Amanjot Kaur might have finished it off with consecutive 4s off Kate Cross; but it was the cool head of Deepti Sharma that won India the first ODI at The Sponsored Bowl in Southampton.

At the 30-over mark, India were behind the 8-ball – with 134 runs on the board, and 4 wickets down, our WinHer Win Predictor had India on just 23%; but in the space of 10 overs, Deepti and Jemimah Rodrigues had turned that around via the simple application of a strategy you might call: Not Doing Anything Stupid!

Over after over, they found a boundary and then ran the singles to keep the run rate under control without taking any additional risks. By the time we got to 40 overs, the Win Predictor had turned on its head: it was now England who were at 23%, with India on 77%.

Jemimah did eventually get herself out in the 42nd over, trying to ramp Lauren Filer – a strategy she’d used effectively against the England quick earlier in the tour. But on this occasion, she snatched at the shot and gloved a catch to Amy Jones. It gave England a glimmer of hope of pulling things back, but Deepti kept calm and carried on: boundary + singles; boundary + singles; as India worked their way to within striking distance of the target, before Amanjot did the rest.

It helped that the dimensions of the ground as it was laid-out today made singles easy to find, with huge square boundaries meaning almost anything that got through the ring was going to be a chase for the fielder and a jog through for the batters.

I’m not convinced England could have done much differently in terms of field settings – with the ring where it is in the women’s game, cutting off the singles inside it is a tall ask; and with only 4 fielders out, there will be some big spaces beyond it. I’m absolutely not calling for any of this to change, but it is a factor I think in making things harder than they look for the defending side in these situations.

Deepti finished 62* as India won with 10 balls remaining. It sounds close – or at least close-ish – but it really wasn’t, because India had been controlling the situation from that 30-over mark; and as long as Deepti remained at the crease, it was always going to be India’s game.

What Deepti’s contribution particularly showed was the importance of having a proper allrounder in the lineup – something England don’t have with Nat Sciver-Brunt not bowling at all.

When England were 4 down in a very similar situation, Sophia Dunkley and Alice Davidson-Richards knew they were the last line of defence; and consequently went into their shells a little in the Late Middle phase – scoring 46-0 where India later made 74-0, with genuine batting still to come, right down to Sneh Rana who was due in at 9.

Dunks and ADR no doubt did the right thing in just making sure they survived, and ADR showed why exactly why she had been selected ahead of Capsey or Bouchier, to offer a bit of backbone and a bit of smarts in the middle order. But it meant that even though England did accelerate in the final stretch – going at almost 10-an-over in the last 5 – they still finished a good 20-30 runs short of what might have been a winning total.

I’m not expecting any big changes from England for the now-crucial 2nd ODI at Lord’s this weekend – this is broadly the team they’ll be taking to the ODI World Cup, presumably with the addition of Heather Knight, who seems to have been included in the squad for this series in a slightly odd sort of “honorary” capacity, and was sat with Charlotte Edwards and her coaching staff on the balcony today. England have made their bed for the foreseeable; and they are lying in it. It doesn’t seem terribly comfortable though; and it could get a lot more uncomfortable quite soon.

This week:

• India look to build a dynasty while England claim to be a “team in transition”
• Our radical answer to the Alice Capsey Problem
• Jodi Grewcock shines for England A
• Somerset flop in the Blast

England won the 5th T20, and the “Tammy Series” (the games captained by Tammy Beaumont, which they won 2-1) despite losing two wickets in the final over, after a horrendous fielding SNAFU by Shree Charani, whose return throw from backward point was so weak it turned into a baseball-style relay throw and gifted them a run-3, allowing Paige Scholfield and Sophie Ecclestone to scamper two singles off the final two balls to get over the line.

Charani was named Player of the Series for her 10 wickets; but at Edgbaston she bumped back down to earth with figures of 0-35. In addition to the fielding error, she also dropped a sitter to let off Amy Jones at the end of the 18th over – if she’d executed either play India would have won the game; but that’s cricket!

