Hello and welcome to the highlights of the first ODI between England and India at the Bristol County Ground. This is Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan and I'll be taking you through proceedings for the day.
A convincing eight-wicket win for England in the end. Nat Sciver and Tammy Beaumont leading India's rout with unbeaten fifties. After posting a modest total, the Indian bowlers looked completely out of sorts against an in-form English top order. The hosts put on an exhibition of power-hitting in stark contrast to India's meek effort with the bat. Plenty of loose ends to button up before the next ODI for India. That would be all from our side. Thanks for joining us. Good night.
Kaur continues. Beaumont levels the score with a six. Kaur bowls a wide last ball. England win.
192/2 (33 overs): Goswami brought back into the attack. Beaumont's turn, pulls this back of a length ball for four. Five from that over.
187/2 (32 overs): Kaur is back into the attack. She errs on the leg-side and Sciver sweeps it away for four. SHOT ! Sciver brings up the 100-run partnership with a six. Pure timing. A single to end the over. 11 from it.
176/2 (31 overs): Sciver brings up her fifty with a brace. Second ball's a dot but Sciver makes up for it with two back-to-back boundaries off Sharma. India being pummelled at the moment. 11 from that over. 26 needed from 18 overs.
165/2 (30 overs): It's drizzling in Bristol. Sciver, meanwhile, is upping the ante. She collects two boundaries off Bisht. England waltzing towards the finish line. 12 from the over. 37 needed from 19 overs.
153/2 (29 overs): Sharma is back into the attack. Tidy over. Just two from it. But the damage has been done, really. Unless there's an inexplicable collapse, England are going home with two points.
151/2 (28 overs): Bisht continues. My word, what a shot that from Beaumont. Shot of the day. Steps out and carves it over wide mid-off for four. She is in a hurry, is Tammy. Follows it up with a brace. And another couple as England cross the 150-mark. ENG Women need 51 runs from 21 overs.
141/2 (27 overs): Pandey continues. Beaumont takes a single first ball. A couple for Sciver off the second. Harman, with a diving stop at mid-on, saves a certain boundary. Pandey bowls a no-ball and England get a free-hit. Sciver fails to make the most of it, clubs it straight to the fielder. And Pandey bowls yet another no-ball! This time, Sciver finds the gap and gets four.
132/2 (26 overs): Bisht back into the attack. Englan cruising at the moment. India need wickets and fast! Beaumont has been brillinat today - she has hit 10 fours in her innings of 60-odd so far, straightaway pushing India on the backfoot.
129/2 (25 overs): Just the one boundary in this over but there was yet another wasted review here in this over by Shikha Pandey. There's an appeal for caught behind. Player in question - Nat Sciver. Sciver was clearly aiming to go past cover but misses and Bhatia collected. She is confident that there was an edge. Pandey wasn't. Ultra Edge dismisses the doubts and India is out of reviews for the game. Hasty. One of the takeaways from day 1 of the one-ff Test was also this alarming number of wasted reviews. We've not moved along, apparently.
122/2 (24 overs): The Beaumont boundary returns, after being stifled for two overs - the midwicket boundary being graced this time. Kaur restricts the rest of the damage to three runs. Seven off the over. England cruising.
115/2 (23 overs): Nice comeback from Vastrakar here. Just the one solitary run conceded. She now experiments between short and good length deliveries, tempting the batters to play on the front foot but Sciver and Beaumont are happy to defend.
114/2 (22 overs): Kaur bowls a quiet five-run over here, pitching outside off largely but playing around with her lengths. This would have been so competitive if they 80-90 more runs on the board.
109/2 (21 overs):
Vastrakar returns for her second over and concedes six runs. I think we should say Beaumont boundary by default for the first or second delivery of every over she takes strike in. It's an innings default today and could save my tired fingers some work.
103/2 (20 overs):
Mithali relies on her deputy for a change in momentum here and an opportunity is squandered almost immediately when Bisht drops Nat Sciver at short fine. Bisht tumbles a little and can't recover quickly enough to take that cleanly even though she got both hands to it. Missed chance. Kaur keeps things tidy giving away just two runs in her first over.
Harmanpreet Kaur comes in.
