In late 1995, England set out for India to play five ODIs and three Tests, their first bilateral tour of the country. Then, as now, women’s Tests were a rarity. The Test match England played last week against India was the first between the two sides in the country since 2005, while in 1995 England hadn’t played a Test for four years before heading out to play three in India. In fact, these were the first women’s Tests the country had ever hosted. This was a step into the unknown, for everyone involved.

Across six weeks, England’s players were hospitalised by vomiting sicknesses and pelted by rocks. They were held under lockdown due to the threat of a mystery gunman and escorted from cricket grounds under police protection. And they left India having played their part in what remains, to this day, one of the most enthralling series women’s cricket has seen.

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These were the days before women’s cricket fell under the ECB’s umbrella, with the Women’s Cricket Association still in charge. Funding was scarce, and the costs of touring were felt even before departure. Players would have to pay for their own blazers, kit, even flights, and find time off full-time jobs to play for their countries. Overseas trips were scarce.

After England won the 1993 World Cup on home soil, they didn’t play again until the now-defunct European Cup in 1995. Following another win in that competition, attention turned to selection for a historic trip to India. Having made her England debut in the European Cup in July that year, by the end of the summer an 18-year-old Sue Redfern unexpectedly found herself in the mix to secure a place on the tour. Cricketers she had looked up to were now her peers.

“I was so young and these people were my heroes really,” says Redfern, now a member of the ICC’s panel of development umpires. “Suddenly I’m winter training with them and potentially fighting for a place in the England team. I never thought I’d get that opportunity. It was all a bit of a blur and happened so quickly. I was a really young and a very sheltered 18-year-old, I’d never really been away from home. It was all a bit of a whirlwind, to be honest.”

“To be quite honest we all wanted to be at home,” says Taylor. “I was pretty close with Karen Smithies and Jo Chamberlain, Debs Maysbury and Sue Metcalfe – the northern lot. All we were talking about with a week to go was a full English breakfast at Toddington Services, which are the first services we’d hit after Heathrow. The novelty of India had worn off.”

For Bhatt, it was the culmination of a tumultuous journey, with more than just her own reputation at stake.

“Winning the series was one of the greatest moments of my life,” says Bhatt. “There was a lot of responsibility on my shoulders and a lot of expectation. After all that had happened with Purnima midway through, there was a lot of pressure from the Association who were expecting me to win the series. They needed something to justify that they had made the right move by removing Purnima and having me as the captain. If they hadn’t won the series they probably would have received quite a bit of flak.”

That match was the last international in any format India would play until they hosted the 1997 World Cup. Despite the crowds and the drama that the series boasted, women’s cricket still wasn’t valued enough to be consistently funded.

“We went into the World Cup without any international cricket for one and a half years,” says Bhatt. “It was not a very good situation at that point in time.”

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For the tourists, after seven weeks away, arriving back to the cold of England brought another shock. Being at home for Christmas came with mixed emotions.

“Adjustment back home was really hard,” says Redfern. “You were used to being independent and part of that wider family, but your actual family wanted to know everything about what’s happened and you can’t really recall it. I was pretty grumpy when I got home and pretty sad.

“I’d left school and I was in part-time jobs. I had three casual jobs to try and earn some income and I was very lucky that I still lived at home with my mum and dad. I was back at work the following week as a lifeguard trying to earn some money.”

And yet, for all the sacrifices, financial and physical, it’s a trip that holds a special place in the hearts of all those who were part of it.

“I loved the tour and the camaraderie,” says Redfern. “You don’t appreciate how special those moments are playing in a team until you no longer do that. It suddenly hits you how lucky you were to get to do it.”