Having opted to put India in, it was a mixed performance from England. They looked more committed in the field; but resting Laurens Bell and Filer allowed India to cash-in on the second-string “fast” bowling attack, with Em Arlott and Issy Wong both horribly expensive compared to the spinners.

Wong also conceded the most expensive over of the series, as Shafali took her for three 4s and a 6 in a 20-run 7th over.

Fortunately for England the spinners were a lot more effective. Having already got rid of Smriti with a calm catch at point – one of those that looks easier than it was – Linsey Smith then bowled Jemimah in her first over with her showstopper ball: a top spinner that crept under the bat as Jemimah tried to cut.

Shafali and Harmanpreet did then build India’s biggest partnership, in part thanks to that big Wong over; but it was really all Shafali, who went on to reach 75, just 6 short of her highest T20 international score. Harman looked out of sorts, as she has done all series since missing the first game; and was eventually bowled by Charlie Dean. Like Jemi, Harman was looking to cut, but on this occasion Dean engineered the perfect amount of bounce to lift it over the bat and take the very top of the off bail. If she plays another 100 games for England, Dean will do well to bowl a better ball.

India then fell away a bit through the back of the innings, but another big over right at the end with Arlott giving up 13 runs including a no-ball, meant that India were favourites going into the second innings.

England have chosen to set big boundaries for this series, and Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (the latter playing her 300th game for England) quickly took advantage – finding the pockets and running smartly between the wickets. As they did in England’s win at The Oval, they batted through 10 overs in a big opening partnership that put the pressure back on India. Both however fell in the space of 7 balls just after the turn; and this was the moment when things could have gone either way – a full-blown collapse at this point would have surprised nobody!

Maia Bouchier didn’t look entirely convincing, but she did look more convincing than Alice Capsey has done recently; and having also taken a couple of catches (one a blinder) in the field, she might just have found a plane ticket to India in September here. Tammy Beaumont also looked shaky early-on; but from 2 off 6 balls, she seemed to give herself a bit of a pep talk, deciding at least to go down fighting. A flurry of boundaries saw her deliver 28 off the next 14 balls she faced, at a Strike Rate of exactly 200; but she couldn’t quite finish the job, and was bowled by a weird slower ball full toss that died on her, which Arundhati Reddy’s reaction suggested was not what she had intended.

Amy Jones then tried to win it with a 6, only to fall to a diving catch from Radha Yadav, which had us wondering if we were still watching cricket or the new Superman movie. At that point, India really should have closed it out. It was a lucky win for England in the end, but to a certain extent they deserve the credit for taking the match to a point where that bit of luck could be the difference.

I will be very, very surprised if this is the last time Tammy Beaumont captains England – they will go to her every time Nat Sciver-Brunt is injured now, and she will be injured a lot over the next two years. But if that is it for Tammy, she will take a winning record with her. In a results business, Beaumont got the results. Now Sciver-Brunt needs to do the same. Or there might be some awkward questions for Charlotte Edwards over the choice that was made to nominate Sciver-Brunt over Beaumont in the first place.

Faced with a must-win game against one of the best teams in the world, England silenced the doubters by strolling to an impressive victory on a warm Wednesday evening.

But enough about the football.*

In the cricket at Old Trafford in Manchester, faced with a similar situation, England took a running dive… and belly-flopped into a puddle of mud – India winning the game with 18 balls to spare, and the T20 series with a match still to play.

India were roared on by a crowd of over 7,000 that contained more Indian flags and shirts than English ones. It was an Indian crowd in nature as well as in colours – at one stage chants of “Radha! Radha!” rang out from the stands after a brilliant piece of fielding from the spinner on the boundary had saved what had looked like a certain 4, as if this were the WPL not a summer’s evening in England.

It wasn’t the perfect all-round performance from India – with the bat, they’ll be disappointed they let their foot off the gas after a typically explosive start from Shafali and Smriti. In truth it probably shouldn’t have got as far as the 17th over.

