The thing you notice when India are playing is the noise. It wouldn’t quite be accurate to say that Lord’s today was “a sea of blue” but there were a lot more blue shirts than yellow ones, and even the singles were cheered on with the kind of gusto England fans would struggle to muster for an over full of sixes. There are no right or wrong ways to watch cricket, but there are different ways, and this is India’s way: raise your flags and yell!

This was evident despite India playing a relatively circumspect hand during the powerplay. Having opted to bat on a used pitch at the Home of Cricket, they struck just one biggish over during the first 6 – 13 runs hit off Ash Gardner. Shafali drew screams for a couple of big 6s; but picked her battles on her way to 34 off 26.

And because it was India, there was a bit of drama, partly caused by the noisy crowd – Smriti running herself out after Jemimah failed to hear her call for a quick single. This brought Harmanpreet to the crease at what should have been the perfect moment for her, with 8 overs remaining and time to wind up before hopefully exploding in the Death Phase.

But the explosion wasn’t coming, and although Jemimah had a 6 spooned over the boundary by Georgia Wareham, she was pulled off the final ball of the 19th over to get Richa into the middle. As a strategy, it didn’t really work – if they were going to do it, they should have been more decisive and done it earlier; so as it was Richa took just a single off the one delivery she faced, which Jemi could equally have done. But at least that single got Harmanpreet back on strike to hit three consecutive 6s off Sophie Molineux to help take India to 170-4 off their 20 overs – a few short of the 186 England smashed against the West Indies here, but still a very competitive total for this ground.

The importance of those three 6s wasn’t just in the runs, but in the momentum it gave India coming into their bowling innings. I’ve watched this team a fair bit in the past few weeks, during the “warmup” series with England, and the group stages of this World Cup; and there was a different level of intensity to them in the field after that. We suspected they were a team that would lift themselves on the big day: this proved it.

But two can play at that game, and despite losing a wicket off the second ball; despite already having one-and-a-half feet in the semifinals thanks to their massive Net Run Rate advantage over their rivals, Australia went hard from the off, taking 23 from the first two overs. Tight overs from Renuka and Shafali, conceding just a single apiece, put the pressure back on Australia; but they counterpunched to finish the powerplay on 49-1, 6 ahead of where India had been.

The wicket of Beth Mooney in the 10th over swung the pendulum towards India, but it was temporary. Australia were relentless – India needed wickets, but Ellyse Perry (56) and Ash Gardner (53) were unstoppable, to the point of a rare run 4 in the 18th over.

There was little to fault with India’s efforts in the field – there were a couple of minor faults, but no real chances until Perry smashed one straight to Shafali; but by that point only 3 more were required and Shafali’s emotionless reaction said it all – India’s World Cup was over, with South Africa progressing to a semifinal against England on Thursday in their stead.

A crowd of thousands – over 27,000, in fact – might have gone home disappointed; but for a double-header involving four “neutral” teams, the remarkable fact is that they came in the first place – pivotal day for this tournament, and a pivotal day for women’s cricket in England and around the world.

Coming into this final match in Group B (AKA the “Group Of Life”) the equations were simple – there was no math left to do and the Net Run Rate calculators could be left at home. With Ireland having beaten the West Indies in Bristol, England were already confirmed as group winners; while New Zealand just needed a win to join them in the semifinals.

(Although it was perfectly possible for New Zealand’s Net Run Rate to go down even if they won, it was nonetheless effectively impossible for it to go down enough to fall behind the West Indies – even if they had bowled England out for 1 (yes you read that right – one!) and then taken all 20 overs to get the 2 runs they required, New Zealand would still have had a better NRR than the Windies.)

With everything on the line, including the careers of Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Lea Tahuhu, all of whom were set to retire at the end of this World Cup, New Zealand played their best cricket of the tournament; but ultimately were swept aside by a raucous England batting performance, led yet again by Danni Wyatt-Hodge with her 3rd 50+ score of the tournament. Wyatt-Hodge finished on 89, and would almost certainly have scored another hundred if she’d had the runs remaining to do it.

