At 12.35 p.m. on a glorious summer day, Sneh Rana ambled up to the wicket and tossed the ball up nicely. It turned and beat Sophie Ecclestone.

The ball went through the gate and hit the stumps. The bails went up in the air. As did Sneh Rana’s outstretched hands. She smiled broadly, looking upwards. Her teammates hugged her, and they all celebrated.

And there cannot have been too many bigger moments to celebrate than this. A Test victory at Lord’s. In the first-ever Women’s Test at cricket’s most revered venue.

India won by 270 runs. The margin truly reflected the difference between the two sides.

This was truly a win for the ages by the Indian women’s cricket team.

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Chasing an unlikely 457 to win, England had resumed the final day at 130 for six. Amy Jones, who was batting on 52 at the end of the third day, was the last proper batter, but England’s only real hopes of a miraculous intervention from the weather. This, however, has been one of the hottest summers in the history of Britain, and there was no chance of rain.

That England managed to take the game to the final day was itself an achievement, thanks largely to that fine effort from Jones. While no other English batter reached 45, she scored two half-centuries.

The gritty wicketkeeper-batter, however, couldn’t stretch her innings much on this day. And it was Rana who got her out, in the third over of the day. Jones gave an easy catch to mid-wicket, where she was picked up by Shafali Verma.

Ecclestone, the other overnight batter, however, was in no hurry to walk back through the long room.

The world’s premier spinner, who had become a day ago the first Englishwoman to make it to the Lord’s honours board with her five-wicket haul, was determined to put the Indians on the field as long as she could.

Ecclestone watched Deepti Sharma cleaning up Issy Wong and Lauren Bell in successive overs by the off-spinning all-rounder. But she received some fine support from Lauren Filer, who defended stoutly and helped Ecclestone score what would be her maiden Test fifty.

Filer actually played 20 dot balls before getting her first run. England’s No.

11 actually showed more application than some of the batters that came higher up the order.

When that last-wicket partnership was worth 27, Sneh came up with that ball she, and India, will remember for a long time.

Published on Jul 13, 2026