Lauren Filer caused them a few problems again, but she also showed her limitations – you can bowl as fast as you want, but you need to be hitting something – either the stumps or the batter – or you aren’t actually going to take any wickets. And bowling short outside off is mostly just going to invite runs, especially to a player like Shafali, who knows that with pace guaranteed even an edge is probably going to fly over the infield, which is exactly what happened in her first over, which went for 14, and allowed India to get ahead of the game early.

But it was with the ball and in the field that India really won this match, and looked a cut above the side that visited these shores 3 years ago. I felt after that series that England’s official ranking as the No. 2 side in the world ahead of India was probably slightly flattering them; but it looks much more the case today.

India’s spinners in particular bowled with incredible discipline, making it impossible for England’s batters to play their shots; and even with the ropes well out at Old Trafford, India’s fielders relentlessly turned 2s into singles. Alice Capsey was ruthlessly tormented by the tightness of the bowling – hitting one real shot in her innings of 18 – a slog-sweep off Deepti that dissected the two fielders at cow corner. The rest was a horrible edge for 4 through the keeper, and 8 singles.

And it wasn’t any better a day for anyone else in an England batting shirt – Sophia Dunkley being England’s top scorer with just 22. Ironically, I don’t think Dunkley did anything different today compared to her knock on Friday at The Oval, when she made 75 – it was just that on this occasion her erratic strokeplay found a fielder sooner rather than later.

A horrid final over from Deepti allowed England to get over the line of total ignominy, as Issy Wong and Sophie Ecclestone carted her for 16 to pass 120; but still 126 is not going to win you many games of cricket at this level, and so it proved today.

Around 40 minutes after play finished, with the press conferences done and dusted, Tammy Beaumont was back out on the field at Old Trafford running sprints around the boundary. Whether it was some kind of forfeit or punishment, I can’t say. But what I can say is that it isn’t really her fault alone that England lost – this just isn’t a team capable of beating the best in the world. And India are starting to look like a team ready to lay claim to being just that.

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*The Lionesses beat the Netherlands 4-0 at the Women’s Euros in Zurich.

Batting Rankings

Ranking = Runs * Strike Rate

Bowling Rankings

Ranking = Wickets / Economy

This week:

• England win a bonkers 3rd T20 v India
• England’s captaincy omnishambles in the 2nd T20
• Grace Scrivens all-but confirmed as England’s NEXT skipper

In late September 1066, a young French knight called Robert de Beaumont completed a perilous crossing of the English Channel, landing near Pevensey in Sussex, to take command of a division of the Norman army led by William the Conqueror. According to the chronicles, de Beaumont “performed feats of valour worthy of perpetual remembrance” at the Battle of Hastings, which saw him rewarded with substantial grants of land and ultimately enobled as Earl of Leicester by William’s son Henry I.

Tamsin Tilley Beaumont (I guess the “de” got lost somewhere along the way) is almost certainly a direct descendent of Robert*; and on Friday 4th July 2025, she completed a perilous crossing of London, landing near Vauxhall, to take command of England’s women’s cricket team.

Tammy’s Army included several changes from the first two games. One of England’s key selection dilemmas at the moment is that they don’t really have any allrounders – NSB is now an allrounder “In Name Only” due to injury worries, and her replacement today, Paige Scholfield (note to commentators: it is “Sco-field” – the “L” is silent) is in exactly the same boat.

Alice Capsey is the only batter who bowls at all, but she got thoroughly turned-over by India in the first game, and only bowled one over in the second. At the other end of the ledger, Sophie Ecclestone will produce the occasional knock as a bowler who can give it a bit of a slog, but overall her record is poor – the 35 she made in the last game was her first international T20 score over 30 since 2022.

So England went into this match once again playing 5 specialist bowlers, bringing in Charlie Dean and Issy Wong; leaving them with a long tail and a desperate need for the top order to fire after they chose to bat first.

