In late September 1066, a young French knight called Robert de Beaumont completed a perilous crossing of the English Channel, landing near Pevensey in Sussex, to take command of a division of the Norman army led by William the Conqueror. According to the chronicles, de Beaumont “performed feats of valour worthy of perpetual remembrance” at the Battle of Hastings, which saw him rewarded with substantial grants of land and ultimately enobled as Earl of Leicester by William’s son Henry I.

Tamsin Tilley Beaumont (I guess the “de” got lost somewhere along the way) is almost certainly a direct descendent of Robert*; and on Friday 4th July 2025, she completed a perilous crossing of London, landing near Vauxhall, to take command of England’s women’s cricket team.

Tammy’s Army included several changes from the first two games. One of England’s key selection dilemmas at the moment is that they don’t really have any allrounders – NSB is now an allrounder “In Name Only” due to injury worries, and her replacement today, Paige Scholfield (note to commentators: it is “Sco-field” – the “L” is silent) is in exactly the same boat.

Alice Capsey is the only batter who bowls at all, but she got thoroughly turned-over by India in the first game, and only bowled one over in the second. At the other end of the ledger, Sophie Ecclestone will produce the occasional knock as a bowler who can give it a bit of a slog, but overall her record is poor – the 35 she made in the last game was her first international T20 score over 30 since 2022.

So England went into this match once again playing 5 specialist bowlers, bringing in Charlie Dean and Issy Wong; leaving them with a long tail and a desperate need for the top order to fire after they chose to bat first.

England’s openers did make it through the powerplay unscathed for the first time in this series; but India’s commitment and energy in the field helped keep them to 44 off the first 6 overs, with Sophia Dunkley scoring the bulk of them (32/44) in her usual frenetic manner.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge was a batter playing for her place going at a Strike Rate under 90, and when she finally connected properly with one in the 9th over that sailed (just) over the boundary for 6, the look of relief on her face was visible from space. India contrived to drop both England batters in that over, and it felt like a bit of a turning point as Wyatt-Hodge lifted her Strike Rate over 100. Getting to the 10 over mark at 82-0 was the platform England needed for a really big score, with 180-200 in their sights.

At 136-0 from 15 overs, everyone in the press box was hunched over StatsGuru checking the record books; but even at that stage, England’s trajectory was looking like the lower-end of that 180-200 range. And then…

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like what happened next. From 136-0 England collapsed to 171-9, losing 9 wickets for 35 in the last 5 overs. The Death Overs have never looked more deadly.

The thing is, 171 is objectively a decent score – right at the top end for matches between the top sides in recent years. And yet… when 180-200 had been there for the taking, England hadn’t taken it. In her pre-match captain’s presser, Tammy Beaumont had dragged out the old cliche that “Tough times don’t last; tough people do!” But it was India’s bowlers, not England’s batters, who had toughed it out and kept believing; and it was India’s bowlers that got the rewards, with a momentum-shift that left England dizzy like a heavyweight getting pummelled on the ropes.

England came out to bowl and I was immediately transported back to Australia in January, not by the balmy summer evening (temperatures have actually eased somewhat in London compared to earlier in the week) but by England dropping a catch, as Lauren Bell misjudged and then shelled a skier on the boundary at deep 3rd in the 2nd over.

England could have waved bye-bye to Shafali for 4 off 4 balls; but by the end of the powerplay she was instead 32 off 15, and a player who has had to spend a little time in the wilderness recently looked very-much BACK. She eventually let Ecclestone slide one through the gate just short of her 50; but it was job done for her, lighting a fire under India’s reply which made them firm favourites at the halfway mark.

But somehow, England kept believing, and it was Lauren Filer who started the fight-back. Filer took the wicket of Jemimah and then made Smriti look pretty clumsy facing a very uncomfortable 4 balls in the 14th over, before taking her wicket off a miscued slog from the very next ball she faced from the England quick. Having returned 0-22 from her first two overs; Filer took 2-8 from her last two, with the speed gun topping-out at 79mph; and suddenly England were back in it; whilst India had fallen behind the rate for the first time in the match.

England were still awful; catches were still dropped. But with 3 overs to go, and 30 required, England made the big decision to gamble on burning Ecclestone’s final over and despite another drop, it pretty-much paid-off – India took 10 from it; but 20 from the last two proved just two much and off the final delivery it was Harmanpreet who found herself with an arrow through her eye, unable to hit the final 6 India needed.

“Feats of valour worthy of perpetual remembrance” is probably putting a little too much icing on the cake; but Tammy’s Army had won… and then lost… and then won again, the most remarkable game of cricket – one that I (and no doubt, she) will remember for a long, long time.

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*Don’t be too impressed by this though – if you are of the same ethnicity, you almost certainly are too, due to something called the “genetic isopoint“!