A huge last 3 overs struck by Nat Sciver-Brunt and Alice Capsey lifted England above 300 for the first time in an ODI since 2022, when they crossed that mark 3 times – twice against South Africa and once against the West Indies.

With 47 overs gone, England were 255-5, and 300 looked out of reach. NSB was on 94 off 108 (a Strike Rate of 87) and Capsey on 23 off 33 (SR 70). But in the remaining 18 balls, Capsey hit 16 off 9 (SR 178) and Sciver-Brunt 30 off 9 (SR 333), adding 47 runs in 3 overs to finish on 302-5. This isn’t quite a record – for example, India scored 62 from their last 3 overs against England at Canterbury in 2022 – but from the data on Cricsheet* it appears to be the 4th most runs scored in the final 3 overs of an ODI in the professional era; which gives you an idea of the scale of it.

NSB’s hundred – her 9th in ODIs – draws her level with Tammy Beaumont and Charlotte Edwards for the most ODI centuries for her country. It wasn’t her most fluent ton (though how good a player do you have to be, to have “bad” hundreds?) but starting with the two consecutive ramps for 4 that brought up the milestone, followed in the next over by consecutive 6s off Diana, it was an innings with the explosive ending of a superhero movie that will live long in the mind’s eye. At last, England were entertaining and inspiring, if only for 15 minutes.

Prior to that, England’s innings had followed a familiar pattern from this tour – decent numbers that you felt slightly flattered the actual performance on the field. Tammy Beaumont was clearly struggling with her timing, so what possessed her to then try a ramp – a shot that is invariably fatal if you don’t time it perfectly – will remain a mystery up there with how they built the pyramids, or why anyone bought “that” Ed Sheeran single**.

Was TB playing her last match for England here? My guess is not – I think she’ll play against New Zealand, and will also captain the team in Ireland in September; but only because the thing that should happen, won’t.

As I tweeted somewhat controversially, it feels like the time has come for Heather Knight to call it a day in ODIs. Her innings here of 12 off 17, with just one 4 off a streaky inside edge that could have gone literally anywhere, just looked tired more than anything; despite the fact that she passed on WPL and didn’t play much regional cricket leading into this series. Given that Knight isn’t going to play against Ireland anyway, I think the time is now to hand over the baton before the New Zealand series.

There are clear reasons not to give the captaincy to any of the “obvious” candidates. Nat Sciver-Brunt doesn’t appear to want it; and nor does Amy Jones. Sophie Ecclestone isn’t in the frame, or she would have retained the vice-captaincy; and Charlie Dean would create selection issues because she isn’t England’s best spinner, meaning you totally eliminate any flexibility with your spin options – you’d have to pick both her and Ecclestone for every game.

Which brings us to Grace Scrivens! No, she hasn’t played a match for England; but she is an absolutely exceptional leader and cricketing brain, as England acknowledged by making her England A captain aged just 19. It would take an extraordinary player to make her debut as captain against New Zealand next month, but I believe she is up to it, and will be a fantastic captain to lead England through the next 10 years – Scrivens should replace TB opening the batting and take over the captaincy now. It won’t happen. But it should.

Anyways… Jack Rule on Twitter called this suggestion “absolutely insane“, and he’s right! But what can I say? We are where we are, thanks to England’s refusal to engage with any succession planning; so insane is what we’ve got – embrace the madness Jack, it’s all we’ve got left!!

(Oh… and for the record, I believe Heather Knight should retain the T20 and Test captaincies over the winter; though Scrivens should play in the Tests as vice captain.)

Back on the field, England still had some formalities to complete to win the series, and Pakistan acquiesced in familiar fashion – they kept up with the rate for the first 15 overs, but having lost 3 wickets in the powerplay they didn’t have the engine-power to keep it going, stuttering before ultimately suffering yet another late-order collapse to defeat by a statistically huge margin. Muneeba Ali did her bit with 47, and Aliya Riaz chipped in with 36; but it never felt like Pakistan were going to chase 200, let alone 300.

England didn’t bowl brilliantly, but partly because they didn’t really have to. Sophie Ecclestone did however achieve the record everyone has been talking about – the fastest player ever to take 100 ODI wickets… as long as you count only matches where she actually bowled! (A definition of the record we should acknowledge that some dispute.)

Ecclestone said afterwards that she wanted to win trophies – specifically the Ashes and a World Cup – rather than break records. I instinctively feel like the fans will agree with her there; and I believe it will happen for her too. But perhaps no longer under this captain.

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* Caveat – Cricsheet is great… and (and I’m not gonna lie, this bit is quite important!) free… but it isn’t quite complete.

** Insert literally any Ed Sheeran single here!