over the line, or do you look at it and say, we're playing a lot of good cricket, we deserve a bit more? Yeah, I think we are playing good cricket, you know, we are not giving up, but that last line we have to cross now because it's been the last three games where, you know, we, we, we, we, we, We showed up good cricket, but unfortunately we always, you know, ended up in the losing side and hopefully next game is very important for us and we'll cross that line.

And you must have been very proud of the team to fight back and restrict England to 288 because they look like they're going to go and get 320. Yeah, I think our ballers did a really good job because when Nat and Heather was batting, they were looking really good and we thought if we can get them less than 300, that's a plus for us because we know this pitch and ground is very fast and we can, you know, that's why we wanted to ball first. And I think, yeah, I mean, a lot of things we did right,

but again, last five over something, which again, we need to as a group, sit together and rethink. Well, you're happier with this balance of the side because in the end you could have had another batter and made the chase easier it. You lose with one and game with the other. Well, these things will keep going because I think things were under control

when Smith and I was batting. And I think Smithy's wicket was a stunning point for us. But still we had Richard Amunjota and Dipti was there, who had won games for us in the past. But unfortunately, today we were not able to make it. And you seem very determined yourself. We saw you in the dugout. Your eyes were shut.

You were really focused. You wanted to put in a performance yourself today. Yeah, definitely. It was a very important match for all of us. We wanted to show a good cricket and as a group. And unfortunately, in the end, we would. we were not able to make it. Crucial game against New Zealand next.

Still belief in the camp that you can get over the line? Yeah, definitely. Even though we end up losing, but we really played good cricket and we haven't given anyone anything easily. But now next game is very important and hopefully we'll make it in our way. Good luck, Armandprey in those last two games.

Thank you. Nat, conversely, you must be absolutely thrilled. That was some performance and some fight back from your team. team? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so, so happy. I think everyone just showed how calm they were really clear in what they wanted to do. I think we knew throughout the bowling innings that we really needed to stick in. A partnership obviously happened with Harmon and Smitty, and they looked like they were going to chase it easy, but I think we knew if we could get a wicket at one end, yeah, we could

really put on the pressure. Let's start with that last bit, because two things that have been leveled about the recent pass to this side is the fielding and also under pressure not delivering. You did those things really well towards the end of that game. Yeah, absolutely. I guess it's something that we've spoken about before the game. We haven't really been tested towards the end of our innings with the ball. So, yeah, we wanted to be really prepared for that in terms of our skills and also the tactics of that. I thought, yeah, everyone came in with some brilliant plans and executed brilliantly.

And Lindsay Smith, she's had to wait a long time for this format. She's been brilliant with a new ball. but she was also excellent at the end. Were you always going to bowl her that last over or are you making it up as you went along? No, she was always going to bow the last over. The one I wasn't sure about was when Safie would bowl her last over. Obviously, I managed to get a wicket in my over,

so yeah, hopefully she could kill the game, which she did. What did you think of the 288 and what did you think of that innings from Heather Knight? That innings were special. Yeah, just the use of her sweeps and reverse sweeps, I thought, made it so difficult for the Indians to bowl at her. and she showed some brilliant intent throughout. I thought we could have got more runs. We probably messed up the last sort of five, six overs a little bit.

But, yeah, Crucial runs probably from Charlie as well, who, yeah, is seeming pretty confident with that in hand. Qualification, you're through now to the semi-final and the game against Australia. You'll want to keep that momentum going. Two unbeaten sides going against each other, and it's Australia. That's a massive game.

Absolutely. Yeah, one to really look forward to to really get into the battle with obviously at the other top side. But, yeah, we're so happy to obviously get the qualification for the knockout stages, but yeah, we'll want to take those last two games

and hopefully bring some confidence into the knockouts. Well done with the win. Well done with qualifying. Thank you. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Bring more gear, carry more passengers, face greater challenges. Welcome to the world of Defender, with seating up to eight, ample cargo space, and legendary off-road capability. It's built to make the most of every adventure. Learn more at landrover.ca. This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people using money

around the globe. With Wise, you can send, spend, and receive up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Plus, Wise won't add hidden fees to your transfer, whether you're buying souvenirs with pesos in Puerto Vallata, or sending euros to a loved one in Paris, you know you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be smart. Join the 15 million customers who choose WISE. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com. Tise and C's Apply. Thoughts there of the two skippers. Nat's Sivabrunt there with NASA Hussein before that Harman-Preek core who looked rather downbeat Alex Hartley because she acknowledged it and she

said first up, yeah, Smriti Mardiner's dismissal. That was the problem. It was the problem out for 88 of 94, but I mean, there was no excuse, no need to get out at that point. She's a frustrating one, isn't she, Mandana? Because she's one of those where she could probably have about 45 centuries, but she always seems to find a way of getting out when she's in the 80s and the 90s. And she's a brilliant, brilliant batter, and she's still quite young. And she's not as young as I think she is anymore.

