Anya Shrubsole: 'I'm so fortunate to get the ending I wanted'

Everything was geared towards the most fitting of finales. Anya Shrubsole was due to bowl the final set of this women's Hundred final from the Pavilion End - the same end from which she completed figures of 6 for 46 against India in 2017, to win England the ODI World Cup.

In the end, such a poetic ending did not come to pass. The comical run-out of Northern Superchargers No.11 Grace Ballinger at the bowler's end confirmed Southern Brave's maiden women's Hundred title, after two successive final defeats, by 34 runs, with six balls to spare. Shrubsole would have to make do with figures of 1 for 18 from 15 balls in her final match as a professional cricketer. Besides, a player who has spent her time on the biggest stage trying to avoid the limelight was probably glad of the quick finish.

Brave wanted to do this for Shrubsole, and her for them. As captain, she had a front-row seat to the pain those team-mates had endured after twice falling in Lord's finals. This time, they were able to come through in emphatic fashion, and give the 31-year-old seamer the perfect swansong.

"It's right up there, to be honest with you," Shrubsole said of the victory. "I think just because of the occasion, knowing it's my last game, having been so close two years running - all of those things make it really, really special.

"I've been trying to keep my emotions at arm's length the last couple of days. I'm just unbelievably proud of the girls. Third time lucky here, been in two finals. I think Southern Brave have been the best team in the Hundred for the last three years and we just haven't managed to get over the line.

"I often say sport is not that kind. It doesn't often give people the ending they might want. So I feel incredibly fortunate that I've been able to get the ending that I want."

Shrubsole's dismissal of Alice Davidson-Richards all but ended Superchargers' hopes of chasing down a target of 140, reducing them to 66 for 5. But it was the work of her successor, Lauren Bell, that gave Brave an immediate stranglehold on the second innings.

Much like Shrubsole throughout her career, Bell's late-booming inswingers did most of the damage across her 19 deliveries, as she finished with 3 for 21. Marie Kelly was bowled off her pads second ball of the innings, having successfully reviewed an lbw decision off the first, before the dangerous Phoebe Litchfield was snared at deep cover after driving aerially off the outside half of her bat. Lucy Higham - scooping the 91st ball straight to fine leg up in the circle - was the third.

Speaking afterwards as the Match Hero, Bell went out of her way to praise Shrubsole for her mentoring over these last few years. "I do often feel I'm making her proud, which is really, really nice. As soon as it was over, I was straight to Anya and so happy for her."

As it happens, the pair met for the first time on a New Zealand tour in 2021, with Bell perhaps not as aware of Shrubsole as she might have been, because of how little women's cricket was broadcast even that recently. And it was fitting that on a free-to-air broadcast, in a competition looking to spread the game beyond its usual circles, Bell was front and centre for future generations to gaze upon. Not only does Shrubsole credit the competition for continuing the shift in women's cricket, she reckons Bell will beat her tally of 227 wickets across 173 international caps.

"Lauren was exceptional today, she really set the tone. She'll probably be way better than I ever was, and that's really exciting.

"This competition has just grown year on year on year. I know it has its critics, but purely from a women's game point of view, this competition is incredible. And I think it's done amazing things for the women's game in this country, for domestic cricket in this country, and I really hope that it continues for many years to come.

"The state of women's cricket is really healthy. What's important is we grab that momentum and keep going."

By Shrubsole's own admission, the acceleration of the women's game had finally become too much for her to keep up with, something she acknowledged when stepping away from international cricket at the start of the 2022 summer. To go out in front of a crowd of 21,636, a domestic record for a women's game and the highest attendance for any women's game in the country this summer, felt deserved, and fitting.

A cricketer whose guile and drive took her from being a 12-year-old debutant for her native county Somerset to becoming one of England's all-time seamers, now signs off with one final trophy in a tournament that embodies a bold new future for the women's game.

"I am immensely proud," Shrubsole said. "I could only have dreamed of having this career. I'm a competitive person, I just want to win whatever I'm playing. Ask my parents, when we're playing a game of cards, I want to win.

"I played lots of sports as a kid and I just wanted to do the best that I can and be as successful as I can. And cricket ended up being the one I was best at."