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Also, Klaasen, Verreynne or neither? Firdose Moonda on the questions facing South Africa in ODIs

Firdose Moonda24-Jul-2022A bilateral ODI series that doesn’t count for World Cup Super League points in a non-World Cup year could easily leave us wondering what the point of it is, but for South Africa, whose next few ODIs are crucial in their quest for World Cup qualification, these matches have given them some food for thought.After forfeiting their games in Australia (scheduled for January 2023) to start a T20 franchise league at home, South Africa are likely to find themselves in must-win Super League series soon. They face India in October, England at home next February and Netherlands in two matches that are yet-to-be-rescheduled after being postponed when the Omicron variant of Covid-19 appeared last November. That means this England series was their best opportunity to experiment and get their combinations right for the challenges ahead.They weren’t helped by the absence of regular captain Temba Bavuma, who is out of the tour with an elbow injury, or by two washouts, but there are some takeaways. Here’s what they’ll be mulling over ahead of big contests later in the season:Who is de Kock’s best opening partner?
Janneman Malan has an ODI average of 55 and could be the fastest South African to 1,000 runs in the format (he has 896 runs from 19 innings and the current quickest, Quinton de Kock, got there in 21 innings) so this could immediately come across as too harsh, but should South Africa scrutinise the pace of their starts?Malan’s strike rate of 85.75 does not feature in the top fifty opening batters since he made his debut in February 2019. In the last year, he is 16th on the list, behind both England’s openers, for example, but ahead of David Warner, Aaron Finch and Fakhar Zaman.With de Kock at the other end, South Africa may not need to consider this too deeply but if they want more explosive openings, there might be an option. It’s not Reeza Hendricks who carried drinks in these three matches and strikes at 76.76 or Bavuma, who is used at No. 3 when fit to play. But what about Rilee Rossouw?With the door re-opened to him in the T20I squad, Kolpak a thing of the past and Rossouw having the highest strike-rate among recognised specialist batters in last season’s domestic one-day cup, it’s an idea that could pay off as South Africa seek to seal qualification for the 2023 World Cup. Though used mostly at No. 3, Rossouw has opened 21 times in List A cricket and has an average of 46.14, his most profitable batting position. At the least, it’s worth a try.Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj have formed a good spin-bowling partnership•Getty ImagesThree seam, two spin for the win
It still seems a little unusual to see a South African attack that is not heavily pace dependent but it’s become the norm for this team to field two specialist spinners – Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj – and not just because one of them has had to stand in as captain. The pair have played 16 ODIs together since Maharaj’s debut in 2017, and eight under Bavuma’s leadership. Together, they maintain an economy rate of under six runs an over (5.25 between them in this series) and take enough wickets (six between them in this series) to also demonstrate a decent ability to threaten.With three Super League matches in India, a possible qualifying event in Zimbabwe (known for slow, low surfaces) and (they’re hoping) a World Cup in India, South Africa are likely to stick to this formula. That leaves the question of how they’re going to choose their two best specialist quicks and which allrounder they prefer.Andile Phehlukwayo’s concussion, sustained in the first match, meant that he was unable to stake a claim for the role and Dwaine Pretorius made excellent use of his opportunity, which will make it difficult to displace him. Lungi Ngidi’s use of variations have made him a versatile option which could leave Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada and left-armer Marco Jansen (who did not play in this series) competing for one spot.Heinrich Klaasen hasn’t crossed fifty in his last 10 ODI innings•Getty ImagesKlaasen, Verreynne, or someone else in the middle?
There’s a bottleneck in South Africa’s middle order in terms of who accompanies David Miller at the end of innings. The two closest competitors are Heinrich Klaasen and Kyle Verreynne, with Khaya Zondo also included in the squad on this tour.Zondo has only played one ODI since being re-selected and that was in the washout against Netherlands, so it’s fair to assume he was included as back-up for now. Klaasen, who scored a half-century and a hundred in the warm-ups, was preferred over Verreynne but apart from making the most of his chance to annoy England in the second ODI, he didn’t get much opportunity to make a bigger impact.The actual question should be when did he last make a big impact? Klaasen hasn’t crossed fifty in his last 10 ODI innings dating back to the pre-pandemic series against Australia in March 2020. Verreynne, on the other hand, scored two fifties in his last four innings, both in South Africa’s previous home summer. Verreynne may consider himself unlucky to have missed out here and even more unlucky if the whole debate becomes moot when Bavuma returns at No. 3 and everyone from Rassie van der Dussen moves down one spot and then there is no room for either him or Klaasen.