At the other end Sophia Dunkley, who will almost certainly be dropped for the semi-final assuming Nat Sciver-Brunt is able to play, backed Wyatt-Hodge up with 49 not out off 38 balls – probably her most convincing outing of a summer where her highest score in 6 T20s coming into this World Cup was 26.

There are usually plenty of runs on offer at The Oval, so although New Zealand’s 163 was at the upper end of a typical score in T20 internationals between the teams competing at this tournament, it wasn’t a huge total. It was nonetheless much bigger than it could have been – New Zealand were heading to around 130 until a poor over from Dani Gibson in the 13th, followed by Sophie Devine plundering a couple of 6s off Charlie Dean in the 14th, gave them an uplift that carried them on to towards 160, which felt like the minimum which would be defendable here.

England will argue that Gibson and Freya Kemp took wickets – 3 between them – but they were expensive ones: Gibson conceding 30 runs from 3 overs; and Kemp 26 from 2. The combined figures of Danya Kempson – England’s “portmanteau allrounder*” – 5 overs, 3 wickets for 56, at an economy rate of 11.2. Of course, Kempson wasn’t needed with the bat today; but in the previous match she managed just 6 off 9 balls. The math… in the words of one of my favorite songs right now… just isn’t mathing, and it could yet prove a critical weak link in England’s gameplan.

Having won the group, England will be back here next week for a semifinal, almost certainly against either India or South Africa. India would need a victory over Australia of around 100 runs to leapfrog them at the top of Group A, so assuming they don’t achieve that, if India qualify in 2nd place in Group A, England will face them in the semifinals on Tuesday, in an afternoon game more friendly for Indian TV; else it will be South Africa on Thursday evening.

Some England fans have complained about this arrangement; but I like to think of it as a delightful mystery box gifted to us by the ICC! Will it contain India on Tuesday or South Africa on Thursday? We’ll find out at Lord’s tomorrow, with South Africa taking on Bangladesh, and then the big one: Australia v India.

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* © Richard Starkie

The last time England played in a World Cup match at Lord’s was the 2017 final. It was the only game played at any of the big Test grounds in that tournament – the rest of the matches were all played at smaller county grounds, like Bristol and Derby, which hosted the semis. So it is an indication of how things have changed this time around that Lord’s is hosting 4 games, including the final; with all of England’s matches being played at Test venues (though admittedly the Hampshire Bowl has not actually hosted a Test for several years).

Lord’s might not have the backdrop of Newlands in Cape Town; or the scale of the “The G” in Melbourne; but it remains THE iconic place to watch… and play… cricket – nowhere else makes you feel so much like royalty, just for being there!

Having said that, it is not always an easy place to play cricket – the slope presents an unusual challenge; and the pitch for the recent men’s Test was so bad it earned the venue a “unsatisfactory” rating and a demerit point. In The Hundred it has consistently been the lowest-scoring of the 8 venues in the women’s competition.

Thus, on literally the hottest June day in history in London –  a day when the weather was so oppressive that West Indies 12th Shawnisha Hector hid under an (official T20 World Cup branded) umbrella while running drinks – a score of 186 was huge for England, led by Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s 65 – her second big performance of the World Cup, putting her top of the leading run-scorers so far. Overall, it was measured but relentlessly positive from England; and on any other ground, this was a 200 performance.

The West Indies’ chances of chasing it were then severely dented when Hayley Matthews was given out caught behind in the 4th over. Crucially, it was given Not Out on the field, but Amy Jones convinced England to review, having clearly heard something as the ball passed the bat; and controversially, the 3rd umpire sided with England, despite admitting that there was a gap between bat and ball in both the applicable slow-motion frames. There was a spike on UltraEdge; but it looked odd and didn’t tie up with either of the frames in question. Nevertheless, it did persuade the 3rd umpire – I think, incorrectly, though importantly not because she didn’t hit it.

