A year ago, playing a crunch game in the group stage of a knockout tournament, England walked off the field dejected, having crumbled under pressure in a game they should have won.
Catches went down, tempers were lost and then-head coach Jon Lewis felt the need to step onto the field at the drinks break to try and regain some form of control. That loss against the West Indies was a tipping point. It preceded England’s devastating loss in the Ashes, which itself prompted a regime change. Appointing Charlotte Edwards as head coach wasn’t so much about clearing out players or making bold selection calls, but drawing on the experience of England’s grittiest former player to instil in this group how to win ugly. Sitting in her first press conference as coach, she clearly stated what she’d come on board to do – “it’s about winning”.
Progress was made over the summer, first against West Indies and then, despite the series scoreline, in some key moments against India. But, no matter the opposition or manufacturing scenarios, there’s no way to create the kind of scenarios which have been England’s biggest Achilles heel outside of global knockout tournaments. Against India in Indore, they were faced with a situation that, based on previous responses, they were odds on to lose.
India needed a run a ball with wickets in hand, and the world's most in-form batter at the crease. England had collapsed with the bat for the fourth game running, and fallen short of the kind of score thought to be match-winning on a decent surface. While it wouldn’t dump them out, a loss would make their path to the semi-finals – the minimum expected of them from the tournament – more complicated. But against the run of play, England found a steel they’ve previously lacked.
When Linsey Smith was brought back on to bowl in the final 10, she drew the error from Smriti Mandhana. Nearing her third hundred in the last month, she rushed down the pitch, looking to launch down the ground. Instead, she was undone by the gentle drift Smith gets, and spliced the ball moving away from her to Alice Capsey five meters in from the rope.
England have qualified for the semi-finals of the 2025 World Cup!
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) October 19, 2025
They squeeze past India in Indore, clawing the game back after the hosts needed 57 off 57 with seven wickets in hand 🏴#WomensWorldCup #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/2gnqtTvYLw
There were several key factors in that dismissal that went differently from how England have held up in those moments before. Firstly, the bowler. Smith came back into England’s plans over the summer, and since then, she’s been their best bowler. She’s taken more wickets in their ODIs in that time than anyone else, and conceded her runs at exactly four an over. In this World Cup, she blew South Africa away in their opening game, and has been used as their go-to option in the powerplay.
Opening with Smith in that South Africa game was a risk. South Africa have big hitters in their top-order more than capable of clearing the inner-ring. But the drift Smith generated with the new ball has meant that she’s been a dangerous weapon in that role so far in the tournament. Against India, it was at the death that she was at her most dangerous. Not only did she get just enough of that drift to trouble the middle-order, but she switched up her angles, going over the wicket to the right-handers and round to the left. She conceded just four runs off the 48th over, and defended 16 off the last.
“My role has been made pretty clear, a lot of powerplay, a lot of death, I’m glad it came off today,” said Smith after the game. “I’ve been practicing that death plan all week, trying to bowl a tight line into their heels and try and block off that off-side.”
“It’s [around the wicket to left-handers] something I’ve played around with, I’ve actually not done it a lot against the lefties, coming round in the powerplay. But it’s something we’ve spoken about tactically and we think it’s working well. I’ve still not got one to go to slip yet but I’m adamant I’m keeping it in for one more game maybe.”
Smith’s success since coming into England’s first XI also shows the benefit of picking players with the experience and game-smarts to keep their head in high pressure situations. Smith had to wait more than seven years between making her international debut and breaking through into the mainstream. All the while, she was learning her craft on the domestic circuit, playing in knockout matches for the Southern Vipers and developing both on the field and off it.
At the other end of that spectrum, there’s Alice Capsey, who took the crucial catch to dismiss Mandhana. Capsey was catapulted into the spotlight during the early years of The Hundred, and has rarely been out of England squads since. In that T20 World Cup game against West Indies, Capsey dropped a clanger which would have stopped Qiana Joseph in her tracks, at a point where England could have pulled the game back. A number of England fielders were guilty that day, as they also were at points over the summer. Last night, three catches were held in the final 10 overs of the game. It was that which was the most obvious difference between what had gone before and now.
All of that added up to the kind of win England have found elusive. Part of the credit should also go to Nat Sciver-Brunt, in a tough challenge of her captaincy, which she came out of having controlled the situation. Not only did it secure them semi-final qualification, but it fulfilled exactly the remit Edwards was brought on board to instil. A gritty, ugly, important win.
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