The year 2026 hasn’t been a great one for India so far – the reigning 50-over world champions won a T20 series 2-1 against Australia back in February, but then they lost the ODIs 3-0 and were blown away in the Test. This was followed by a 4-1 T20 reversal to South Africa in South Africa.
But none of those results will matter if they go on to lift the T20 World Cup in 5½ weeks time, and they began their English Summer Odyssey with a statement victory over England at Chelmsford, in a T20 series that is effectively an extended warm-up for the main event this June and July.
It wasn’t a perfect performance by India – they drifted a tad at times, and should probably have piled on a few more runs in the middle overs, when every shot seemed to find an England fielder. But a blistering powerplay by Yastika Bhatia, followed by a compelling 69 off 40 balls from Jemimah Rodrigues, did enough damage to put a proper “Big Number” on the board, with which England could not compete.
The game was won (and lost) essentially in two overs at either end of India’s innings. The 2nd over (bowled by Issy Wong) went for 27; and the 19th (bowled by Dani Gibson) for 17 – that’s 44 in all, which equates to 23% of India’s total, and more or less their margin of victory, which was 38.
Issy Wong is Issy Wong – you know exactly what you are going to get, to the extent that it is almost discounted, like Donald Trump tweeting something insane about Iran! On Gibson, I took a bit of stick in some quarters for criticism of her after she took 3 wickets in the final T20 versus new Zealand, but if I was harsh then today showed why – you can’t afford to concede those runs at the death.
The good news for England when it comes to the World Cup, is that we’d expect both of those overs to be bowled by Linsey Smith, who was rested today. But with it looking increasingly unlikely that Nat Sciver-Brunt will be able to bowl much (if at all) at the World Cup, they are going to need one of the batters to bowl regular overs, and with Kemp looking totally toothless with the ball, that leaves Gibson or… er… the backup wicket-keeper, Alice Capsey?
Gibson also managed to bag a golden quacker with the bat today, which isn’t going to help her cause; though on this occasion I don’t really blame her, because Heather Knight had left the late middle order with far too much to do, having toiled her way to 21 off 24 balls. The problem with Knight now is that she is good enough to stick around, but not good enough to go at the run rate required to win these Big Games™ for England. So whilst she was at the crease, the run rate started to creep up from a tough-but-manageable 10, to close to 13 – the point at which India could start to see singles as de-facto dots. By the time Gibson arrived England needed 17s, and the only option left was hit and hope – she hit… but there was no hope!
It is abundantly clear, with Knight having already effectively retired from domestic cricket after assuming a management role at London Spirit for The Hundred, that this is her final summer, and she is hoping to bow out with a second World Cup win and a Test at Lords; but really today should be her final game for England. It won’t be, because the squad for the World Cup is set; the strategy is set; NSB looks as wobbly as a one-legged tin soldier; and Charlotte Edwards won’t want to drop Knight because she doesn’t want to do to Knight what Mark Robinson did to her. But it should be: it is time to say good Knight.
CRICKETher 
I agree that it may be time to say Good Knight.
I just don’t understand why, when missing 2 of our best batters (DWH and NSB), England would intentionally opt to leave out Bouchier who at least has looked generally composed / able to construct an innings, and go into an India series so short on batters. And why leave out Linsey Smith?! Instead, Wong had one of her nightmare overs, rolling back the years unfortunately, and England were on the back foot from that point on and never really got back ahead of the game. Ecclestone looked off her best again.
Jones played well, but Knight was too slow again and we didn’t show enough intent (possibly because the players knew in the back of their mind England were a batter light).
England need to call on their young guns and basically just announce the rebuilding phase. Perrin, Pavely, Chathli, etc. It looks like that’s not going to happen until after the WC but I don’t think that will help. McDonald-Gay took 6 wickets in T20 the other day, so she should be in serious contention.
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I think it is a tad harsh and disingenuous to complain the 19th over was half the problem – it wasn’t. In all T20 games overs 17 to 20 are targeted to be smashed, so 17 off the 19th, whilst high, is not disastrous. It is on the higher end of expectations. The 2nd over was indeed a nightmare, but in cricket, especially against stronger teams, these things can happen. It requires a really good coach and captain to iron that out, and England have neither.
The rot started years ago, and it is in the girls county system, where players are picked on favouritism, and coaches are too keen to placate certain parents than to make objective decisions. Oh, and also most are poor coaches. My experience of elite coaching in one county is apt – some 10 years ago, this coaches rejected the non-white girls from the elite programme, something that has not been lost on people over a decade later. It would be interesting to see how that has panned out across all the counties. Maybe if you fostered a culture of fair and equal competition at the grass roots, the cream would rise to the top – after all, it is not as if the England women’s team is underpaid compared to your so called under-performing India squad.
As regards the current team, the simple question to ask is who would get into a World XI? None of the openers, not Knight (take Wolverhaardt all day long), NSB will have a tough time against the Aussie (and Indian) middle order, Amy Jones – maybe. Who else? Aussies have better quicks than England, and the England spinners are not demonstrably better then those in India, SA or AU. So realistically you are relying on two players – NSB and AJ. And they cannot carry a team.
England will always have the odd good day ( a broken clock is right twice a day), but structurally and strategically, it is a mess. The ECB should be honest with the public and say we are rebuilding over the next 5 years, bring in modern coaches and change the grass roots system.
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Well said
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