As Olympic hurdler Rai Benjamin discovered last year in Tokyo when he finished second to Karsten Warholm in one of the greatest races of all time, you can break a long-standing world record and end up losing. Nat Sciver can now understand. Her one-woman assault on one of Australia’s top women’s bowling attacks was the heartbreaking equivalent of the tape fair after it has been broken by the person in front of you.

In the mathematical and therefore most important sense, England are far from reaching the total of the opposition in this World Cup final. And yet, he felt so much closer because of Sciver’s 148 out of 121 balls. It was a round resplendent with power and panache, touched with genius. Unfortunately for his team, it was also the second most spectacular round to happen at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval that day. It might never have been triggered at all had it not been for the magnitude of Alyssa Healy’s achievement in setting the highest ever individual score in a World Cup final.

The fact that Sciver herself was left within reach of Australian Adam Gilchrist’s 149 in the 2007 final against Sri Lanka – that cricket was only a whim away from two women in top of this all-time chart – will remain an exquisite and lingering torture. until the next number change. Until then, we have the memories – and should treasure them, because the England vice-captain’s performance deserves much more than a footnote.

With the score at 38 for two, England’s top scorer in the tournament remained silent for both overs before charging Alana King to hit the first and only six of the match in the middle of the wicket. There were two first lbw calls – one of them was overruled during the review – and the loss of its captain; and at 86 to three, the sun was setting both on the horizon and on England’s chances. None of this, however, dented Sciver’s pace or confidence, whether in the lower leg side loft, the cavalier scoop over the shoulder or the perpetual fuss between the wickets. .

Her first 50 came from 53 balls, and she kept England in touch with the required runrate, at six and seven, despite the wickets continuing to fall at the other end. Like Healy, she continually disturbed the bowlers, repeatedly sending the ball in unexpected directions. Where the Aussie fly-half had moved into the crease like a fencing master – the resulting shots seeming to defy the rules of physics and geometry – Sciver rose and swept with stubborn power.

As a melon, she had felt Healy’s sting herself. After England opted to bowl, Sciver’s eight overs went to 65 (only Charlie Dean had a worse save rate) – and she dropped Healy to 41, similarly to Danni Wyatt dropped Rachael Haynes. As Australia’s first and then second wicket unfolded, the whole game seemed reduced to a single point of interest: how gigantic would their total be?

Under the weight of Healy’s brilliance, only an equal and opposite force could keep this finale from descending into a farce. There you have it, the solo effort that seemingly defied reality but perfectly encapsulates the England star player’s ever-growing skills in this tournament. Sciver even reached his century in 10 balls less than Healy. The irrepressible all-rounder may not have been able to save England in the end – but she did save the game.

She had done it before in this tournament, against the same opposition. In England’s first group game, a Century Sciver kept them in the hunt for a then-record tally, and after that game she admitted the disappointment of that defeat stayed with her and inspired her here .

But in Hamilton, Sciver had the backing of two top hitters. In the final, she had Sophia Dunkley and Charlie Dean. And yet, even with eight wickets down and 100 runs needed, you still thought she could get them all herself, especially when she brought up her 50 partnership with Dean with the third and most clubbing of his reverse sweeps. , a shot she recently added to her arsenal.

It was Anya Shrubsole that Sciver took over as vice-captain this year, and it was particularly poignant that it was these two who finished the game together at the crease.

Shrubsole, psychology student and ultimate pressure sponge, had been the only bowler to hold a line and length that troubled Aussie batters, the only one to keep them under four and over. And Shrubsole has been England’s last, best hope before – first as a six-iron hero in the 2017 final, and again, in this tournament, as the No.11 who took them. seen going through that hairy near outing against New Zealand.

The bowler’s emotion was evident as the curtain fell on a World Cup match that will likely be her last – as it will almost certainly be for Sciver’s fiancee Katherine Brunt as well. If this is the moment that both women end their international careers, it will be the one they can be proud to have been a part of.