Knight and Smith emit calm amidst the chaos in Indore as Smith closed it out with her clever left-arm spin.
Knight and Smith stay cool in the heat of the battle.
As she celebrated a century that put England on track to defeat India and advance to the World Cup semi-finals, Heather Knight exuded a serene, quiet sense of satisfaction.
When Linsey Smith defended 13 runs off the final over to give England a four-run victory in Indore on Sunday, her demeanour couldn’t have been more different from the sick pallor and unsteady knees of her teammates on the bench or the frantic lip-chewing and finger-nail-biting that was taking place in the India dugout.
Knight stole the show early on by sweeping and reverse sweeping, powering and running her way to a 91-ball 109, pushing England to a total of 288 for 8, and asking India to pull off their most successful run chase in women’s ODIs. Knight is one of only two recognised England batters who isn’t in the spotlight because she doesn’t have many runs.
Even when Smith took the vital wicket of Smriti Mandhana, who put on 67 off 66 with Deepti Sharma for the fourth and shared a third-wicket stand of 125 off 122 balls with Harmanpreet Kaur, it seemed mystifying that they couldn’t.
All three of India’s batters reached fifty, but England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt resorted to Smith when Deepti was dismissed by Sophie Ecclestone with 27 needed off 19 balls.
As Amanjot Kaur and Sneh Rana began to reel in the target, she let up just four runs off the following over. Smith, the match’s most economical bowler, took the ball for the final over after Lauren Bell hit nine off the next over.
India needed sixes of the final two balls to win after Knight threw her body in the way of Amanjot’s brilliant stroke to cover after Rana and Amanjot traded singles off the first three balls. Smith maintained her composure, although they were only able to manage two and four.
After losing the captaincy to Sciver-Brunt following a winless Ashes tour to Australia in January, Knight was considered doubtful to make the World Cup squad after tearing her hamstring tendon from the bone while batting in the home series against the West Indies in May. Knight’s 91-ball 109 was her third ODI century and her first in her 300th international match across formats.
Amy Jones stopped a slow run since striking 40 not out in the paltry run chase against South Africa at the beginning of the tournament, with 56, while Sciver-Brunt, England’s other in-form hitter, was crucial in her 113-run partnership for the third wicket.
Sciver-Brunt, with her century against Sri Lanka, and Knight’s blushes-saving 79 not out against Bangladesh already put them ahead of their team-mates going into this match. With Australia looming next, it is incumbent on their team-mates to back them up.