England v India: first women’s cricket ODI – live

6 hours ago 8

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4th over: England 20-2 (Lamb 9, Sciver-Brunt 0) Goud’s figures (2-0-10-2) don’t tell the story of a spell that has included several wides, a full toss, a long hop – and two brilliant deliveries to dismiss both England openers.

WICKET! England 20-2 (Beaumont LBW b Goud 5)

Tammy Beaumont has gone! It would have hit the top of middle stump and Kranti Goud has her second wicket.

There might be an inside edge. It was a very similar to the delivery to the one that got Jones, nipping back from outside off stump. Nope, it’s pad first…

India review for LBW against Beaumont!

This looks close.

3rd over: England 17-1 (Beaumont 5, Lamb 6) Lamb times Amanjot sweetly through the covers for three, with Jemimah Rodrigues doing superbly to save the boundary. India’s fielding has been so impressive on this tour.

Beaumont turns two to deep midwicket; there might have been a third there too. No boundaries yet but England have started busily.

2nd over: England 12-1 (Beaumont 3, Lamb 3) Emma Lamb cuts her first ball for two to get off the mark. Goud then bowls her fourth wide of a peculiar but successful over.

WICKET! England 8-1 (Jones b Goud 1)

That’s the weirdest set-up I’ve ever seen. Goud looked to be really struggling when she bowled three off-side wides in a row to Jones. The next delivery was perfectly pitched on fourth stump and came back off the seam to beat Jones and trim the bails. A stunning delivery, not least because of what preceded it.

1st over: England 5-0 (Beaumont 3, Jones 1) The seam-bowling allrounder Amanjot Kaur starts to Beaumont, who tickles her first ball round the corner for three. Amanjot finds a pretty good line to Jones, who works the last ball off the hip to get off the mark.

It’s a beautiful afternoon in Southampton and the players are almost ready to go. Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones, who made hay against West Indies, will open the batting.

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Team news

Sophie Ecclestone returns to the England side after missing the ODI series against West Indies earlier in the summer. That means there’s no place for Linsey Smith, who took seven very cheap wickets in that series.

India stick with the XI that beat Sri Lanka in their Tri-Series final in May. The teams have balanced their bowling attack differently: three seamers and two spinners for England, two and three for India.

England Beaumont, Jones (wk), Lamb, Sciver-Brunt (c), Dunkley, Davidson-Richards, Dean, Ecclestone, Cross, Filer, Bell.

India Rawal, Mandhana, Deol, H Kaur (c), Rodrigues, Ghosh (wk), Sharma, A Kaur, Rana, Charani, Goud.

England win the toss and bat

Nat Sciver-Brunt, back from injury, says it’s a good surface and “we know there are usually a lot of runs scored on this pitch”. Harmanpreet Kaur says India would have batted as well.

Preamble

The road to the World Cup starts here*. In 76 days’ time, India will begin the competition – their competition – against the co-hosts Sri Lanka in Bengaluru. England meet South Africa on the same ground three days later.

Both teams should enter the World Cup in a battle-hardened state. England have this three-match series against India, then warm-ups against India and Australia just before the competition starts. India’s preparation is even tougher: ODI series against England and Australia, who between them have won 11 of the 12 World Cups, followed by warm-ups against England and the reigning T20 champions, New Zealand.

These warm-up series are usually about performances, workloads, T-crossing and I-dotting as much as results. But on this occasion England could do with a series in to boost their fragile confidence going into the World Cup. They were beaten 3-2 by India in the T20 series, a scoreline that probably flattered them. And while England’s overall record since the last 50-over World Cup is terrific, it looks different when you put on the reading glasses and start squinting.

v Australia and India W2 L7 (win percentage: 22)
v the rest W22 L3 (win percentage: 88)

This is a quickfire series, with three games in seven days at Southampton, Lord’s and Chester-le-Street. By next Wednesday, we should have a better idea of both teams’ chances of winning the games that really matter.