The DRS Regulations say:

If despite the available technology, the 3rd umpire is unable to decide with a high degree of confidence whether the original on-field decision should be changed, then he/she shall report that the replays are ‘inconclusive’, and that the on-field decision shall stand. The 3rd umpire shall not give answers conveying likelihoods or probabilities.

The important bit here is that the 3rd umpire needs to have a high degree of confidence that the on-field decision should be overturned, and I don’t see how they could have that, when the only available frames show a gap between bat and ball, albeit with a sound of indeterminate origin between the frames. But even if you consider it likely that the spike was caused by bat-on-ball impact between frames, that’s ruled-out by the final sentence of the above clause: The 3rd umpire shall not give answers conveying likelihoods or probabilities. [Emphasis mine.]

I’m loath to suggest that Matthews should get off scot-free here – especially having argued that Lauren Winfield-Hill should have been sanctioned for her dissent after being given out caught off her helmet in the One Day Cup earlier this year. But given the egregiousness of the way the review was handled, I think a ban would be very, very harsh – a demerit and the loss of quite a lot of her match fee would be more than sufficient.

It isn’t quite fair to say that Hayley Matthews is the West Indies only match-winner; but she is the main one – she’s been the top performer with the bat in nearly half (46%) of the matches (ODI + T20) that they’ve won in the past couple of years. And following her dismissal, the match went in quite a predictable way, with the West Indies looking more like a team that just scraped past lowly Scotland, than one which is likely to be challenging any of the top sides too often.

There was huffing and puffing from Shemaine Campbelle and Deandra Dottin; and Chinelle Henry got her wellies on for a bit of a wang when the game was already lost – by the time she entered the fray in the 11th over, the Windies were at 3% on the WinHer Win Predictor; and they never got above 7% after.

From an England perspective, as against Scotland, a very good day out with the bat somewhat disguised a very flawed performance with the ball and in the field. England dropped a lot of catches, and while some were difficult chances, quite a few looked more like poor positioning and misjudgements; and to have not come closer to bowling West Indies out, even when they were throwing the bat, feels… not great?

England are now officially into the semifinals; but it is difficult to escape the conclusion that they have not really been tested with the ball yet, and that when they are – in a semi against India or South Africa (a semi against Australia now looks very unlikely, given the NRR advantages both have) – things are not going to be so straightforward. If they can really pile on the runs, like they did here, it might not matter; but a few less runs to defend, and they will need a much better performance with the ball and in the field, if they are to once again Lord it at Lord’s in the final in a week-and-a-half’s time.

This week:

• England & West Indies atop Group B
• Nat Sciver-Brunt’s injury concerns
• Australia, India & South Africa fighting it out in Group A
• England’s Test squad announced
• Fatima Sana signs in The Hundred

An incredible display of death batting from Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson ensured England put an unassailable total on the board to sweep aside Scotland at Headingley.

That death phase is even more remarkable when you remember that England scored just 4 runs, for the loss of the wicket of Heather Knight, in the 17th over. But the wicket of Knight could not have come at a more opportune time for England, bringing Gibson to the crease to hit the 11 balls she faced for 30; whilst at the other end, Kemp finished with 39 off 16.

Kemp and Gibson between them hit three 6s and eight 4s in the last 3 overs, turning a total of 175-ish into exactly 200 with a 4 off the final ball. Even when they couldn’t find the boundary, they found runs between the wickets – the dots conceded by England in overs 17-20? Zero!