101/2 (19 overs): Sharma resumes and so does Tammy Beaumont's customary early boundary, going square with this one for four runs! Six runs come off the over, along with England crossing the hundred mark.
FIFTY FOR TAMMY BEAUMONT.
95/2 (18 overs): Bisht gives away nine runs in this over,
which starts with Sciver pulling the second delivery over midwicket. She manages a clean pull there, given she barely had any room to manage that one. Bisht botches up her line a little for the fourth delivery. She tosses one up to Sciver who comes down the track to send it past Beaumont to the boundary. Nice footwork here from Nat Sciver.
86/2 (17 overs) :
Just two runs from that over from Deepti Sharma. Sciver taking her time to settle down. Beaumont four short of a well-deserved fifty.
83/2 (16 overs): IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGH FOR BISHT. Knight finds her stumps rattled! Pitches up a little and beats Knight while deflecting well outside the off stump. By the time Knight figures out what's happening, the bails are off. Just two runs off this over besides the all-important wicket of the English skipper. Nat Sciver comes in to replace Knight. WICKET Heather Knight b Bisht 18 (30b) 2x4
Bisht resumes post drinks
82/1 (15 overs): Sharma comes in and a slip comes in for her. No boundaries for trigger-happy Tammy. Just the two runs off the over. DRINKS
80/1 (14 overs): Tidy six-run over from Bisht. Even the disciplined overs are leaking four runs and above, that is the difference between these two teams today.
74/1 (13 overs): Lovely over from Deepti Sharma, just two runs off it for England, playing around with the lengths in this over. However, Knight and Beaumont bring up their fifty partnership. CLINICAL.
72/1 (12 overs): Knight is playing a perfect second fiddle here to Tammy Beaumont whose SR is well over 100. Beaumont follows pattern. Begins with a boundary , clearing mid-off to start the over. Bisht doesn't concede for the remainder of the over though. This over had something for both bowler and batter.
68/1 (11 overs): Deepti Sharma comes on. Beaumont punches in her early boundary past mid-on. Sharma concedes seven runs in total here. England chugging away.
61/1 (10 overs) Nine runs off this Bisht over, but not too shabby here from the spinner. Last powerplay over. Beaumont hits Bisht for two consecutive balls to begin with, sweeping the deliveries for eight runs in total. But Bisht gets a slip and some reinforcement in the long on region. She adjusts her line a little and is able to concede just one run in the remaining four balls. Improvement.
Ekta Bisht comes on. She is playing for India in ODIs for the first time since 2019 when she featured in the 1st D/N ODI against West Indies. Windies won that game. Her last T20I appearance was back in 2019 again, against England in Guwahati. She's kept herself busy with domestic games and fixtures from the Women's T20 Challenge along the way.
52/1 (9 overs)
Trust Goswmi to reign things in. Shifting between length and mildly short deliveries, Goswami's maiden over applies the breaks on the English opening charge.
52/1 (8 overs): 13 RUNS! Bowlers are folding for India here in this game. Brutal welcome for Vastrakar. Knight begins the onslaught going through cover for the first boundary of the over, courtesy a very loose ball from Vastrakar. Beaumont added to it with a boundary of her own, this time going over the bowler for FOUR runs. Vastrakar cannot stop gifting those fuller deliveries and Beaumont knows just what to do as she slices this one through point for a boundary to bring up the England fifty. My colleague Ayan and I were just discussing rain and DLS factoring in and speaking about the 55-run threshold England would need to cross. Oh well. Looks like the duo in the middle can tell. The haste paying off in also severely putting pressure on a largely inexperienced bowling attack.
38/1 (7 overs):
England is keeping that run rate steady. Knight and Co. evidently do not want to bat for 50 overs. Jhulan ends up conceding seven runs, four of those coming from a textbook square drive through point.
With that we have a bowling change - Pooja Vastrakar comes on for Shikha Pandey.
32/1 (6 overs): Pandey's turn to be a tad expensive here. Eight runs conceded in this over, coming purely from boundaries. Tammy Beaumont is so easy on the eye - first slashing one through point for FOUR and then getting the same result but going down square. Crisp shot, this second one.
