The performance that JonBall promised, LottieBall finally delivered. Alice Capsey put in a truly world-class shift, whilst Heather Knight poked all ten fingers and thumbs in the eyes of her critics, as England completed their highest successful chase since 2018.

The magnitude of England’s achievement becomes clear when you realise it was only the 6th time that any team has scored more than 180 in a successful run chase; although ominously two of those were by by South Africa this year, against Pakistan and India.

India began their innings in typically frenetic fashion, losing both openers cheaply before Yastika and Jemimah shifted down the gears slightly. After stalling in both her previous innings in this series, and consequently finding herself retired out in the last match, Yastika had more difficulties today – appearing to be struggling between the wickets, she looked like she was running through treacle when she was run out by a direct hit from Sophie Ecclestone.

When Lauren Bell ghosted a slower ball through Jemimah’s defences in the 11th over, India found themselves at a crossroads, with the option to send in big-hitting Richa ahead of the more accumulative Deepti. That they went with Deepti was probably the right decision – it was too early to send in the “finisher” and Harmanpreet needed the indefatigability of Deepti at the other end to work her way into her innings, which proved crucial. Harmanpreet didn’t quite produce the big finish that she threatened; and India never found that “One Big Over” they could have done with; but 180 looked like a decent total, and at the halfway mark there were more sheep in the press box than journalists who were giving England a prayer. (And rest assured… there were no sheep!)

With England 3 into the red by the end of the powerplay, a home win was looking even less on the cards, but that reckoned without Capsey and Knight. Capsey came into this England team 4 years ago having earned a reputation in The Hundred as an exciting hitter; but time has shown that she actually has a lot more in common with Heather Knight at her best – a player who will marry the occasional, carefully measured “Big Shot” with a lot of hard work between the wickets. Those were the cards she largely played today, not going wild and trying to smash everything out of the ground, but waiting for the bad balls, whilst still finding ways to score off the good ones. Perhaps most importantly, she didn’t panic the couple of times things drifted ever so slightly; and the 82 runs she scored today will hopefully be a model for so many more to come.

Knight, at the opposite end of her career, seemed delighted to play the supporting role, finding the gaps and the spaces to get her strike rate to the dizzy heights of 150+ where it has rarely been of late. If there were any doubts about whether Knight could still cut it at this level, Charlotte Edwards clearly didn’t share them, and she was right on the night. If she’s right on a few more nights in the coming weeks, England will be a lot more competitive for it; especially with Nat Sciver-Brunt looking less and less likely to play a full part in the World Cup. (Charlotte Edwards admitted post-match that at best she will play as a pure batter.)

England haven’t suddenly made themselves favourites for the World Cup; but beating India in this series was one milestone; and doing it by completing a genuinely “Big” chase was another. There are now just 10 days to go until England open the tournament at Edgbaston – it might just be that they have peaked at the perfect time.