England were already in a strong position after Sophia Dunkley, effectively opening the batting after Amy Jones was caught of the first ball of the game, top-scored with 57 off 37. Dunkley was only in the XI because of Nat Sciver-Brunt’s absence, having endured something of a rough patch of late, and today wasn’t really any different. Every cricket fan knows the lovely sound a ball makes off the bat when the striker has really middled it, and Dunkley’s first two boundaries today were prime examples of hits that very much did not make that sound. (Though to be fair to Dunks… she must actually be hitting it pretty hard to find the boundary with the toe-end!) Thereafter she was assisted by some embarrassing fielding from Scotland on the boundary, shovelling the ball over the rope on several occasions, and dropping her more often than Charlotte Edwards has this summer. But they say if you can’t be good be lucky; and Dunks absolutely was that today – it might be a very good day for her to buy a lottery ticket if nothing else!

When Dunkley finally encountered a Rainey day, caught in the deep by Hannah Rainey, England stuck with their predefined batting order, sending in Heather Knight to accompany Alice Capsey. I do worry slightly that Knight and Capsey are too similar in style these days to bat together, though with Knight expected to retire in the quite near future I accept that this isn’t a long term problem I should actually be concerning myself about. But I do think generally a little more flexibility could be to England’s benefit.

Nonetheless, today it worked out perfectly – Knight got out; England finished; Scotland got schooled.

Scotland’s response was always going to be governed by the knowledge that there was no way in hell they were going to hit 201, even on a nice new pitch with an outfield which seems to have an extra yard of pace built-in. This allowed them to play with that extra bit of freedom that they lacked here against the Windies on Thursday – a game they’d have won with 5 balls to spare on tonight’s batting performance.

On the other side of the coin, England did not bowl well; but sometimes it is hard to bowl well when you know you don’t really need to. Sophie Ecclestone picked up a couple of wickets, but still appears some way off her best; while Charlie Dean also looked a bit out of sorts. Linsey Smith was expensive, with the Scottish batters showing that as long as you don’t play across the line to her, you can take her for runs; while Lauren Bell really needs to find a way of approaching her death overs that isn’t “5 slower balls plus a bouncer off the 5th delivery” which is starting to become visible from space. Tonight they got away with it; but the bigger questions are yet to be asked, and probably won’t be until the semifinals.

Talking of which… England are not quite qualified, but they have sufficient momentum behind them now that they can probably even afford a slip-up. At the other end of the table, Ireland are still in it mathematically, but will go out if the West Indies beat Sri Lanka in Bristol tomorrow.

England stumbled past Ireland after a late-night wobble at the Hampshire Bowl, reaching their not-exactly-mountainous target of 119 with 15 balls to spare.

Perhaps the most interesting question tonight was whether England would make any changes to their lineup in the light of the fact that this was always likely to be their easiest game of the group stages, giving them the opportunity to rest the likes of Lauren Bell, Sophie Ecclestone and possibly even Nat Sciver-Brunt. But it was an invite they unequivocally declined, playing the same full-strength XI they fielded against Sri Lanka in the tournament’s opening match.

Playing Sciver-Brunt ultimately proved to be both England’s best and worst decision. She top-scored with 48 off 37 balls; but then retired herself hurt after experiencing tightness in her calf – the same injury that has been bothering her all summer. She did emerge to do TV interviews after the game, and emphasised that it was just “precautionary” but… we’ll see!

It is perhaps appropriate that Sciver-Brunt was Made in Japan, because her style is very-much that of a Japanese car – unflashy but reliable. As always, she didn’t do anything spectacular today, but she also never looked like getting out; and given that England were 35-3 chasing a low total, that was just what they needed – taking them to within 9 runs of victory before handing over to Kemp and Gibson to bring England home. (Though Kemp managed to get herself run out before the target was reached, which felt a bit “You had one job” but didn’t actually matter, to be fair.)

Earlier in the evening, following an hour’s delay after some quite heavy rain, England had looked to be on course to contain Ireland to around 100; but a poor final over allowed them to reach 119, with Louise Little proving that a Little can go a long way, as she burglarised four 4s off Lauren Bell, including an edge off a bouncer which appeared to leave Amy Jones fuming, presumably because Bell had failed to signal it.