But look, she shouldn't have got out in the way that she did, or the manner she did, or when she did. She should have been there for a lot longer. She should have got a century. it was there for her, you know, you just heard Heather Knight saying that Harmon Preet and Mandana, they were batting, you know, they were making it look easy out there in the middle. And they were, India were cruising to victory, but it just shows in 50 over cricket, when you break a partnership and you get into the middle order, just what can happen.

It happened in the first innings with England, and it's happened in previous games with England, when you break those really important partnerships, and it's happened today for India. You made a really good point on Tom's owl when Dipty got out, because obviously we're talking a lot about Spree-Tee's shot. That really was the game. Exactly. Ammonjot was there and if anybody needed

to try and hit for the boundaries and then they still needed just over seven and over at that point. Diptie didn't need to play that shot. And again, quite unlike her. Yeah. It's also pick your bowler. It's against Eccleston, the world's best baller. And yes, she'd been expensive

and she wasn't her most consistent today. But she had one ball left. Yeah, she had one ball left. And actually, she's been expensive because she was bowling at Mandana. She's bowling at a different batter. So, yeah, I think that was really, really poor from Deep Dishama. And surprisingly so, you know, because she's been in these situations so many times.

And this is what's so bewildering about this game that we watched, that they were cruising India, and there was nothing in the pitch, and there was nothing England could do. And Nat was pretty much out of ideas, really. She did pick up a couple of crucial wickets, but you couldn't have seen where they were coming from. No. Now, India are right up against it.

I mean, it isn't actually the case that they've got to win their last two games. It's really strange the way this is all panning out. They can afford to beat Bangladesh and lose to New Zealand because they'll have more wins than New Zealand. If New Zealand lose to England, because New Zealand have had a couple of rainoffs, right? They've also got a superior net run rate as well. So India are still favourites to get there. what we can be pretty much certain well we now know is that England can't finish fourth

so if Australia beat them and finish top they will avoid Australia in the semi-finals there's a whole load of bits that are starting to come into shape actually it also means that numerically the bottom three sides can still qualify it's crazy because it's perfectly feasible that a side is going to qualify with six points out of a possible 14 I mean that would require India to lose one of their last two games

but they could easily lose to New Zealand and New Zealand could lose to England and you'd then find there you have it that you've got, see, so I go through with six points. It's an amazing, it's an amazing game today

and the first time on our travels we've seen what happens when a pitch looks good for batting. But I'll tell you another weird one. 100 overs, one six. Yeah. One six.

And, you know, the women's game has seen a lot more sixes lately. I don't know whether the boundaries are bigger then they, I mean, it does look quite a big boundary, doesn't it? They do look quite big boundaries, but the pitch was really lovely. I think what it was, actually, was that if you've got your line wrong more than your length was the issue. And whenever anybody just gave a little bit too much width,

shot square of the wicket were racing away, weren't they, on a really good outfield. So you were getting fours, really good value for your shots, not so much. The sixies and England in the end bowled enough straight balls, but they've got lots of question marks still. I mean, Al, Henry, that's that sixth bowler, fifth bowler. Capsie's bowled three over's done for 20 today. They've cobbled stuff together. They kind of got over the line, haven't they?

For India, they had the same problem, and they solved it by putting in an extra bowler. I don't think they'll play the extra bowler. I think if they're going to make enough change, it'll be with the batting. Because ultimately the batting is what's letting them down at the minute. You know, I think so often they're not England going, with five bowlers, but five world-class bowlers and can have a little bit of capsie.

But it's against Australia, isn't it? Where the bowlers might be put under the pump a little bit more on a surface like this. But then that's where your batters and your middle order have to get you up to that 300. What about Amy Jones? Half century today, 56 of 68, partnership worth 78 with Tammy Beaumont. We've spoken about her struggles to get going. But Amy Jones, where'd we rank her performance? Yeah, really good.