24/1 (5 overs): GOSWAMI STRIKES. ENGLAND LOSES ITS FIRST WICKET. Lauren Winfield-Hill gets one pitched close to a foot outside off stump and she confidently gets her bat to it, but only manages a thick edge which comfortably lands in Bhatia's gloves. She had come into this chase with a foot firmly on the accelerator and is mad at herself as she walks back to the pavilion. Knight takes guard. WICKET Lauren Winfield-Hill c Bhatia b Goswami 16 (20b) 2x4
22/0 (4 overs): Pandey pulls things back a little, giving away just four runs in this over. She oscillated between length and fuller deliveries but with a tight line, trying to restrict the batter and perhaps even draw out a few hits on the pads. Neat over.
18/0 (3 overs): Relatively expensive over this from Jhulan Goswami. Conceding nine runs. Winfield-Hill gives England its first boundary of the innings, with a lovely square drive through point. The second comes two balls later, with a muscled shot over mid-on, clear of Vastrakar who is in the vicinity. This is a brisk start from England, managing to keep the Indian bowlers under pressure. If it gives them a few loose balls here and there as a result, England will be happy.
This series' connection with bad reviews persists.
9/0 (2 overs): Shikha Pandey sharing the new ball. She starts off with a wide. Pandey getting some prodigious swing as well. Beaumont was nearly run out off the second ball. She was struck on the pad too, not given out by the umpire. Mithali reviews but replays show the ball going well past leg stump. India lose a review. Pandey delivers yet another wide - India really can't afford to leak extras. Ends the over by conceding a couple. 7 off Pandey's first over.
2/0 (1 over): A good start from Jhulan Goswami. Plenty of seam and swing on offer. India would want their premier fast bowler to get a couple of early breakthroughs. Lauren Winfield-Hill and Tammy Beaumont are the two openers.
Now for the English chase.
It's been a below par batting performance from India here in Bristol on Sunday. Mithali Raj was the pick of the batters, with a 108-ball 72. Punam Raut and Deepti Sharma chipped in with scores of 32 and 30. India went through at snail pace and that will definitely end up being a talking point given how consistent a problem this has been for India. The top order did not fire and Mithali did her usual start-slow-accelerate-late routine. Former India cricketer Snehal Pradhan dissects this problem perfectly here.
While the Indian batting fiasco needs to be discussed, England's bowlers deserve much of the credit. The pacers bowled tight lines today prompting errors and blips in focus from the Indians. Sophie Ecclestone finished with best figures of three wickets for 40 runs. Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole took two wickets each and Kate Cross got one to her name. Amy Jones was clinical behind the stumps too. They will want to finish this chase quickly to add to the performance on the field, given India's innings featured 181 dot balls (30.1 overs).
---------------------- INNINGS BREAK ---------------------------
201/8 (50 overs): FINAL OVER. Ecclestone comes on to wrap things in a bow here. CHANCE in the first ball. Short ball, going past leg draws Pandey to cut it but she's just thoroughly beaten here. Ecclestone gets another shot at a wicket when a Pandey sends a fuller delivery down long on. Kate Cross gets the ball in her hands and DROPS IT. What a miss. Not the easiest of catches at all, but this will bum her out a fair bit. Just four runs come off the over, with the innings ending fittingly with a dot ball.
197/8 (49 overs): OH IS THAT A WICKET? HAS AMY JONES PULLED OFF A RIDICULOUSLY CLOSE STUMPING? A slower ball from Brunt draws Bhatiya forward, her back leg is raised while trying to connect the ball, but the rise is so miniscule that we're all squinting at the TV camera angles now. Jones has collected and knocked off the bails here. We wait to see if Bhatia's foot was off the ground. A second angle shows her foot a little raised. Difficult call for the third umpire and the screen reads OUT! Bhatiya is disappointed, taken out by her opposite number. Just two runs from this over. WICKET Taniya Bhatia st Jones b Brunt 7
195/7 (48 overs): OUT. VASTRAKAR GOES. But spends a review before she walks back. An attempted reverse sweep goes wrong. PLUMB! Redfer raises the finger. A desperate Vastrakar reviews. Third umpire confirms the inevitable. Four runs for India from this over. Ecclestone won't complain. WICKET Pooja Vastrakar lbw b Ecclestone 15 (17b) 2x4
191/6 (47 overs): Brunt gives off 10 runs as Bhatiya and Vastrakar focus on rotating strike, with focus being giving Vastrakar the strike. This is not pretty cricket from Vastrakar and it shouldn't be either. She is lunging at anything that can get her more than a run. Good intent, given they're inching towards a once impossible-looking 200-run mark.
