Key events
29th over: England 133-4 (Dunkley 20, Davidson-Richards 16) Sharma wakes the crowd up by fielding the ball in her follow-through and flinging it whence it came. Davidson-Richards moves out of the way and smiles broadly down the pitch.
28th over: England 129-4 (Dunkley 18, Davidson-Richards 14) Pratika Rawal comes on to bowl a bit of occasional offspin. Her second ball is too wide and flashed through extra cover by Dunkley, a fine shot that brings her first boundary.
England have moved up a gear, taking 13 from the last two overs. Hardly an onslaught but an improvement nontheless.
27th over: England 122-4 (Dunkley 13, Davidson-Richards 12) The first sign of intent comes from Davidson-Richards, who skips down to drive the new bowler Deepti Sharma over mid-on for four. Excellent stroke.
26th over: England 116-4 (Dunkley 12, Davidson-Richards 7) Davidson-Richards smiles wryly after being beaten by some uneven bounce. She made a century in her only Test appearance to date, so we know she can bat. England have struggled to find a consistent No6 in ODIs so this is a decent chance.
For now, she and England are struggling. Two from Charani’s over, 31 from the last 10.
25th over: England 114-4 (Dunkley 11, Davidson-Richards 6)
24th over: England 111-4 (Dunkley 10, Davidson-Richards 4) Dunkley, who is relearning an old role at No5 after a spell up the order, laps Charani deftly for three. As Mark Butcher says on Sky, with only the bowlers to come this pair have little options but to rebuild carefully.
23rd over: England 106-4 (Dunkley 7, Davidson-Richards 2) Dunkley tries to sweep Rana and top-edges over the keeper’s head for two. If England lose another wicket now this could be over before Pointless.
22nd over: England 102-4 (Dunkley 4, Davidson-Richards 1) Charani returns to the attack and continues an excellent mini-spell for India. They’ve picked up two wickets for 19 in the last seven overs.
“I turned on the cricket about 20 minutes ago so there was something on in the background,” says Ant Pease. “Since I turned on the feed, the run rate has dropped by one per over, then two wickets fell in five minutes. For the good of the nation, I’ve turned back off. From here on out, I’m relying on the OBO…”
21st over: England 99-4 (Dunkley 1, Davidson-Richards 1) Sophia Dunkley and Alice Davidson-Richards are England’s last recognised batters. They have a lot of work to do.
When Sciver-Brunt was dropped by Mandhana at short midwicket a couple of overs ago, Harmanpreet moved her best fielder Jemimah Rodrigues into that position. Lo and behold, Sciver-Brunt offered a very similar chance – except this time it was caught superbly at ankle height by Rodrigues. England are in big trouble.
WICKET! England 97-4 (Sciver-Brunt c Rodrigues b Rana 41)
India should be feeling pretty snug right now. Smug, too, because Sciver-Brunt has gone after an inspired change from the captain Harmanpreet Kaur!
20th over: England 97-3 (Sciver-Brunt 41, Dunkley 0) Sciver-Brunt releases a bit of pressure with a majestic flick/pull to the left of midwicket for four. That’s the first boundary since the 13th over. India may be on top but the box seat won’t feel comfortable while Sciver-Brunt is at the crease.
19th over: England 92-3 (Sciver-Brunt 36, Dunkley 0) Terrific over from Rana – one run, one wicket. India are on top.
WICKET! England 91-3 (Lamb c H Kaur b Rana 40)
Join the dots and they’ll eventually read W-I-C-K-E-T. Emma Lamb succumbs to the pressure by mistiming a drive to mid-off that is comfortably held by Harmanpreet.
Lamb goes for 39 from 50 balls. She started very well but struggled to rotate strike when the spinners came on.
18th over: England 90-2 (Lamb 40, Sciver-Brunt 35) Amanjot replaces Charani, a slightly surprising change of pace. But she continues the turning of the screw by conceding only a couple of singles; since drinks England have scored 13 runs in four overs.
17th over: England 88-2 (Lamb 39, Sciver-Brunt 34) Sneh Rana, another offspinner, comes on for Deepti Sharma. She has Sciver-Brunt dropped in her first over, a very tough low chance to Mandhana at midwicket.