She's had a brilliant couple of years. Amy Jones, hasn't she? And I think, you know, she's sort of found that roll back at the top of the order and looks really settled. Don't get me wrong, I still think England have a few troubles with the in-swinging ball. And I think that was shown in parts today. But with a, on a flatter surface, on flatter wickets, England just suits them so much more. Because we know their struggles against spin as well. And when the ball is seeming and spinning around, it's not where they're at their best.

Having said that, it's looking likely that their semi-finals going to be in Gooh-Harty, which will be back to the tougher pitches. date. Unless of course they beat Australia in which case they'll be top of the table. With Amy Jones I remain constantly frustrated by the talent that I know is there and some of the shots she played today were great really early on the moment there was any straying in line she was just

lacing it through the covers before and then she got out sort of shoveling a ball rather limply to short mid on when she was there was a hundred there for the taking that that was the only thing um i wonder also whether being such a pivotal player in the side at the top of the order uh england quite like batting first because if you're fielding for 50 overs in this heat and your opening batter is also a keeper she's fit enough though she's fit but it's still going to do something to your brain isn't it a concentration um you know

you're a fitter if you walk out to bat and face the first ball of the match aren't you it's a good point. It's a very good point. Before we get fill in for some stats, we say goodbye. Tivaleigh celebrations tomorrow, Daniel, for India's women, they're going to be a little more subdued, aren't they? Well, the pressure is massively. When we started this competition, Australia

always favourites and Women's World Cup. Of course they are. But we felt India at home, they could do Australia here. I think most people thought it's those two teams and then there's three others vying for the two other slots. Well, it's not worked out there

where is it? South Africa who got thrashed in their first game of qualified for the semifinals England who

have spluttered here and there but actually if you look at the games they've played they won the three of their

games actually quite convincing in the end so it's India who are now going to be scrabbling

around desperately trying to find wins over Bangladesh hoping that England beat New Zealand

to do them a favour potentially it's the same problems for India time and time again

finding ways to win They all, they've, for years and years and years, they've found ways to lose games of cricket. And we've spoken about this from England, from January. How do they find ways to win? And Charlotte Edwards has come in and said, it's just about winning, finding those ways. And England have done that throughout. This has not been England's best World Cup campaign, you know, but it's been gritty.

India haven't really got that grittiness about them, and that's what lets them down. Indeed, Phil Long is standing by with some numbers for us. Phil, you've had a field day with your stats, as you tend to do. Yeah, it's been one of those days, hasn't it? I'll go very quickly through what we've seen here today. In the end, 572 runs for 14 wickets. That's what we call a one-day game, don't we? That's the fifth highest run aggregate in World Cup history.

England hit their highest score in India, the 288 for 8. India hit their highest second innings score in World Cups. It wasn't enough, was it, I'd say, lost here today. We mentioned it before. India, England before today had played India twice and beaten India twice in India in World Cup games. That's now 3 and naught

and here's a slightly worrying one for India still. They played England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In the last eight World Cup games they've played against those four sides you would think their main competitors they've played eight, lost eight. Finally, Heather Knight,

a third hundred, a second in World Cups, a first of all overseas games compared with Smeet's Mandara, 88 of 94, still no 100 versus England. Had we been celebrating a Smeetimandah 100, we might well have seen a different result today. Thank you very much indeed, Phil. I think we would have, Alex, just finally from you. Yeah, I do. I think, I think Haman Preet was kind of brutally honest, actually, in a post-match presser, they're saying, basically seeing Smitty lost us the game. You know, she isn't wrong, and it was such a crucial time to get out, and I think

a lot of ownership needs to go to Smitty Mandana and to Deepty Sharma. I think both of them, you know, they've given that win away. But it's just like we were talking about. It's those ways to win and being gritty and getting over the line that they don't quite have. Well, thanks to Phil to Alex and to Daniel. That's it for this episode of the TMS podcast. Make sure your subscribe so you never miss an episode, including No Balls the Cricket podcast with Alex alongside Kate Cross. As well as that, they're stumped with Alison Mitchell, who's out in,

India during the Women's World Cup, all sorts of fascinating interviews there. England next in action on Wednesday against Australia in Indoor. 1015 Wednesday morning on BBC Sounds and a five sports extra for that. And you can keep up to date with all things cricket by following at BBC TMS on X and at BBC Cricket on Instagram. But from here in Indoor for now, it is goodbye. Thanks for listening. The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup

featuring the stars of women's cricket. Smash straight back down the ground, this girl. Eight teams. Takes the cap. One winner. Australia to lift the World Cup trophy. The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup. She does not be a thing.

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