Key events
8th over: India 54-1 (Mandhana 20, Bhatia 19) England need something here as Mandhana, offered the width of Cross’ first ball, waits before measuring four more to backward point. Oh, and when the third innings hits the pads, Smriti doesn’t miss, easily glancing away for four to score his 3000th ODI run; only Wohlwardt and Rolton reached the landmark faster. The current exchange rate is 6.75.
7th over: India 45-1 (Mandhana 11, Bhatia 19) Shot! Mandhana leans down the track – oh, when the ball comes and she realizes it’s there for her, you see her eyes widen and light up – then slides for a quadruple through cover. A single follows, then Bell takes one away from Bhatia, who follows it with his hands and misses – with the swing she finds, the bowler in play – but so does Yastika Bhatia, who goes down the track again, makes room and eases the cover-drive to the fence . It’s a couple seeing this.
6th over: India 36-1 (Mandhana 6, Bhatia 15) Mandhana hits the ground but Cross, who followed, is unable to make a snaffle. Next comes the width on the leg side, then Bhatia hops down and on the leg side, making room for an air rush to fly past cover and to the fence. India does not wait to be asked here.
5th over: India 30-1 (Mandhana 5, Bhatia 11) Bhatia takes one to midwicket, then leg bye and the wide holds the scoreboard. Those are the only runs from the over, but England let the ball shine without threatening the stumps – although as I type this, Bell hits the pad again … but then again, the ball is pitched outside leg, if not as obvious.
4th over: India 27-1 (Mandhana 5, Bhatia 10) Oh, India is in it now. Bhatia pushes three to the long-on boundary in the over before Mandhana shows the nick she’s in, getting off the mark after eight balls without scoring with a superb straight drive for four. There are two singles matches and if England fail to take wickets, they will be chasing something significant.
3rd over: India 18-1 (Mandhana 0, Bhatia 6) Bell, looking to swing, lunges straight to Bhatia who is waiting for him to take a square drive for four. A single follows and then two deliveries later – huge appeal as left-hander Mandhana misses the stroke, she too needs to push away from the stumps; but I don’t think it was difficult for the umpire as the ball went well beyond leg. Better from Bell though.
2nd over: India 13-1 (Mandhana 0, Bhatia 1) The ball plays a bit and Bhatia gives it his first glance towards the slips and takes a single; two dots complete the over but Mandhana will be relieved to still be there with a falling half-volley simply short Lamb at midwicket. It was a stunning start from Cross.
THE GATE! Verma b Cross 8 (India 12-1)
Great bowling from Cross, a fine swinging machine that stays sharp just outside the pitch before drawing a line to fly through the wicket and clatter through the wood, over mid on and beyond! Again, oil!
Second over: India 12-0 (Verma 8, Mandhana 0) Cross takes the new ball from the Pavilion End and, unsurprisingly given her decent efforts at the weekend, cashes in straight away.
1st over: India 12-0 (Verma 8, Mandhana 0) We don’t have DRS at the moment – some technical problem so we have to get on with it now. Bell, meanwhile, bounces up in this cycle style and sends down successive wides and then legs. Err, then it goes back to wide on the off and Shafali takes a step down, then slaps four over point before cutting another four at second slip. England have had better starts and two wides follow; can Belle make it out of what was already a bit of an awkward opening without further damage? She can, walking away after two points, almost relieved that she only went for 12.
Ball to Lauren Bell, Shafali collides, and let’s go!
Here come the judges and the teams, as we learn that Charlotte Edwards, although interested in the job at some point, does not feel it is her time to coach England. Oh, and the aforementioned Collins is in touch! Go OBO!
