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England vs India T20Is: Harmanpreet Kaur & Co return to action to take on Amy Jones-led hosts
TOSS: England to bowl first , Kiran Prabhu Navgire makes her India debut.
India 132/7 (20 overs)
England: 134/1 (13 overs)
Harmanpreet Kaur: “I just feel today we forcefully played because it was not 100% conditions to play cricket. But still I am happy the way the girls put the effort because when there are chances to get injured, but still they are ready to play...” “It was not 100% conditions to play cricket but still we were putting efforts. The ground was too wet. There were so many chances to get injured and one of our players [Radha Yadav, while diving to stop the ball] got injured also. She was our main bowler and that’s why we were lacking one bowler. We were one bowler short also...”
— With inputs from ESPNCricinfo
Post-match: India captain Harmanpreet Kaur is not happy. Letting it go at the end there (missed parts of it). Unhappy the match went ahead in conditions that were not 100%, points out Radha Yadav’s injury.
Player of the match: Sarah Glenn for her for-four.
England 134/1 (13.0): BIG WIN FOR HOSTS. With 7 overs to spare, and 9 wickets in hand. Dunkley 61* (44) and Capsey 32* (20) make it a comfortable captaincy evening for Amy Jones.
England 123/1 (12 overs): Doesn’t seem like much life let in this one. Shafali starts her over with a gentle delivery that is put away by Capsey for four.
England 113/1 (11 overs): Dunkley with a half century! Rode her luck but unlike Shafali earlier, made India pay big time. Two fours for her in that Rana over. This is ending in a hurry.
England 103/1 (10 overs): Done and dusted this match, just a matter of time. Simran with a misfield for four, Harman with a full toss no ball and a six off a free hit by Capsey... 17 off that over.
Harmanpreet brings herself on.
England 86/1 (9 overs): Dunkley should try her hand at lottery tonight. Harman is standing in a very straight long on position, does well to get to this very long off would have been but parries it over for six. Tough, but we have seen her take these. Capsey with another six in that Rana over.
England 71/1 (7 overs): Dodgy fielding there again, as Navgire doesn’t pull the ball back despite chasing it well. Capsey scores another four, as Vastrakar bangs one short.
WICKET! Over 6.2: Danielle Wyatt 24(16) st Richa Ghosh b Sneh Rana Fine glovework by Richa! Gathers well down the leg side and whips the bails off in time. India needed that desperately. England 60/1
England 56/0 (6 overs): Danni Wyatt was biding her time for the most part but she finishes the powerplay with two fours off Deepti Sharma. What a powerplay for England, without even having to try too hard.
England 43/0 (5 overs): Desperately bad start for India this. Dunkley should have been back in the pavilion and finished her dinner by now. Instead she is still out there. Shafali puts a sitter down at mid off. Renuka has somehow bowled three good overs without a wicket.
England 37/0 (4 overs): Definitely not the start India wanted. Mistakes on the field and a good lofted shot, two fours for Dunkley in that over.
England 25/0 (3 overs): Dunkley completely misses an attempted lofted inside out shot but it goes for four byes. Richa under early pressure behind the stumps.
England 19/0 (2 overs): Right, that’s not a good over for India. A wide for four, then a thumping square cut by Wyatt for four and at the end of it, serious worry around Radha Yadav who seems to have injured her right shoulder fielding at point. Was down for a while, finally walks back.
Pooja Vastrakar from the other end.
England 6/0 (1 over): Renuka nearly strikes first over! Dunkley is out but the pacer has just overstepped by a small margin. The over ends with a four. Salt, meet wound.
The star of India’s CWG campaign Renuka to start things off. Dunkley and Wyatt in the middle.
End of innings, India 132/7 (20 overs): Deepti Sharma’s 29 (24 balls) with two overs off Ecclestone’s final over makes it a decent finish for India after the handbrakes were firmly in place in the overs leading up to it. Solid effort by the Indian allrounder in the end though. Gives India something to work with on a pitch with assistance for spinners.
WICKET! 18.5: Pooja Vastrakar 3(6) Run Out Freya Kemp That is ridiculously bad from India. Firstly, Deepti should have put away the bad ball better. Then the running is poor and finall, Vastrakar doesn’t ground the bat. Shocking finish to the innings here. India 119/7
India 110/6 (18 overs): The struggle is real for India. Especially against a bowler who relishes bowling at the death like Ecclestone. Just 5 in that over.
India 105/6 (17 overs): The good news, kinda, for India is the pitch obviously has help for spinners. But they are falling well short off a good score here.
WICKET! 16.5: KP Navgire 7(13) ct Danielle Wyatt b Sarah Glenn Navgire struggled for timing, seemed to have finally connected one well but finds the fielder at deep midwicket. What a night for Glenn. India 105/6
India 103/5 (16 overs): The brakes are firmly in place. Kemp with a solid over of left-arm pace change. Navgire is struggling for timing, as have most batters so far.
India 101/5 (15 overs): The 100 comes up for India, a four for Deepti in that over cut nicely and late behind the wickets. The commentators think India are placed very nicely here, but have to say they clearly haven’t lived through all the lower-order disappointments of this team. This is when this team struggles.