Unfancied Leicestershire clinched one of the closest title races there has ever been

Paul Edwards23-Jul-2020June 24, 1996
September 22, 1996
In 1996 Leicestershire began their County Championship programme away at Derby. Let us assume the match was not an all-ticket affair. And although this was still the era when the and the covered every first-class game, let us also hazard the view that the press box was not crammed. Heavy rain fell on the first day and play was abandoned, so the journalists, whether local or national, could repair to one of the city’s many fine pubs. The second morning was equally dreich but Derbyshire’s skipper, Kim Barnett put on an extra sweater and made an unbeaten 200. So bleak were the conditions and so isolated Leicestershire’s successes that James Whitaker’s players gathered in a huddle at the fall of each wicket.Visiting supporters probably regarded their attendance on such deliciously grim days as a demonstration of devotion: “My County Wet or Dry”. Yet Whitaker later replied with a century and the left-arm seamer Alan Mullally took half a dozen cheap wickets in the home side’s second innings to set up a six-wicket victory. By the season’s end Leicestershire would be champions for only the second time in their history and Derbyshire would be runners-up, their best position in 60 years. This took place only 24 summers ago.ALSO READ: Shepherd, Majid and Glamorgan leave Gloucestershire second bestWhitaker’s team stuck with the huddle. “It was windy and cold, and we were a bit disconnected, as you can be when it’s windy and the fielders are spread out,” the skipper recalled. “After a long partnership a wicket fell, and we all came together in a huddle, part out of coldness, part out of a feeling of ‘Bloody hell, we’ve got a wicket.’ Then we got another one quickly so we decided to do it again. And the more we did it, the more we found we were enjoying it.”Nobody predicted Leicestershire’s triumph in 1996 apart from Whitaker. They had finished seventh the previous year and were 40/1 outsiders when the season began. Apart from Phil Simmons, their overseas signing, the team was hardly stacked with stars. Yet their unity of purpose was sufficient to defeat a Derbyshire team that included six Test cricketers and they were to go through the 17-match season losing only to Surrey and defeating ten teams, most of whom were far better financed than the Grace Road club.Members of successful sides almost always cite collective spirit as a factor in their triumphs. Has there ever been a successful team – in any sport – whose members did not encourage each other yet still managed to win trophies? What was different at Grace Road in 1996 was that a team of mostly young, ambitious cricketers came together with relatively little expected of them while expecting much of themselves. Moreover, Whitaker and Jack Birkenshaw, the captain and coach, were prepared to try fresh approaches. “It was in that age when a lot of county cricketers seemed to be doing just enough to hang on,” Whitaker said. “We wanted to do something different from that. We decided right from the start that we’d get back to the basics of why we were all professional cricketers – and that was to enjoy it.”Birkenshaw suggested that Leicestershire’s players would savour away matches a little more if they arrived at lunchtime on the day prior to the game and had a net at the venue where they were to spend the next four days. This was possible now that teams were no longer playing two three-day games each week. The result was that five of Leicestershire’s victories were achieved on the road and they came within one wicket of defeating Glamorgan at Swansea in August. However, Neil Kendrick and Colin Metson survived the final eight balls of the game and when Hampshire’s last pair, James Bovill and Simon Renshaw, blocked out the last six overs a fortnight later at Grace Road, Leicestershire’s players were entitled to believe this might not be their summer of jubilee.

We were like the closest family you could imagine. It’s the best team environment I’ve ever known. Every morning we leapt out of bed and galloped in to workPaul Nixon

