This wasn’t in the script. It was supposed to be Smriti Mandhana’s name on the Test Batting Honours Board for scoring the first hundred at Lord’s – on 69 overnight, it was written in the stars! But instead (plot twist!) it was Yastika Bhatia who raised her bat about 5 minutes after lunch on Day 3 of this historic Test. Smriti was batty; but Yastika was battier.

The Indian keeper-batter has been out of the team far more often than she has been in it over the past couple of years, partly due to a succession of injuries culminating in ACL surgery towards the end of last year. ACL surgery is every female athlete’s nightmare; but at Lord’s Yastika was in dreamland – the only player on either side to really master the conditions, bringing up her maiden international hundred off 145 balls.

Yastika was eventually out, caught on the ring for 113, as India looked to force the pace after lunch. The wicket was Ecclestone’s, and shortly afterwards she bowled Sneh Rana to bag her 5fer and become the first England woman to get on the honours board. Her teammates celebrated but Ecclestone didn’t – she knew the writing was on the wall as India’s lead passed 400.

By 3pm in the afternoon a declaration was looking iminent, with Harmanpreet spotted on the balcony in her whites, and Richa and Sayali throwing the bat at anything and everything. Ecclestone dropped Richa on 47, and she took a couple more overs to get to 50 via 3 more singles, but as soon as she did Harman called them in, setting England a target of 452.

Once more for those at the back, the highest ever 4th innings total in a Women’s Test is England’s match-saving 245 at Canberra in 2022; and the highest successful chase is just 198, by Australia versus England, in the match we mentioned in yesterday’s report which was the last time anyone overturned a 1st innings deficit to win a Test.

We’ve occasionally looked at chases in Women’s Tests, including that match at Manuka where England needed (and came within an Umpire’s Call of getting) 257, and thought: “Well, if this was an ODI it would be doable!” Here? Nah! In the friendly sweepstake I had with friends on how many England would get, I called 135… and was soon quite worried I’d overcooked it!

England’s top order folded quickly to 59-5, with a golden duck for Tammy Beaumont in her final innings for England, after a career that has included a record 12 ODI hundreds, a T20 century and a Test double-hundred. There were plenty of setbacks in the early years, but although I never held back (once writing that she should never have played for England!) she understood our role and never took it personally. Ultimately she did all the talking-back she needed to do on the pitch; and I have the uttermost respect for her for it. She’s a legend, and (if she wants it) she will one day make a fine England coach.

England fought back in the final hour with a partnership of 67 between Amy Jones and Mady Villiers, with Jones picking up a second half-century of the match. But realistically they were making India work a little bit harder for the win, rather than there being any possibility of England saving the game; and Villiers eventually fell to a weirdly “zen” catch by Richa at silly mid off, who just stood her ground where anyone with an ounce of sanity (!) would have leapt out of the way of a drive so full-on Lewis Hamilton would have been proud of it.

With Villiers gone, India are now into the tail – England closing on 130-6, with India now surely virtually certain to close out the win when we return for the final day tomorrow.