Two from the over. Sciver-Brunt is batting as if she thinks England need at least 300. One thing’s for sure: these trials by spin will be a feature of the upcoming World Cup.
16th over: England 85-2 (Lamb 37, Sciver-Brunt 33) After three successive dot balls, Sciver-Brunt drives Charani fractionally short of mid-off, a reminder that dot-ball pressure affects even the best.
Charani has started nicely: 3-0-12-0.
15th over: England 83-2 (Lamb 36, Sciver-Brunt 32) A lofted shot from Lamb teases Deol at mid-on before eventually clearing her and bouncing away for a couple. Six from Deepti’s over.
Drinks: Lamb and NSB regroup
14th over: England 77-2 (Lamb 32, Sciver-Brunt 31) Sciver-Brunt is beaten slightly in the flight by Charani and hacks a slog-sweep behind square for a single. That’s one of five runs from the last over before drinks.
13th over: England 72-2 (Lamb 30, Sciver-Brunt 28) A leg-bye brings up the fifty partnership from 52 balls, an impressive effort given the position England are in. Both batters have looked very calm.
Sciver-Brunt is not out Yep, outside the line so India lose a review. It was a poor decision to go upstairs, the kind you only make when the opposition’s best player is at the crease.
India review for LBW against NSB! Sciver-Brunt looks around at the field, uploads it into the supercomputer between her ears and sweeps firmly into the space at deep square for four. Such good batting.
India go up for LBW when she misses an attempt to lap the next ball. It looked outside the line but Harmanpreet has been persuaded to go upstairs.
12th over: England 65-2 (Lamb 29, Sciver-Brunt 23) Shree Charani, the left-arm spinner, who befuddled England in the T20s, also concedes five from her first over.
Lamb chips confidently over mid-on for four, then gets in a tangle with a premeditated lap. India enquire for LBW but I think Lamb top-edged the ball onto her arm; she may also have been outside the line.
11th over: England 60-2 (Lamb 25, Sciver-Brunt 22) As is so often the case, the end of the Powerplay means the first sight of a spinner. The offie Deepti Sharma comes into the attack and is milked for five runs; the best shot was NSB’s wristy clip to deep midwicket for two.
10th over: England 55-2 (Lamb 24, Sciver-Brunt 18) Sciver-Brunt threads Goud between mid-off and extra cover for four, a classy shot with which to bring up England’s fifty. Goud’s spell (5-0-28-2) is a bit of a headscratcher: two beauties to dismiss Beaumont and Jones, not much else. But those two wickets mean she’s very much in credit.
9th over: England 48-2 (Lamb 23, Sciver-Brunt 12) Amanjot bowls three dot balls in a row to Lamb – but then she goes and spoils it all with a low full toss that is whacked through midwicket for four by Lamb.
8th over: England 43-2 (Lamb 19, Sciver-Brunt 11) Lovely shot from Sciver-Brunt, a flick/sweep off Gaud that races through backward square for four. She’s into double figures and into her work.
So is Emma Lamb, who clips crisply through midwicket for four more. She’s batting with calm authority and has moved to 19 from 22 balls with little risk.
7th over: England 33-2 (Lamb 15, Sciver-Brunt 6) Sciver-Brunt is beaten by a ball from Amanjot that keeps low and just misses off stump. She didn’t do much wrong; those deliveries are a nightmare for any batter, especially one as tall as NSB.
She punches the next ball efficiently through mid-off for her first boundary, then edges in the air but well wide of slip. It’s a good contest, elevated further by the primacy of Sciver-Brunt’s wicket.
6th over: England 28-2 (Lamb 15, Sciver-Brunt 1) If Goud can repeat the trick and dismiss Nat Sciver-Brunt, India will be in control even at this early stage. Despite a modest 2024, Sciver-Brunt’s ODI record since the last World Cup is extraordinary: 1221 runs at 61.05 with a strike rate of 103.
She gets off the mark by clipping her sixth ball, the last of the over, for a single.
5th over: England 27-2 (Lamb 15, Sciver-Brunt 0) Emma Lamb gets England’s first boundary with a smooth pull over square leg off Amanjot. She’s started confidently and is going at a run a ball.
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.
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.
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Toss 12.30pm
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First ball 1pm
* Okay, okay, strictly speaking it continues here, having started as soon as the last one ended, but what kind of sales pitch is that?