181/6 (46 overs): ECCLESTONE STRIKES. MITHALI IS FOXED THERE. Arm ball from the spinner and I can't quite comprehend what Mithali was trying to do there given she exposed her stumps that way after caution throughout. She doesn't connect at all and the ball clips the top of her off stump. Taniya Bhatia comes in. Just three runs come off this over. Job well done for Sophie Ecclestone. WICKET Mithali Raj b Ecclestone 72 (108b) 7x4
LAST FIVE OVERS OF THE INNINGS. Ecclestone comes on.
178/5 (45 overs): Sciver comes in after that horrid 15-run concession England has given India. Manages to keep things tight but Mithali's 20-year experience allows her to find an opportunity. She opens the face of her bat to send it down to third man. Seven runs come off the over. India will want to accelerate from here. Nothing to lose, with five overs left. Go big or go home.
171/5 (44 overs): Shrubsole comes on and Mithali and Pooja manage 15 runs from this over. You've read that right. Vastrakar first manages to get this over the bowler for FOUR. Mithali Raj feeds off this energy and sends one down through point for four more. Mithali does it again in the very next delivery when she sends a poor delivery down short fine leg. Runs coming thick and fast. Is this the turning point the Indians have been waiting for?
156/5 (43 overs): BOUNDARY and for new entrant Vastrakar. Sciver gifts her a short ball which isn't too high. Vastrakar has sent this through midwicket. Three more runs come off the over. Seven runs, as we near the 45-over mark.
149/5 (42 overs): Shubsole into the attack. Mithali Raj dispatches this a little wide off long on for a boundary! T hat brings up Mithali's 50, her 13th in England. It has been laboured but India is rebuilding on her back now. The duo will want to capitalise on this now. Oh, but what's happened here? LBW appeal - batter in trouble - Deepti Sharma. Glenn goes from over the wicket and Deepti is caught in front of the stumps trying to knick this down the ground. Umpire raises his finger, Deepti reviews - area of contention is whether this pitched in line or not. It is, it is hitting the wickets and Deepti will have to walk back to the pavilion. A review lost as well, for India. Vastrakar comes in. WICKETDeepti Sharma lbw b Shrubsole 30 (46b) 3x4
144/4 (41 overs): A boundary at last for Sharma - the first in 43 deliveries, my word. Sharma gets it through deep square leg, the sweep paying off. Tammy Beaumont lies by the rope arms stretched out, all in vain. Oh the luck continues as Sharma gets another boundary, this time past extra cover . Watching Deepti connect so cleanly should be an ASMR activity. India manages two more runs here in this over to take the haul to 10. Good over. More of this, India!
134/4 (40 overs): Brunt's lengths are getting better. Here a good length delivery down leg is not timed very well by Deepti Sharma who sends it over to fine leg. A fielder doesn't get to it fast either. Edge neutralised. Just the three runs from this over.
131/4 (39 overs): Glenn concedes three runs. That would have been more, but today field has saved two runs for the Englishwomen. England fielders have been proactive here, diving and throwing their bodies to keep the pressure on.
128/4 (38 overs): Four runs come off this Brunt over. Things have gone awfully quiet here for India as the innings moves towards the 40-over mark.
124/4 (37 overs): BIG SHOUT in that third delivery. No one is convinced. Four runs come off the overs, all singles.
120/4 (36 overs) Reminder. Mithali Raj is into her 40s. A fifty coming up for her?Brunt is not making it easy at all. Lovely variations here, she's playing with the height here as well, is Brunt, particularly this bouncer down leg which Amy Jones does so well to save from going down to the boundary. That's hard, especially when you're close to the stumps. Class from Jones. Three runs off the over.
Brunt returns to the attack.
117/4 (35 overs): Four runs for India from this Glenn over. Moving along at snail pace. Indian fans in the crowd are not bothered. Quite a bit of encouragement coming Deepti and Mithali's way.
113/4 (34 overs): Ecclestone gives away EIGHT runs! That's right. Thanks to a boundary to begin the over from Mithali Raj, who gets it between short third and point for FOUR . Sharma and Raj manage to rotate the strike well here to get four more. More like this, please India!
