Key events
14th over: India 58-6 (Sharma 16, Ghosh 5) Ghosh is the new batter and she slams Bryony Smith over mid -wicket for a lesser spotted four. India need more of that to post something vaguely competitive. Six runs off Bryony Smith’s final over – she finishes with 1-19 off her four. Tidy.
WICKET! Rana lbw b Ecclestone 8 (India 52-6)
Given out on review! Ecclestone pins Rana in front and India lose their sixth wicket. India were having a better over with eight runs coming from it, including four byes, but the wickets keep a’tumblin.
13th over: India 52-6 (Sharma 15, Ghosh 0)
12th over: India 44-5 (Sharma 15, Rana 4) Issy Wong into her third over, she has 1-5 off her first two. She sends down some fast, well directed short stuff and India have no answer. It’s been 40 minutes and 52 balls since you took your love away since the last boundary.
11th over: India 39-5 (Sharma 14, Rana 1) Freya Kemp into the attack with her nagging medium pace and India can only work the singles, they need someone to take the attack to England otherwise this game, and series, is gone.
WICKET! Kaur b Glenn 5 (India 35-5)
Skipper gone! Harmanpreet got well and truly bogged down and tried to bunt Glenn a couple of times across the line, narrowly avoiding being pinned lbw. She has to go eventually – bowled through the gate by a skidding delivery by Glenn.
10th over: India 35-5 (Sharma 13, Rana 0)
9th over: India 32-4 (Kaur 5, Sharma 9) Five runs off Ecclestone’s first over, Kaur and Sharma flicking and poking for ones and twos as they try to get India a foothold in this game. They’ve only hit two fours so far in this innings. England have been miserly.
8th over: India 27-4 (Kaur 4, Sharma 5) Five runs off Bryony Smith’s third over, India look a little shell-shocked – Kaur has 4 runs from 10 deliveries. Just what you need when runs are rarer than hen’s molars… Sophie Eccleston, the numero uno white ball bowler in the world is coming on for a bowl.
7th over: India 22-4 (Kaur 3, Sharma 1) Nifty over from Glenn, just two runs and a wicket in it. England all over India here. They’ll have their painful Commonwealth Games defeat to India fresh in the memory, they left Birmingham medal free and will be very keen to bag the silverware here in Bristol.
WICKET! Hemalatha c Jones b Glenn 0 (India 21-4)
Glenn gets another! Hemalatha goes back to cut and gets a meaty edge that Jones does brilliantly to cling onto up to the stumps. It’s a procession!
6th over: India 20-3 (Kaur 1, Hemalatha 0) Freya Davies finishes her second over and England have had a blistering powerplay. Hemalatha is the new batter and Sarah Glenn is coming on for a bowl.
WICKET! Meghana c Wyatt b Davies 0 (India 19-3)
Fantastic catch by Danni Wyatt! Diving forward, knuckles on the turf, the hardest type of catches to take and she makes it look ridiculously simple. England have another!
5th over: India 18-2 (Meghana 0, Kaur 0) Issy Wong serves up a couple of wides but otherwise there is no runs from the bat as she spears in yorkers and hurries the batters up. Excellent start for England.
4th over: India 16-2 (Meghana 0, Kaur 0) Four runs and a crucial wicket off Bryony Smith’s second over. She has Mandhana in her back pocket for the second time in three matches. The Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur arrives at the crease with her team teetering up top.
BIG WICKET! Mandhana c Ecclestone b Smith 9 (India 11-2)
Huge moment in the game! Mandhana goes down the ground but doesn’t get all of it… Sophie Ecclestone sprinting around the boundary edge to cling on to the catch. Great hands!
WICKET! Verma b Wong 5 (India 11-1)
Issy Wong replaces Smith, from spin to pace – Wong is quick. She hits the pitch and hurries the Indian openers and then does for the dangerous Verma with a knuckle ball! Verma veered off to the leg side and Wong followed her with the slower delivery, the ball canoning off pad and into the stumps! England have their first.
3rd over: India 11-1 (Mandhana 5, Meghana 0)
2nd over: India 11-0 (Verma 5, Mandhana 5) Freya Davies shares the new ball and Verma tries to hack her away very first ball, an edge ballooning over the in-field for a couple of spawny runs. A single brings Mandhana on strike. Davies drags down with her final ball and Smriti is on it in a flash – pulling away for India’s first boundary.
1st over: India 4-0 (Verma 2, Mandhana 1) The ploy almost works as Smith nearly has Mandhana stumped second ball! The ball lifted and spat meaning Amy Jones couldn’t gather it cleanly and Verma survives. Just. Next ball is DROPPED! A caught and bowled chance that bursts though Smith’s hands in her follow through! All ‘appening in the first over. India scamper four off it.
England are going with spin first up – Bryony Smith is going to have a twirl. Sneaky tweaky!
Evening sunlight peeps through pinky clouds as the players take the field for the anthems a minute of silence for HRH. Play will be underway very shortly, time to get a brew and quickly check in on toddler bath-time progress before cranking up the OBO.
The teams have just done their warm-ups out on the field, it looks fine but chilly in Brizzle, it is the middle of September so there are a fair few ‘top coats’ to be spotted in the crowd.
Teams:
England:Danni Wyatt, Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Amy Jones (c), Bryony Smith, Maia Bouchier, Sophie Ecclestone, Freya Kemp, Issy Wong, Sarah Glenn, Freya Davies.
India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur (ct), Richa Ghosh, Sabbineni Meghana, 7 Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Sheh Rana, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur
Ch ch changes: For England – Issy Wong comes in for Lauren Bell and for India – Sabbineni Meghana replaces Kiran Navgire.
England win the toss…
Amy Jones has decided to have a bowl first. Harmanpreet Kaur said she would have done the same… and she really had a good look at the pitch earlier:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the third and final T20I between Amy Jones’ England and Harmanpreet Kaur’s India.
We’re in the wild wild West of England (Bristol) for this one game shoot out to decide the series after the two sides have inflicted comprehensive victories over each other so far.
England suffered a chastening loss in the last match at Derby (incidentally their first T20I defeat at *Fortress Incora County Ground* since 2009) largely due to some skittish top order batting that saw them reduced to 54-5.
They will take heart from the performances of some of their newer players – Maia Bouchier and 17 year old Freya Kemp showing their composure and class to re-build and post a respectable total. It wasn’t nearly enough to stop one of India’s experienced old timers (at 26!) Smriti Mandhana made mincemeat of the target, driving, sweeping and scooping her way to a classy 79* off just 53 balls.
England have the top two T20I bowlers in the world at their disposal in Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn and will be hoping for a better all-round display in this final game.
Play starts at 18:30, I’ll be back shortly with the teams and the toss.