England’s one-sided collection towards West Indies final month was merely a costume rehearsal: India have been all the time going to be the primary occasion. And so the curtain lastly went up on the Charlotte Edwards-Nat Sciver-Brunt period for a Trent Bridge Saturday matinee.
The viewers, although, went dwelling disenchanted after witnessing an England efficiency akin to The Play That Goes Improper – bowled out for 113 inside 15 overs, to provide India a 97-run win, England’s heaviest T20 worldwide defeat when it comes to runs.
Edwards’s calling-card has been about reworking this England group right into a facet who play sensible cricket and discover methods to win, however with the honourable exception of captain Sciver-Brunt – whose 66 from 42 balls was the one contribution of observe – this efficiency failed on each counts.
India’s left-arm spinner Shee Charani completed with figures of 4 for 12 on T20 debut, together with eradicating Sciver-Brunt after DRS confirmed she had nicked off behind the stumps. However Charani’s maiden wicket within the ninth over encapsulated every thing that was unsuitable with this England run chase: Alice Capsey meekly wafting one into the arms of Arundhati Reddy at brief third, as England sunk to 70 for 5.
India have been with out their captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who had did not get better in time after sustaining a head damage throughout Wednesday’s warm-up match. However stand-in Smriti Mandhana shrugged off her absence with the identical straightforward nonchalance with which she hit the ball, placing a maiden T20 worldwide hundred as India racked up 210 for 5 – their second highest complete ever.
Mandhana ultimately holed out to further cowl with 4 balls remaining – giving Sophie Ecclestone her first worldwide wicket since England’s humiliation on the MCG Take a look at 5 months in the past. However general Ecclestone’s return to the worldwide stage was a fraught one: some nervous fumbles within the discipline, adopted by a 19-run opening over during which the left-handed Mandhana twice clattered her over the boundary rope for six. Her ultimate return was one for 43 off three overs: she appeared each inch a bowler who has simply opted out of 4 weeks of home cricket for Lancashire for a wellbeing break.
It was a tricky day, too, for Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who shelled Harleen Deol within the deep – the worst of a collection of missed probabilities by the hosts – earlier than including a 3rd consecutive duck to this summer time’s pond of them, sending a vanguard as much as brief third as England misplaced their heads (and three wickets) within the powerplay.
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Deol added 17 extra runs after the let-off, contributing a punchy 43 from 23 balls, and although India’s innings tailed off barely on the back-end – thanks to a few wickets in successive overs on the loss of life from Lauren Bell – they however nonetheless topped 200. There had been questions on India’s bowling earlier than this collection, with their two skilled seamers Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar lacking out resulting from damage, however with such a mammoth rating on the board England have been all the time beneath stress – and it informed.