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6th over: India 29-0 (Rawal 6, Mandhana 22) This is also better from Filer, who bowls four dots then Mandhana glances square of the wicket on the leg-side … and Lamb mistimes her dive, so they run two. The fielding has not been the best aspect of this series, but Filer responds with a decent nut. She’s into this now.
5th over: India 27-0 (Rawal 6, Mandhana 20) Betterish from Bell, who still offers drive-balls, but with greater risk and the shots pick out fielders. Naturally, no sooner have I typed that than she sends down a leg-side wide, the only one from the over until its final delivery goes down the ground for one more.
4th over: India 25-0 (Rawal 6, Mandhana 19) India will be very happy with their start and, as I type, Rawal drives nicely through cover for one, then Filer offers a straight one, back of a length on the hip, and Madhana yanks it around the corner for another four; she wants to be the difference here, and she’s seeing it big.
3rd over: India 19-0 (Rawal 5, Mandhana 14) Again, Bell is too full, and Mandhana drives through point for four … then strokes a shorter one down into the pitch for four more through extra. Lovely shot. So Sciver-Brunt comes over to chat to her bowler, who goes around to the left-handed Manhana, over-pitches again, and a delectable cover-drive makes it three boundaries in three balls. That last one was reminiscent of Ian Bell, and there’s little higher praise than that. From there, though, Bell comes back well, sending down three dots, but her over still costs 12.
2nd over: India 7-0 (Rawal 5, Mandhana 2) Filer starts nicely, hurling an inswinger into Rawal’s pad; there’s an appeal, but probably an exculpatory inside-edge, which is presumably why England don’t review. It turns out there was also too much movement – the ball wouldn’t have hit the stumps – then, after two singles, Dunkley allows Rawal’s drive through her legs at cost of two.
1st over: India 3-0 (Rawal 2, Mandhana 1) Bell comes stotting in and does well to see her floaty full toss hit straight to backward point. We then lose pictures, missing two singles, then one more follows.
…and play.
Lauren Bell has the ball…
Here come our players…
Teams
England 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Amy Jones (wk), 3 Emma Lamb, 4 Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), 5 Sophia Dunkley, 6 Alice Davidson-Rich, 7 Charlie Dean, 8 Sophie Ecclestone, 9 Linsey Smith, 10 Lauren Filer, 11 Lauren Bell.
India 1 Pratika Rawal, 2 Smriti Mandhana, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Jemimah Rodrigues, 6 Richa Ghosh (wk), 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Radha Yadav, 9 Sneh Rana, 10 N Sree Charani, 11 Kranti Goud.
All being well, Ecclestone is also back. She was terrific at Lord’s, and has just explained to Charlie-Charles Dagnall how hurt she was by the criticism she received during the following the Ashes series. But she’s used to time since to regenerate, reminding herself how much playing for England means to her. She is, for mine, the most likely of the panoply of match-winners playing today.
I’m glad to see Filer back. England are a much better side when able to call upon her pace, and they’ll need her in India when the World Cup starts.
Sciver-Brunt would’ve bowled, so is happy. She liked how flexible her team were at Lord’s but makes two changes – in come Alice Davidson-Richards and Lauren Filer, with Maia Bouchier and Em Arlott dropping out. India make on change, Radha Yadav replacing Arundhati Reddy.
India win the toss and bat
They’re playing four spinners who they want bowling later in the match, explains Harmanpreet. She’s happy with the cricket India have played this tour and hopes for another positive performance.
Time for the toss…
We’ll take it.
And in other sports:
Also going on:
Preamble
You wait ages for a banger of a bilateral, then two turn up at once.
Though England and India are two teams still seeking themselves, in the meantime, they are both fine teams, in the process of serving us a terrific series. It’s easy to make a case for both to take it today, as it is for almost every player of the 22 to make the crucial contribution. We play sport partly to find out what’s going to happen when we do, and anyone confidently predicting the outcome of this contest is bluffing.
There are players in form – for England, Sophia Dunkley, Alice Davidson-Richards, Amy Jones and, of course, Sophie Ecclestone, with Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Smriti Mandhana at it for India. But there are also players who’ve yet to fully figure but rarely let a series go by without a major contribution – Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt for the hosts, Harmanpreet Kaur for the tourists. Any one of them could be definitive today, likewise someone we’ve not named – we just don’t know, which is what makes this match so exciting.
Likewise, the imminent World Cup: everything that happens today is building towards that, with players jockeying for position and units looking to cement themselves. For the teams, there’s a series on the line, but the players are playing for their futures. This is going to be great.
Play: 1pm BST