Other counties remained in contention until summer’s last knockings. Six teams led the table in the last two months and Derbyshire looked likely champions when they won four successive games in August. A battle-hardened Essex side were favourites on September 1, only for Richard Kettleborough’s single Championship century to transform their match at Headingley. By contrast, Leicestershire found their very best form in the final month of the season, winning their last four matches, including a couple of two-day hammerings of Somerset and Durham. And maybe Whitaker’s players had “seen” it all coming. The Leicestershire skipper had introduced visualisation skills to his players and the 22-year-old Darren Maddy described their effects: “We’d think about how we wanted the day to go, what sort of effect we wanted to have on the opposition. It was all about self-belief and relaxation.”Supporters of other counties and many neutrals took the view that it was largely about Simmons. The West Indian’s 1186 runs and 33 catches at slip were valuable enough but he also took 56 wickets with his seam bowling. That made him a perfect new-ball partner for David Millns in a summer when Mullally played all six Tests. But arguments about Simmons’ dominance could go only so far. Six of Leicestershire’s victories were achieved by an innings and the Trinidadian played a supporting role in the successive midsummer annihilations of Yorkshire and Essex.In the first of these games Vince Wells and Whitaker both made double-hundreds as the visitors piled up 681 for 7 declared, which remains the highest total ever made against Yorkshire. Then Gordon Parsons – “Roaring Gordon” to his later opponents in Minor Counties cricket – took four wickets in the home side’s first innings and Millns chipped in with another four in their second. As ever there were Leicestershire huddles. “We were squeezing up as close as possible just to warm up,” Simmons said. But it was a sad ending to first-class cricket at Park Avenue, Bradford. The ground was once a Tyke stronghold with an imperial pavilion but by 1996 the only intimidation was provided by razor wire on the perimeter wall.A fortnight later Leicestershire’s players returned to Grace Road, where the problem was getting people in rather than keeping them out. Undaunted by the absence of acclamation found at Welford Road or Filbert Street, Millns and Parsons took four wickets apiece as an Essex side that included Graham Gooch and Stuart Law were put out for 163 on the first day. Wells, who was in the best nick of his career, then notched 197 and put on 187 with Millns, who made his maiden hundred before taking six wickets when Essex batted again. He thus became only the fourth Leicestershire player to make a century and take ten wickets in the same match. It was that sort of summer for players and supporters at Grace Road. Almost every match brought some delights. “We were like the closest family you could imagine,” said Paul Nixon, for whom effervescent enthusiasm is a default position. “It’s the best team environment I’ve ever known. Every morning we leapt out of bed and galloped in to work.”Phil Simmons led the way with 1186 runs in the season for Leicestershire•Allsport/Getty ImagesThe Grace Road cavalry were no doubt particularly keen to leave their stables on the first morning of the season’s final game. They knew that Surrey needed maximum batting points to have a chance of pipping them and that even that possibility would be removed if they took care of business against Middlesex. Whitaker’s bowlers began that task by dismissing the visitors for 190 on the first day and a Simmons century built a formidable lead on the second. But at tea on the following afternoon, matters were taken out of Leicestershire’s hands in the pleasantest way possible when Surrey forfeited their first innings against Worcestershire. “Leicestershire clinched the second Championship in their history over a pot of tea and ham sandwiches on the penultimate day of the season,” reported ‘s delighted correspondent Chris Goddard.Something like 3000 spectators gathered beneath the players’ balcony on that famous afternoon. To cap off a football summer that had featured Shearer, Skinner and Baddiel, Nixon led a conga of supporters onto the outfield singing “Cricket’s coming home”. Then more or less everyone got drunk. Next morning Millns sweated off his hangover by taking four of the last five wickets to complete an innings victory.September 21 was the latest date on which the title had ever been won. So much was clear. Making sense of what had happened was trickier, although there was no doubt about Leicestershire’s collective endeavour: four batsmen had scored over a thousand runs and eight had made centuries in Championship matches. Seven bowlers had taken at least 24 wickets each, including the frequently overlooked spinners, Matthew Brimson and Adrian Pierson. Stability was also important: the champions had called on only 13 players in the entire season. Other reasons, perhaps the most important ones, could not be quantified. They included self-belief, enthusiasm and the energy that fills any cricket dressing room when a team is doing well.And yet still people were unsure what to say about it all. As so often, Martin Johnson captured the mood: “When the County Championship went to Grace Road, it was greeted with the kind of embarrassed silence associated with a rag and bone man’s horse winning the Derby. In fact, if they ever built a ring road next to Leicestershire’s ground they would have to call it the Charisma By-Pass.” Of course, you needed to be a former cricket correspondent of the to write such things. Match from the Day

The World Cup draw yielded a number of fascinating groups – and the hype for the 2026 tournament can truly build

Are you excited yet? Can you feel it properly? Do you know, exactly, how this is all going to go? The World Cup is always fun in abstract. There are ideas, dreams and hopes. What this thing look like? Who do we our team to get? But the hypothetical discussion runs out, and it all feels a bit silly. What can you say when you don't relly know anything? Not all that much. 

Well, now we know things. FIFA's gaudy 48-team World Cup was unveiled in baffling fashion at the Kennedy Center Friday afternoon, and amid the pomp and circumstance of it all, the balls coughed up a pretty compelling draw. The host nations are all in intriguing groups. There will be some terrific matchups: Portugal-Colombia, France-Norway, Brazil-Morocco. 

There really isn't a dud here. Even the groups that seem a little more predictable feature some good games – at least, on paper. It's now time, officially, to get excited. But which groups are the best? Which favorite can feel pretty good about their chances? And who might get grouped early? GOAL U.S. writers break down the draw in another edition of… . 

• Imagn
  

  Which of the co-hosts got the best draw?

  TH: The USMNT, and by some distance. Australia, Paraguay and likely Turkey? That's a winnable group. Canada did OK, too, but Switzerland aren't pushovers, and Italy, should they make it, will be tough. But Mauricio Pochettino is the guy who can be happiest. 

  RT: The USMNT will feel good. While none of their games are slam dunks, they are all winnable, which gives them a realistic path to the knockouts. Looking ahead, there’s a date with Belgium lurking, which is a lot better than France or Argentina. Overall, the USMNT will be pretty happy, although Mexico’s draw could have been a lot worse, too.

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• AFP
  

  What's the best group?

  Tom Hindle: Well, they're all pretty good! Is there a single dud here? Sure, we're supposed to get hyped and reactionary and giddy, but it's hard to see any weaknesses – even in an oft-maligned 48-team field. The safe bet has to be France, Senegal, Norway, and whichever playoff team makes it (likely Bolivia). There is a real chance that France, among the faves, could lose two of those games. Now THAT could make things interesting. 

  Ryan Tolmich: Group I gets it. France-Norway is going to be fantastic as it gives us that mouthwatering Mbappe-Haaland matchup. Then there’s Senegal, a team with the ability and experience to play with both of those sides. Mix in an underdog with a point to prove from the playoffs, and you have a very fun group.

• Getty
  

  What's the least competitive group?

  TH: It was a BIG day for stat-pad-Ronaldo. Portugal did OK, didn't they? Colombia will push them – and could win the group – but Uzbekistan and whoever wins the first FIFA playoff will surely struggle. It's pretty easy to pick No. 1 and 2 there, even if the exact order is up for debate. 

  RT: See you in the knockouts, Argentina. They’ve been given an easier run there with Austria, Algeria, and Jordan on the docket. That should allow the champions to surge through the group and really peak later on.

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• Getty Images Sport
  

  Based on the groups, who is your early favorite to win it?

  TH: This might be a regrettable prediction later. But, , England have done rather well here. They should navigate their group pretty easily, and the likely sequence of knockout fixtures looks OK, too. Then again, the answer is Spain, who appear to be better than pretty much everyone else at the moment. 

  RT: There are a lot of good teams, perhaps more than ever before, with real ambitions of winning this thing. Until someone knocks off Argentina, though, they’re a team worth backing, particularly given their group stage draw.

MatériaMais Notícias

De maneira épica, o Palmeiras derrotou o Independiente del Valle por 3 a 2, de virada, fora de casa, e segue invicto na atual edição da Copa Libertadores.

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Herói do Verdão no duelo, Luis Guilherme saiu do banco de reservas para marcar o gol que garantiu a vitória nos acréscimos da segunda etapa.

No vestiário, o técnico Abel Ferreira pediu concentração para os jogadores que iniciaram o confronto no Equador e cobrou atenção para aqueles que entrariam no decorrer da partida, caso de Luis Guilherme.

Confira no vídeo acima os bastidores do discurso do treinador português antes da virada histórica do Palmeiras.

➡️ Luis Guilherme, do Palmeiras, atrai o interesse de gigantes do futebol europeu

PALMEIRAS ENTRE OS CLUBES BRASILEIROS NA LIBERTADORES

▪️ Brasileiro com mais finais disputadas: 6 (1961, 1968, 1999, 2000, 2020 e 2021) ao lado do São Paulo;
▪️ Brasileiro com mais títulos: 3 (1999, 2020 e 2021) ao lado de Flamengo, Grêmio, Santos e São Paulo;
▪️ Brasileiro com mais gols marcados: 458 gols;
▪️ Brasileiro com mais vitórias: 134 triunfos;
▪️ Brasileiro com mais participações na história: 24 edições disputadas.

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Laura Wolvaardt backed up a century in the semi-final with another one in the final but South Africa fell short in a chase of 299

Karthik Krishnaswamy02-Nov-2025

The Indian team lifts the World Cup Trophy•ICC/Getty Images

This had been India’s World Cup all along. As hosts. As the emerging global powerhouse of women’s cricket. As the team that has pushed the sport’s hegemonic force harder than any other, defeating it twice in semi-finals. As the team whose time had been too long in coming.On Sunday, India made it their World Cup by winning it. Shafali Verma capped an extraordinary week with an extraordinary display in the final: 87 off 78 balls to set up a total of 298 for 7, and two unexpected wickets of characteristic cheek at a crucial juncture in a chase that threatened more than once to turn into a nailbiter. Deepti Sharma, a world-class offspinner who has raised her batting to a new level this year, backed up a run-a-ball half-century with a five-wicket haul that combined old-school overspin with new-age defensive skills. India won by 52 runs, and that margin disguised how much tension this final contained.This was a meeting of two teams nursing histories of heartbreak, and one had to lose. That fate was South Africa’s, cruelly for their captain Laura Wolvaardt, the tournament’s highest run-getter, who followed a career-defining semi-final century with an innings just as good. This was anyone’s game as long as she was in, given South Africa’s immense depth, until she was seventh out for 101 off 98 balls, miscuing Deepti high into the Navi Mumbai night.Nadine de Klerk, the match-winner in the league-stage meeting between these teams, kept faint hopes alive with her hitting, but 78 to get with only Nos. 10 and 11 for company was too much of an ask even for her.Laura Wolvaardt finished 571 tournament runs, new World Cup record•ICC/Getty ImagesSouth Africa won what looked to be an important toss, but the dew that Navi Mumbai has always brought to run-chases didn’t quite materialise, possibly because the showers that pushed the match back by two hours brought temperatures down well before night fell.This equalised conditions for both teams, and India, in the end, had personnel better suited to a pitch where the ball stopped and gripped: more in-form batters adept at risk-free manipulation of spin, and spinners who posed a greater attacking threat. As long as dew didn’t complicate Deepti and Shree Charani’s job, South Africa were going to find it difficult to chase 299 on this pitch.Related

The night Shafali Verma defied her destiny, and then owned it

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The chase put India’s innings in perspective. Their total was the second-highest ever achieved in a Women’s World Cup final, but given the events of Thursday’s semi-final on the same ground, and given South Africa’s depth, it looked less than intimidating.And recent events were fresh in the mind. India had been 200 for 3 after 35 overs. They only scored 98 in their last 15 overs, and only 69 in their last 10.But the key passages may have come earlier.When the skies cleared and the match began, Shafali and Smriti Mandhana got off to start as ominous as Australia’s on Thursday; 58 for no loss in eight overs. Ayabonga Khaka struggled to control the sometimes extravagant swing she found, and Marizanne Kapp didn’t find much at all with her new ball. Both erred frequently.Shafali Verma made her highest ODI score in the World Cup final•AFP/Getty ImagesShafali, stepping out to the seamers whenever she could, drove and flicked her way to five fours in her first 19 balls, and Mandhana, less overtly aggressive, had unfurled her two favourite shots, the back-cut and the cover drive, against Khaka in a 14-run sixth over.But South Africa pulled things back courtesy de Klerk’s straighter lines and left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba’s pace variations, with India only scoring 13 runs in the five overs from the ninth to the 13th.The boundaries began to flow again thereafter, though, with Shafali launching de Klerk down the ground for the first six of the innings in the 15th over, but just when India seemed to be pulling away from South Africa’s reach, Mandhana was out edging a late-cut to the keeper, bringing a 104-run opening stand to an end.This pull-push continued all the way through the innings, in conditions where neither the bowlers nor batters could quite get on top. A tiring, cramping Shafali fell after adding 16 runs to her previous ODI best of 71*, holing out while looking to hit straight and big. Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet and Amanjot Kaur all got off to starts but couldn’t convert, two of them falling to balls that seemed to stop on the pitch.India’s lack of a big finish owed a lot to how well South Africa exploited this tendency of the pitch, with Khaka making up for her expensive new-ball spell (3-0-29-0) by conceding just 29 runs in her last seven overs while picking up the key wickets of Shafali, Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh.Ayabonga Khaka picked up three big wickets•Getty ImagesGhosh walked in at 245 for 5 in the 44th over and launched her second ball for an effortless six over the covers. She remained the only India batter to defy the conditions and hit the old ball cleanly through the line, pouncing on South Africa’s shift in strategy from stump-to-stump cutters to yorker attempts that came with a smaller margin for error.Khaka’s dismissal of Ghosh in the 49th over, however, seemed to even up the contest once more. Right through that over, Khaka kept cramping Ghosh with pinpoint yorkers that followed her attempts to manufacture room, before a last-ball flick ended up in deep backward square leg’s hands.De Klerk followed up with a final over in which Deepti and new batter Radha Yadav were only able to take singles, and India had ended up two short of 300.Deepti had been a busy presence through the last 20 overs of the innings, slog-sweeping with authority when she could, and keeping the strike turning over when she couldn’t. She didn’t quite find the next gear, however, to lift India to the 320-plus total they had seemed set for for so long.The magnitude of India’s 298, however, began looking clear from the time they began defending it. Their seamers didn’t make the line and length errors that South Africa’s did with the new ball, with Renuka Singh causing problems in particular with her booming inswing. She unsuccessfully reviewed a not-out lbw appeal against Tazmin Brits early on, and then nearly had her spoon one to a cleverly positioned short mid-on.DY Patil Stadium was a sea of blue on Sunday•ICC/Getty ImagesBut it took a brilliant bit of fielding for India to get their breakthrough, with Amanjot pouncing to her wrong side from midwicket and throwing down the stumps at the bowler’s end to find Brits short while attempting a quick single.Two overs later, South Africa were two down, as Anneke Bosch ended a miserable tournament with a six-ball duck, misreading Charani’s length and getting trapped right in front while playing back to a ball of fullish length.Wolvaardt, though, was already on 35 off 30, and already looking ominous, having broken free of early pressure with a series of leg-side swats and a clean, straight six off Deepti. Just when she needed a partner to stay in with her, she found one in Sune Luus, whose trademark mix of square and fine sweeps quickly began putting India back under pressure.But just when the third-wicket stand had crossed the half-century mark, India found their golden arm. Shafali, who had taken just the one wicket with her part-time offspin in 30 previous ODIs, sauntered to the crease and prised out Luus with her second ball, delivering something like a slow legcutter or a carrom ball without the finger flick. Expecting turn in one direction and finding it in another, Luus closed her bat face and popped back a return catch. Kept on for another over, she struck again with her first ball, this time turning an offbreak big to have Kapp strangled down the leg side.Deepti Sharma was named Player of the Tournament•ICC/Getty ImagesWith parts of Mumbai experiencing rain at that moment, South Africa had been ahead of the DLS par score before Luus’ dismissal. At 123 for 4 in the 23rd over, they were well behind it.And they slipped further behind when Sinalo Jafta, batting ahead of more proven, more powerful names despite an ODI average in the mid-teens, began to dot up against the spinners. By the time she spooned Deepti to midwicket, she had scored 16 off 29 and 25 off 44 with Wolvaardt.But even with 151 required from 123 balls, this match wasn’t done. Annerie Dercksen silenced a packed stadium with back-to-back sixes off Radha, the first off a high full-toss no-balled for height. Wolvaardt ended Shafali’s spell – perhaps ambitiously stretched into a seventh over – with a pair of fours drilled through the covers and down the ground.With 11 overs to go, South Africa needed 92.But they still had the tournament’s highest wicket-taker, and an end-overs ace, to contend with. Deepti, in the second over of a new spell, produced a quick yorker out of nowhere that Dercksen couldn’t put bat to. And then, in her next over, she slowed one down, inviting Wolvaardt to go big. Dip produced the mishit, but it still needed to be taken, and Amanjot, walking in from deep midwicket, did on the third – or was it the fourth? – attempt, falling to the floor but somehow holding on.Three balls later, Deepti’s white-ball smarts put India another massive step closer, a quicker, cross-seam ball beating Tryon to rap her front pad; given out on the field, DRS upheld it on umpire’s call.There was still work to do, and still nerves to get past, but the World Cup, so elusive for so many years, was beginning to loom into India’s view.