Overall England didn’t bowl brilliantly; but they were very solid in the field, certainly compared to New Zealand’s error-strewn performance earlier in the day. Heather Knight in particular looked sharp, and took a very, very good catch to dismiss Gaby Lewis, who failed to add to the 141 runs she scored on her last visit to this ground.

This result puts England in pole position in the “Group Of Not Death” (the “Group of Life” perhaps?) and leaves Ireland alongside New Zealand – on the brink, but not mathematically out.

The really interesting game now in Group B is the next one – West Indies v Scotland. The winner of that match has a very real chance of making the semifinals and Scotland will perhaps never get a better chance to do so.

This week, the World Cup is underway!

• England thump Sri Lanka & a historic win for Scotland
• Should Cricket Ireland take the ECB to court?
• Australia beat South Africa
• A shock loss for NZ v WI
• Plus what’s in our World Cup swag bags?

Back in 2014, Martin Davies (AKA Women’s Cricket Blog) and I ran a fantasy game for the World Cup (or “World T20″ as it was then known) in Bangladesh.

Back then, Scotland were basically a county in the lower reaches of the English County Championship, and I knew some of the players had joined the game, so for a bit of fun I slipped an extra name into the Fantasy Player List – that of a 17-year-old left-arm spinner from Aberdeen. Alongside the likes of”Charlotte Edwards (England)” and “Alex Blackwell (Australia)” you could also have selected one “Kirstie Gordon (Scotland)”.

When she noticed what I’d done, Kirstie messaged me on Twitter asking if I thought it could ever happen? “You never know,” I replied. “Give it 10 years!”

In the end it took 12 years; not forgetting that along the way Kirstie actually did play in a T20 World Cup final, for England in 2018. (It didn’t end well for England – Australia cantering to an easy win, after bowling England out for 105.)

But today in Manchester, the now-28-year-old Kirstie Gordon stepped out in a Scotland shirt to sing Flower of Scotland before taking on Ireland in the T20 World Cup. Gordon isn’t normally the emotional type, but as the anthem drew to a close and the players shared a hug, a few tears ran down her cheek. And because I definitely am the emotional type, one ran down mine too.

And if there were any doubts that Scotland belong at this World Cup Kirstie helped allay them, taking 3 wickets in the 14th over to drive the decisive nails into an Irish coffin which, to be fair, was already halfway to the churchyard. Gordon finished with 3-16 and despite a bit of a rally, Ireland were bowled out in the last over 40 runs short.

I’m sure Kirstie Gordon would be the first to agree though that the real credit today goes to the Bryce sisters – Kathryn and Sarah – who drove Scotland to a very decent total by powering through the middle overs at a Run Rate of just over 10. Neither Bryce has enjoyed a brilliant start to the summer in domestic cricket – both averaging just 20 across the One Day Cup and the Blast. But like Robert Bruce’s troops at Bannockburn, they turned up when it mattered – Sarah making 49 and Kathryn 60 to put Scotland in a commanding position going into the death phase.

That they didn’t quite convert, will have come as some relief to Ireland – a total that might have been closer to 180 was in the end 161, with just 19 runs scored of the final 4 overs.

But 161 turned out to be more than enough to fulfil the dreams of that 17 year old girl from Aberdeen.

One short day in the Emerald City
One short day to have a lifetime of fun

An evening which began with the Wicked cast performing One Short Day (before segueing into Defying Gravity which will surely be the theme of most of the night’s headlines, but… we’ve done that one!) ended with Danni Wyatt-Hodge having “a lifetime of fun” in front of almost 15,000 spectators on the emerald-green grass of Edgbaston, as England got their World Cup campaign off to a storming start with a huge win over Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka were, it has to be said, woeful. Winning the toss and deciding to put England in must rank up there with Napoleon waking up one June morning in 1815 and thinking: Waterloo looks like a nice place for a battle!