On the ashes, An important schedule note from OBO’s Adam Collins:
To be clear, the 2023 Ashes is long overdue for June-July, as Aust aim for South Africa (immediately after filling them in early 2021) for a full ODI series in August before October’s World Cup. Unusual, but smart – planning is difficult. https://t.co/IiYo6u4isL
— Adam Collins (@collinsadam) August 16, 2022
Lisa Keightley, who is ending her England stint at Lord’s, says she felt it was a long time before the T20 World Cup in February, given the time she has spent away from her wife – who has opened a real estate agency and is unable to travel – and family. So she decided it was best for the team to hit him over the head now, giving the new coach a decent preparation for the trip to South Africa.
I can’t lie, I’m a little disappointed that Wong is gone. I like Belle too, but oh well, Issy is Issy.
Teams!
England 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Emma Lamb, 3 Sophia Dunkley, 4 Alice Capsey, 5 Dani Wyatt, 6 Amy Jones (capt & wk), 7 Freya Kemp, 8 Sophie Ecclestone, 9 Charlie Dean, 10 Kate Cross, 11 Lauren Bell.
India 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 4 Harleen Deol, 5 Yastika Bhatia (td), 6 Diepti Sharma, 7 Pooja Vastrakar, 8 Jhulan Goswami, 9 Dayalan Hemalatha, 10 Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 11 Renuka Singh Thakur .
“It’s always better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it” – says Kate Cross very nicely. “In my head, I’ve left the game four or five times,” she continues, saying she doesn’t care about stats or milestones, she plays because she likes it, but it’s still fun, and her parents sit on the ground and are watching her. Overnight!
in the sky red-hot Dominic Cork expresses relief that the Ashes Test will last five days. He was not wrong, and how good that it is also on Trent Bridge. It shouldn’t have taken this long, but here we are.
I didn’t say that in the preamble so as not to sound partisan, but if England can win today they will set up a series final at Lord’s – where they haven’t played, except in tournaments, since 2014 and not since 2017 at all.
India would also bowl, but Harmanpreet thinks it’s a decent track, so not too upset; does she ever Her team reveals two changes, Meghna and Sne are out with Renuka and Hemalatha entering,
Kate Cross wins her 50th cape – mazal tov her, titan of english cricket.
England win the toss
Amy Jones feels this is a good wicket and can improve in the light. After the defeat, the plan is to focus on themselves and do what they do best. Lauren Bell replaces Wong and Freya Kemp makes her debut replacing Alice Davidson-Richards.
Right, here’s the kicker. I dare say whoever wins has a bowl.
And another one from my youth in 1996, Chappie Chapple took 6-18 as Lancashire beat Essex.
Here is a vivid example from my childhood: Duffy DeFreitas reduces Northants to 39-5 in the 1990 Nat West Trophy final.
I wonder how the field will play today. There was a point yesterday when Lancashire were 7-6 and they were eventually bowled out for 73; Essex are now 28-4, needing 70 more to win. And meanwhile title-seeking Hants were in the process of being dismissed for 57. As I say below, the joy of September cricket in England.
Tell you what, though an Ashes double header. Oh yes!
Also for your enjoyment…
Preamble
It’s funny how cricket works: we have two great and well-matched teams here, but so far, through three T20 Internationals and one ODI, we haven’t had the bite that they and we deserve; hope it’s correct today.
But in the meantime, what efforts from India on Sunday. England didn’t bat well, it’s true, relying on their lower order for their semi-competitive score. India, however, struggled with tremendous threat and economy before knocking off runs with minimum fuss and maximum damage.
All of this doesn’t mean we’ll see anything like this this afternoon, but. England have so much firepower that it seems unlikely that their batting will fail again, just as it seems unlikely that Issy Wong, their strike bowler, will suffer such a serious offense again. The thing is, even if we assume that to be true, India have more than enough to beat a firing England … and the reverse is also true.
All this means that given the main joy of international cricket; the extraordinary joy of international cricket, green and pleasant, at the end of September; and the special joy of these two teams playing international cricket, in the green and pleasant, at the end of September; we are in for an absolute treat. Okay, comrades.
Game: 1pm BST