105/4 (33 overs): Glenn returns. Just the three runs off this over. India is oddly comfortable with the easy singles. Given the side is beyond the 30-over mark, is it okay to be frustrated that this isn't moving along faster? Strike rate debate returning in 3...2....1. No sledging funnily enough from the English girls in this game. All encouragement, all work!
102/4 (32 overs): Spin is the mood of the session as Ecclestone continues. Funnily enough, six runs come off this over and India also manages to get past the 100-run mark.
96/4 (31 overs): Another boundary and it's Mithali Raj this time. Mid-on has been breached. Refreshing from the Indian skipper. Glenn concedes six runs in this over. She won't be happy about the boudary.
90/4 (30 overs): Ecclestone manages a quiet over, until Deepti Sharma punches one down the ground through long-on for a boundary! She's looked so good from that Test match last week. Is she what India needs to get out of the panic room right now? Five runs given in this over.
Pumped down the ground! A welcome boundary for India! Good use of the feet from Deepti and she smokes this to long-on
85/4 (29 overs): Glenn comes on. India is a little wounded. Deepti Sharma is here to give Mithali Raj company. Just the one run from the over. Mithali needs to step it up, at least by rotating the strike or we're staring a low scoring game in the face.
84/4 (28 overs): SPOKE TO SOON. HARMANPREET GOES. Ecclestone strikes! Second ball of the over and Ecclestone deploys an arm ball. Harman is squeezed into a spot here and gets an edge of a ball going inwards here. Jones collects behind. There's an edge. Gone without disturbing the scoreboard much. Ecclestone gets a wicket maiden. WICKET Harmanpreet Kaur c Jones b Ecclestone 1(7b)
84/3 (27 overs): Sarah Glenn comes into the attack. Gives just a solitary run. She's not managing too much spin here but she needs to keep the parameters neat so she's not taken to the cleaners. Although, the pair at the crease at the moment are not exactly a duo that's going to think about this for a while. Harman needs to find her feet and spend time out in the middle so she can get going. Long way to go in this innings for the two leaders of this side.
India's needs something special from its captain and deputy in Bristol.
83/3 (26 overs):
OUT! Cross comes back. She pitches one up to Raut and the latter thinks she can get under this. What happens is a high blow that's timed all wrong, and Ecclestone brings herself in to take a simple catch. Cross in the books, India in a very unpleasant situation at the moment. This brings Harmanpreet Kaur in.
WICKET Punam Raut c Ecclestone b Cross 32 (61b) 4x4
83/2 (25 overs): The run rate is hovering around 3 now. Not ideal is it? Or are we being too critical? Four runs come off this Ecclestone over, with naggingly tight lines coming in from the Chester-born spinner.
74/2 (24 overs): BOUNDARY FOUR RAUT. She is beginning to open up a little and find the boundaries, especially managing to break the inner circle. This one goes past deep midwicket for four. Six runs for the Indians from this over. They need more of this.
73/2 (23 overs): Ecclestone concedes four runs, with the keeper right up by the stumps. Clever variations here from Ecclestone and Mithali and Raut are taking no chances.
69/2 (22 overs): NICE BOUNDAR Y here from Mithali Raj. She has managed to tear through the ring of fielders to get one down the covers to the boudary. 4 runs from the over.
65/2 (21 overs): Three runs given by Ecclestone. Tight lines, Mithali and Punam are having to find the gaps for the singles. While a slow pace is absolutely understandable in this format, one of the two out there need to take the onus of rotating the strike at the very least. Final totals etc don't matter now. A little momentum does.
Ecclestone comes in.
62/2 (20 overs) Cross comes in again and a leading edge falls short of Knight in the cover regions. Again, just the three runs.
59/2 (19 overs): Appeal for caught behind, this time for Raj as she tried to flick the delivery off her pads. The appeal for caught-behind is muted and the umpire too straightens things out with the wide signal. Three runs off this over.
56/2 (18 overs): An EDGE to begin with, but it runs off wide of slip. Collected at third man with just the one run conceded. Cross keeps it tight for the rest of the over and Mithali is happy to resist with some straight-batted defense. Three runs off the over.
53/2 (17 overs): