Monday 24 July 2017 15:37, UK
Charlotte Edwards said Anya Shrubsole gave the "performance of her life" as her 6-46 saw England to a thrilling nine-run win over India in the Women's World Cup final.
In front of a sell-out Lord's crowd, England seemed to be heading toward defeat as India found themselves well-placed at 191-3, chasing 229 to win, in the 43rd over.
But Shrubsole took five of the next seven wickets to fall - and even affected a run-out - as India were bowled out for 219 in the penultimate over of a thrilling finish.
"England were amazing," said Edwards. "Shrubsole gave the performance of her life.
"I thought we would see a special performance from her today. She hasn't had the best of tournaments, but in the back of my mind, I felt there was a big performance left in the bag.
"She has got better over the last two games and the big players so often turn up on the big occasions. Today it was Shrubsole.
"You started feeling the pressure for India when England got the seventh wicket, but then it looked like Deepti Sharma and Shikha Pandey were going along nicely, adding 17 for the eighth.
"But Anya pops up again, that run-out, and then you just knew it was game over.
"She is so calm under pressure, cool, and I'm just so pleased for her. She has worked so hard for this."
Edwards also reserved special praise for head coach Mark Robinson, despite his involvement in her retirement from England, and the captaincy, a year ago.
The former England skipper pinpoints the team's ability to perform in the pressure moments as the key to their success, identifying their group stage win over Australia as key.
"Robinson has played a massive part in winning this trophy," Edwards added. "Since he has come in, he has made some big decisions but they've all worked.
"He has got these playing well under pressure and he has to take a lot of credit.
"The win against Australia was the turning point for me. It gave this team so much confidence going forward - the relief of beating Australia in a World Cup.
"They looked unstoppable from there and then today was just something else - a World Cup final at Lord's in front of 22,000 people, you can't prepare these girls for this kind of occasion, you can only hope that they can call on the pressurised situations they've played in the past.
"No-one knew how England would react today, how India would react, and that's been the great thing; it was such an amazing game. They'll now want to play every game in front of a full house at Lord's. I know I would!"
An emotional Claire Connor, a former captain and current director of England Women's Cricket, said the World Cup win was "a dream", and hopes that with a huge global audience watching the game can continue to grow.
"It's incredibly special and hard to find the words", said Connor. "It was a dream final from an England point of view.
"It has been an amazing journey. It's not just about the last year or so, it's about everyone who has been involved in these four years - Lottie, Lydia Greenway - players who have played a massive part in the whole campaign.
"The team has been developing towards this tournament and they've now expressed themselves on the biggest stage I couldn't be prouder of them.
"But also, it was great to see an Indian team play like that, so free and strong, I hope that with millions watching back in India, at peak time, hopefully this can really propel women's cricket and women's sport in general in India."
Mark Butcher echoed Connor's sentiments, saying the attendance and atmosphere at the final were vastly different at Lord's to the final in India four years ago and believes women's cricket is on the up.
"I remember being in India, in Mumbai, for the previous World Cup final, and literally no-one appeared to care." said Butcher.
"There has been an enormous change since then to get to this point. Women's cricket looks to be going nowhere but up.
"England were dumped out in the semi-finals in that tournament and it looked all the way like India had the game in the bag here, but somehow England stuck in there and managed to turn them over.
"Sport often is about moments of brilliance and, even with the pressure of a 22,000 strong crowd, Shrubsole stayed stone cold while the rest of this place was losing its mind. Superb."