The last two times England played Sri Lanka in T20s, it was England who were on the wrong end of the results – bowled out twice, for 104 at Chelmsford and 116 at Derby. The tables were utterly turned today, with England losing just a single wicket on the way to 219 – their second highest 1st innings total in T20 internationals.

Amy Jones opened the batting, as she had in the warmups, with the out-of-form Sophia Dunkley effectively making way for Nat Sciver-Brunt to come into the XI. Jones on her day displays an effortless eloquence with the blade; but this was not that day. She struggled to find the middle of the bat, to the extent that I wondered if a muddle of meddling Munchkins had stayed behind after the Wicked performance, and were moving the boundary ropes out by 10 metres every time Jones took strike. Nonetheless, Sri Lanka’s total inability to bowl to their fields gifted her run after run and she somehow finished up with 50 to her name before becoming Sri Lanka’s solitary scalp of the evening as yet another mistimed drive actually found a fielder who wanted to catch it.

To be fair, this was not the easiest batting has been at Edgbaston, which has seen a few run-fests in county cricket this season, albeit primarily due to the use of pitches on the edge of the square creating a very short boundary on one side. The pitch today – bang in the centre, as befitting the occasion – seemed a tad stogy, and the outfield was also slow, having taken a lot of rain in the past couple of weeks following a prolonged dry spell.

Consequently even Danni Wyatt-Hodge didn’t look quite as fluent as she had done in making a century here for Surrey in the One-Day Cup  back in April, so of her now-three T20 international hundreds, this was probably the most hard-won; but arguably by that token possibly the most satisfying? Wyatt-Hodge has a point to prove in this tournament, having been sat on the bench when England won the 50-over World Cup in 2017. As part of the squad back then, she got the medal… and the prize money… but she must have been frustrated not to win them on the pitch. Now, with another home World Cup comes another opportunity, and with today’s performance she has already guaranteed that if England make that final at Lord’s, this time her part will be drinking the drinks rather than running them.

Perhaps the scariest England performance though for any future opponents watching-on was that of Nat Sciver-Brunt. Despite having barely played any cricket for months coming into this tournament, she found her groove and hit a devastating 46 off 22 balls which drove the final nails into the Sri Lankan coffin.

With Sri Lanka facing a target of 220, the game was basically over as we were tucking into our curry-supper in the press box. (The food quality always goes up a notch when the ICC are in town!) Even a half-competent performance from England’s bowlers would have been enough, and that’s pretty much what we got. Freya Kemp picked up 4 wickets by deploying the cunning tactic of bowling slowly and methodically at the stumps and waiting for the Sri Lankan batters to miss it, which inevitably they eventually did. I still don’t think she’ll be giving any of the Australians, Indians or South Africans nightmares ahead of a potential knockout game; but it does show that if you are going to bowl slowly and methodically, doing it at the stumps at least means if they miss, you hit.

Dani Gibson was a tad expensive; but I’d be more concerned about Sophie Ecclestone, who looks a bit out of ideas. The fact that England have an oven-ready replacement in Tilly Corteen-Coleman should give them more comfort than it will give Ecclestone herself. England’s next two games, against Ireland in Southampton on Tuesday and Scotland at Headingley next weekend, are the ones where TCC might be expected to play, and a couple of good performance in those matches could actually displace Ecclestone for the remainder of the tournament, which would have seemed unthinkable two summers ago, when Eccles was topping the ICC rankings in both formats.

This was of course just one short game, on one short day; and Sri Lanka were awful. But alongside the win against India at Taunton, England will feel there is a momentum building this summer. The ECB, who have rested so many hopes for the growth of the game on this World Cup, will be feeling it as well. Perhaps more surprisingly, I’m starting to feel it too.

This week:

• Capsey shines for England at Taunton, but can England win the World Cup?
• Are Australia still favourites?
• Our predictions for the semi-finals
• A new combined trophy for the Women’s & Men’s Hundred
• The Women in Whites is out NOW!