Heather Knight stands tallest on record-breaking day

NICK FRIEND AT DERBY: However strange it might sound, New Zealand's recovery to 244 for 8 paved the way for England’s highest-ever successful run-chase in an ODI – or, indeed, in any format

Derby: New Zealand 244-8, England 245-7 - England win by three wickets

Scorecard

When England last played at Derby, the difference in atmosphere could hardly have been starker. The Incora County Ground was the venue for the five-match series against West Indies, played out behind closed doors as the end of summertime met the front of autumn.

It was bitterly cold and – for the four games that took place under floodlights in the late-September evenings – unfailingly dark. It was a series designed to squeeze out the very best of a bad situation that was caused by the pandemic and exacerbated by unfortunate withdrawals from South Africa and India, neither of whom were able to travel. What mattered in the end was that the games happened, even if the tourists were undercooked and the hosts too strong in any case.

But they were silent, eerie affairs: Sarah Glenn was the player of the series and only lives down the road, but none of her family could be present to celebrate. Deandra Dottin became the first woman to the substantial landmark of 100 T20I sixes, yet instead of that moment being greeted with any sense of appreciative acclaim, a familiar hush filled the air as the ball was retrieved from beyond the rope.

So, this was all a glorious opposite: the sun shone and a decent smattering of spectators spread themselves across the stands dotted around a venue where England have a middling record in ODIs, having lost four of 10 50-over internationals before today.

At one point, that looked like becoming five in 11 after an out-of-form batting line-up threatened to make a mess of a run-chase that began with a wicketless powerplay but became briefly engulfed in a collapse at the hands of Hannah Rowe, recalled to New Zealand’s side as a replacement for Lea Tahuhu, the hero of Leicester two afternoons earlier, whose workload is being managed ahead of a home World Cup.

The mystery of a three-wicket slump that brought together Heather Knight and Amy Jones in the 16th over for the game’s defining partnership was, quite simply, its absence of obvious threat. As is frequently the case when runs are in short supply, silly things happen: Tammy Beaumont – an all-time great ODI batter but on her longest run without a fifty in the format since 2014 – was strangled down the legside; Lauren Winfield-Hill – nine scores between 11 and 44 in her last 10 ODI innings – was assured for 33 but then beaten by an innocuous, straight delivery; Nat Sciver – 34 runs in six innings against New Zealand this summer – played around her front pad and was trapped in front.

^{Heather Knight led England to their highest-ever ODI chase}

That they complicated matters for themselves made this a more impressive victory in the end. Even before England were 71 for 3, they had allowed New Zealand to climb from 33 for 3 and 89 for 4 to post a total of 244 for 8, built around Katey Martin’s half century – her first against England since 2008, when Isa Guha was Katherine Brunt’s new-ball partner. The 36-year-old wicketkeeper survived a non-reviewed lbw appeal while in single figures but otherwise played an intelligent hand alongside contributions from Amy Satterthwaite, Sophie Devine and Brooke Halliday.

However strange it might sound, that recovery paved the way for England’s highest-ever successful run-chase in an ODI – or, indeed, in any format. That says plenty for the quality of an ODI bowling attack that has conceded more than 250 just six times in the last decade, but also perhaps for the gulf in class across the wider game that England have so rarely been presented with this challenge. By contrast, Knight’s team have surpassed the same total when batting first 22 times since 2010.

Here, they were indebted to their captain, whose class is endless, never in question and sometimes unjustly underplayed. It is the nature of presenting so impressively as a leader that on occasion her principal role – as England’s best all-format batter – slips under the radar.

There were just 10 fours in her century – her best in white-ball cricket though still behind her Test-saving ton at Wormsley, by her own reckoning – instead locating the gaps towards the longer, emptier expanses of the outfield. It was appropriate, therefore, that she tested out her troublesome hamstring with a sharp two to bring up her hundred, throwing herself over the line in the process. You were watching a player somewhere near her effortless best, forever climbing the ladder of England’s best-ever.

Earlier, she and Jones had shared a hundred-run stand that was only broken when Jones – as is sometimes her wont – broke free of the most languid sojourn to shank a straightforward catch to mid-off. Sophia Dunkley fell without scoring shortly afterwards, and the game looked as though it might turn once more, with England knowing they could clinch a series victory, while Devine knew this was a chance to level things up ahead of a decider at Canterbury on Sunday.

Now, that occasion will have nothing riding on it as far as the series is concerned. But with England’s tour of Pakistan cancelled, it takes on extra significance as their final game of cricket ahead of the Ashes in January.

^{Katey Martin made an unbeaten 65 for New Zealand}

The ECB’s statement to call off the historic tour made no mention of the repercussions for its women’s side, who have an enormous year coming up – they go straight onto New Zealand after the Ashes to defend their World Cup crown, before returning home for a summer that includes the Commonwealth Games.

It is fortunate, then, that their plans appear to be taking shape in most departments, not least with Danni Wyatt back in the middle order in a hybrid role either as finisher or counter-attacker. She has performed both with aplomb in this series – accomplishing the former in this game, having arrived at the crease just as England were dangling on the edge of a second mini-collapse of the innings.

She alleviated any remaining concerns, though, timing one flick over the legside for six and just generally presenting as a nuisance to Devine, dropping the ball for singles wherever there were gaps and scampering to steal every run on offer.

When she and Knight fell in quick succession, there were still six runs required, but an Anya Shrubsole boundary was followed by the rarity of a stumping off a wide to give the home side the final run they needed, which rendered the stumping null and void, with the wide having come first.

At the end of it all, it means another series win for England – and one where they have been tested. As so often, it had their captain at its heart.