England’s openers did make it through the powerplay unscathed for the first time in this series; but India’s commitment and energy in the field helped keep them to 44 off the first 6 overs, with Sophia Dunkley scoring the bulk of them (32/44) in her usual frenetic manner.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge was a batter playing for her place going at a Strike Rate under 90, and when she finally connected properly with one in the 9th over that sailed (just) over the boundary for 6, the look of relief on her face was visible from space. India contrived to drop both England batters in that over, and it felt like a bit of a turning point as Wyatt-Hodge lifted her Strike Rate over 100. Getting to the 10 over mark at 82-0 was the platform England needed for a really big score, with 180-200 in their sights.

At 136-0 from 15 overs, everyone in the press box was hunched over StatsGuru checking the record books; but even at that stage, England’s trajectory was looking like the lower-end of that 180-200 range. And then…

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like what happened next. From 136-0 England collapsed to 171-9, losing 9 wickets for 35 in the last 5 overs. The Death Overs have never looked more deadly.

The thing is, 171 is objectively a decent score – right at the top end for matches between the top sides in recent years. And yet… when 180-200 had been there for the taking, England hadn’t taken it. In her pre-match captain’s presser, Tammy Beaumont had dragged out the old cliche that “Tough times don’t last; tough people do!” But it was India’s bowlers, not England’s batters, who had toughed it out and kept believing; and it was India’s bowlers that got the rewards, with a momentum-shift that left England dizzy like a heavyweight getting pummelled on the ropes.

England came out to bowl and I was immediately transported back to Australia in January, not by the balmy summer evening (temperatures have actually eased somewhat in London compared to earlier in the week) but by England dropping a catch, as Lauren Bell misjudged and then shelled a skier on the boundary at deep 3rd in the 2nd over.

England could have waved bye-bye to Shafali for 4 off 4 balls; but by the end of the powerplay she was instead 32 off 15, and a player who has had to spend a little time in the wilderness recently looked very-much BACK. She eventually let Ecclestone slide one through the gate just short of her 50; but it was job done for her, lighting a fire under India’s reply which made them firm favourites at the halfway mark.

But somehow, England kept believing, and it was Lauren Filer who started the fight-back. Filer took the wicket of Jemimah and then made Smriti look pretty clumsy facing a very uncomfortable 4 balls in the 14th over, before taking her wicket off a miscued slog from the very next ball she faced from the England quick. Having returned 0-22 from her first two overs; Filer took 2-8 from her last two, with the speed gun topping-out at 79mph; and suddenly England were back in it; whilst India had fallen behind the rate for the first time in the match.

England were still awful; catches were still dropped. But with 3 overs to go, and 30 required, England made the big decision to gamble on burning Ecclestone’s final over and despite another drop, it pretty-much paid-off – India took 10 from it; but 20 from the last two proved just two much and off the final delivery it was Harmanpreet who found herself with an arrow through her eye, unable to hit the final 6 India needed.

“Feats of valour worthy of perpetual remembrance” is probably putting a little too much icing on the cake; but Tammy’s Army had won… and then lost… and then won again, the most remarkable game of cricket – one that I (and no doubt, she) will remember for a long, long time.

—-

*Don’t be too impressed by this though – if you are of the same ethnicity, you almost certainly are too, due to something called the “genetic isopoint“!

India’s middle order outclassed England’s to win the 2nd T20 in front of a boisterous crowd at Bristol. With both sides contriving to lose 3 wickets cheaply during the powerplay, the two 4th-wicket partnerships were pitted against each other through the middle overs, with Jemimah Rodrigues and Amanjot Kaur’s 93 off 55 balls ultimately trumping Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones’s  70 off 49.

Having opted to chase after winning the toss again, despite that not having been an entirely successful strategy at Trent Bridge, England opened the bowling with Alice Capsey – an experiment that looks unlikely to be repeated after Smriti Mandhana stroked her for two beautifully timed 4s in an over which went for 11. After Smriti’s century in the first game, it looked ominous for England, but she barely added to her score before she was caught on the ring by Lauren Bell, who made an easy chance look a lot harder than it actually was by initially heading off in the wrong direction before leaping back to where she’d initially been to take the catch.

