Late bloomer Smith stuns South Africa as England make flying World Cup start

Linsey Smith was the architect of the crushing 10-wicket victory in Guwahati, with three wickets for seven runs in her four overs. From her second ball, when Laura Wolvaardt clipped a leading edge back into her delighted hands, she bamboozled South Africa. She added Tazmin Brits in her next over, and Marizanne Kapp in her third, both deceived by the drift from Smith’s low arm.

With Sune Luus gone to a pithy inswinger from Lauren Bell, South Africa were 19 for four and stuck in a hole that looked too deep to escape from. And so it proved. Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt celebrated her return to bowling with a first-ball wicket, thumping into the knee roll of Anneke Bosch, who collapsed into a heap, while vice-captain Chloe Tryon followed soon after, clipping a gentle catch to mid-on. The sunglassed pair of Sophie Ecclestone and Charlie Dean mopped up the rest and then it was down to Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones to overtake South Africa’s meagre total of 69. They did it with 35 overs to spare.

In the dug-out, South Africa looked shellshocked by the rapid swinging of the saloon door, undone by a mixture of leaden footwork and a nervousness that left them uncharacteristically at sea. “It’s not our best work with the bat,” said a phlegmatic captain Wolvaardt after her team’s lowest total against England. “It’s just one of those days where we played the wrong line for the ball swinging in. We haven’t become a bad batting unit overnight.” But it is a feather in England’s cap to have so overwhelmed one of the world’s better ODI batting sides.

For Smith, thrown the new ball and responsible for winkling out the intimidating opening pair of Wolvaardt and Brits, before zipping one past the studiously forward-pressing Kapp, it was a happy way to start her 50-over World Cup career – at the ripe age of 30. Smith’s story will be familiar to many excellent players unlucky to run their career alongside an all-time great, in this case fellow left-armer Ecclestone.

Smith made her England debut at the 2018 T20 World Cup, and played 10 games in the next seven months before being put out to pasture for five years, a period when she contemplated giving up the game. She was recalled for a handful of matches in 2024, though played only once on the Ashes tour. However, the wholesale changes at the top that came after that disastrous trip worked in her favour.

Charlotte Edwards immediately brought Smith into her first squads after taking over as head coach. While Ecclestone took some time out to recalibrate after injury and the brouhaha over her disagreement with Alex Hartley, Smith made her ODI debut against West Indies. Some thought she was a useful understudy who would slip back to domestic cricket when Ecclestone returned. But she took five wickets in her first match, and hasn’t looked back.

“I’m not your most traditional spinner,” said a delighted Smith. “I’m not going to get the turn and bounce that necessarily Sophie gets, which is why I think we work well together in the team. But for me it was just about trying to hone in on the stumps as much as possible. It’s early days in my ODI career, which is something I’ve really strived towards, so I’m just delighted I could help the team win.”

The victory put England at the top of the table after the opening round of fixtures, with a precious net run-rate of plus 3.77, double that of second-placed Australia, while South Africa sank to eighth. In her pre-match press conference, a relaxed Sciver-Brunt had said that she was trying to instil calm and confidence on the pitch, and it showed. The nervous side that floundered about in Australia, dropping the softest of catches, were bouncy and sharp in the field, a fluffed stumping the only mis-step. Sciver-Brunt is one of just four players – alongside Heather Knight, Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt-Hodge – who remain from the side that lifted the World Cup at Lord’s that joyous Sunday in 2017. And she is happy that the selectors have got the blend right.

“Our squad is a good balance of experience and youth – six of the girls have never been to a World Cup before,” she said. “Sometimes, when the older girls have got a few more scars against different teams, that youthfulness is really important.”

Those scars will be at their rawest on 22 October when England face Australia, who beat New Zealand by 89 runs in their opening game thanks to a century from Ash Gardner. But for now, there are a few more days for England in Guwahati, where the team have discovered an M&S “for some home comforts”, before they play Bangladesh on Tuesday.

England then travel to Colombo, to face Sri Lanka – who fell foul of India in the tournament’s opening match – on Saturday. But before then, Colombo hosts India and Pakistan, where attention today will be as much on whether the sides shake hands as on the cricket, after the furore surrounding India’s men’s team, who refused to shake hands with Pakistan during their three Asia Cup meetings last month.

Photograph by Anupam Nath/AP