India 93/5 (14 overs): Tidy over by Bryony Smith.
WICKET! 12.5 Harmanpreet Kaur b Sarah Glenn 20 (15 balls) Harmanpreet Kaur was looking in good touch too but she is bowled by one that kept low. When the disappointment of her dismissal dies down, Harmanpreet Kaur shouldn’t mind that dismissal all that much with the spin bowling lineup India have. All she must hope is a decent total on board from her lower middle order.
WICKET! 11.4: Richa Ghosh 16(12) ct Bryony Smith b Freya Davies End of a brief cameo from Richa, showing why she should have perhaps been in the CWG squad but also why she needs to improve her consistency. Caught at long on. India 83/4
For those asking about Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur had said in the PC yesterday that she is in NCA and that BCCI will provide update... of course BCCI hasn’t provided any update.
India 65/3 (10 overs): How often does Ecclestone go for 13 runs in an over in a T20I? Richa Ghosh with a cut for four and then a massive slog sweep for six. Into the stands.
India 65/3 (10 overs): How can well can Richa Ghosh go here? This is a big series for her. A four for Harman in that Kemp over and great fielding by Dunkley to prevent a four for Richa at the end.
WICKET! 8.3: D Hemalatha 10(15) lbw Sarah Glenn Sophie Ecclestone built the pressure on Hemalatha, Sarah Glenn gets the reward. Hurries the batter with one that shoots through, back foot comes in the way of being bowled. Proper partnership bowling. India 55/3
India 51/2 (8 overs): How good is Sophie Ecclestone? A maiden over to start. Hemalatha didn’t read her flight well. Got into awkward positions, couldn’t rotate strike either.
India 51/2 (7 overs): Harmanpreet Kaur finishes that Glenn over with a lovely driven four. Hemalatha with a lofted over earlier in the over.
WICKET! 6.4: Shafali Verma 14(13) ct Bryony Smith b Sarah Glenn Oh dear. After the dropped chance in the previous over, and a big run out miss in this, Shafali throws it away. Caught at long off. Wasted her reprieves. India 47/2
India 41/1 (6 overs): End of powerplay. India could have easily had a couple of fours via wides but Jones being Jones. Shafali Verma got a life in that over, dropped by Dunkley at extra cover off a slower delivery by Davies. England perhaps the happier side right bow though.
India 36/1 (5 overs): Kemp was bowling a good first over but it finishes with a lofted shot down the ground for four. Hemalatha in at No 3.
WICKET! Over 3.6: Smriti Mandhana 23(20) lbw Bryony Smith One ball after a poor review for LBW from England, Mandhana is given out by the umpire. She reviews, but it is umpire’s call. Mandhana lost her shape going for the slog sweep there. Big blow for India (as it always is when she gets out early) India 30/1
Mandhana has said in a couple of interviews about how she is looking to open up more in T20s. And she has lived up to that word.
Spin time. Bryony Smith.
India 24/0 (3 overs): A lofted shot by Mandhana, then a pull shot... showing how well she reads length. Shafali finishes the over with a lofted shot down the ground. Expensive from Bell.
Mandhana comes down the track to loft Bell over mid-off again for four and no surprise to see Amy Jones come up to the stumps.
India 11/0 (2 overs): A couple of drives through the offside by Mandhana, one sneaks past Capsey. The outfield is heavy as you’d expect. Mandhana also finds the space in the legside once but, no boundary in that over.
India 4/0 (1 over): After a couple of mistimed shots, Mandhana gets going with the now trademark lofted shot over mid-off for four against her Brave teammate Bell.
Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma in the middle.
Replug: Will we see the aggressive version of Smriti Mandhana that we saw at CWG and The Hundred quite often?
Smriti Mandhana interview – Was so fond of cover drive as a kid, used to play it whole day
Team news: The two England players to miss out from the squad are Issy Wong (Surprised?) and Kate Cross. For India, Harmanpreet said Jemimah is still in the NCA but there has been no official update regarding her. Others missing out are Meghna Singh, S Meghana, Taniya Bhatia, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Simran Bahadur.
Playing XI:
India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, D Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Kiran Prabhu Navgire, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh
England: Amy Jones (c, wk), Danni Wyatt, Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Bryony Smith, Maia Bouchier, Sophie Ecclestone, Freya Kemp, Sarah Glenn, Freya Davies, Lauren Bell.
REPLUG: Hemalatha Dayalan makes her international comeback. More confident and comfortable in her role, and on the back of solid returns in domestic cricket, she hopes to make the most of India return
Cricket: D Hemalatha on her India call-up – ‘Comeback is harder, so much more emotional than debut’
Team news: Kiran Navgire makes her India debut. Hemalatha Dayalan is back in the side too (but no Meghana). Richa Ghosh to keep wickets.
TOSS: England win the toss and will bowl first in Durham. Lauren Bell makes her England T20I debut. (via ECB)
11.27 pm: Start has been delayed but toss is expected to happen soon.
11.25 pm: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the first T20I between India and England in Durham as Harmanpreet Kaur & Co return to action after their Commonwealth Games silver medal.