This was after Lauren Filer had already seen off Shafali Verma with an aggressive bodyline delivery which Shafali could only fend off to Amy Jones behind the stumps; and with the returning Harmanpreet Kaur coming and going within two balls, England were well-placed at the end of the powerplay with India 35-3.

It doesn’t feel quite right to say that Jemimah and Amanjot initially “dug in” – they plundered 14 runs off Linsey Smith’s opening over – but they didn’t really start to accelerate until the 10 over mark. Jemi stamped her authority all over Em Arlott, smacking her for 6, 4, 4 – but the more significant over was the following one, bowled by Filer.

Filer tried to repeat the same trick that had bought her the wicket of Shafali – short and directed at the body – but Jemi found a way of dealing with it, by simply waiting and ramping her over the keeper. The ramp is often a risky shot in the women’s game because there isn’t the pace on the ball that you get in men’s cricket, but with Filer you to get a lot more of that pace, meaning you don’t have to time it perfectly to have it fly off to the boundary, which is exactly what happened. (Expect others to learn the lesson, and blunt Filer’s key wicket-taking delivery going forwards!)

From there, Jemimah and Amanjot grew in confidence, hitting at more than 12 an over to create an imposing platform. Jemimah will cringe when she comes to watch her dismissal again – caught chasing a Lauren Bell wide, for the second time in this series – but that aside, she hauled India back into the game, and left a legacy which Amanjot and Richa Ghosh turned into a dynasty – adding a further 57 runs off 34 balls to put 181-4 on the board.

It can’t have helped that England were literally rudderless for a good chunk of India’s most dominant period. With Nat Sciver-Brunt off the field with a “tight hip”, we learned afterwards that Sophia Dunkley was supposed to be in charge as the official Vice Captain for this series; but in practice it was Sophie Ecclestone who actually took over and appeared to be directing both the field and the bowling changes.

Unlike the 210 England faced in Nottingham, 181 didn’t feel totally unchasable, but England contrived to make it as difficult as possible for themselves. It wasn’t just losing 3 wickets for not-much – it was the manner of their losing them: Dunkley running herself out, and Nat Sciver-Brunt totally mistiming a pull to a decent catch from her opposite number Harmanpreet. Danni Wyatt-Hodge meanwhile, who has been carving it up in domestic cricket with 372 runs at a Strike Rate of 158, did manage not to bag a 4th consecutive international duck, but only by 1 run, before offering up the tamest of catches, also to Harmanpreet.

Thus it all came down to Beaumont and Jones – which really meant it all came down to Beaumont: a century from her, and England would have won the game; but anything less you felt would have left them short. And she got half-way there – striking the ball better than anyone else out there tonight for a 33-ball 50, but a slight hesitation on a quick single – the kind she often takes and makes – and she was run out by inches.

And that was always going to be that – Amy Jones, who had been very-much playing second-fiddle, did accelerate a bit, but was then predictably caught playing an indecisive shot straight back to the bowler; and it continued downhill from there.

Was this as bad as the 1st T20? In terms of the scorecard, no – they lost by just 24 runs in the end, after Sophie Ecclestone struck a flurry of boundaries at the death – which is (if my maths is correct) a lot less than the 97 they lost by in Nottingham. But in other ways this was a worse defeat. Nottingham had a majestic hundred from Smriti – the kind that wins you the game 999 times out of 1,000. This had a battling middle-order fight-back after England had India on the ropes early on. If England had been able to take another couple of wickets in the middle overs, or not lose 3 themselves in the powerplay, the game was on. But instead they let the bowling go to pieces, and then cracked under pressure with the bat.

It’s the same story over and over again. Before taking this job, England coach Charlotte Edwards seemed to understand that this was a long-term project to build a new team capable of taking on the best in the world; but as Martin Davies argues in this piece, already short-term considerations seem to have been prioritised instead, and the future looks, if anything, further away than ever.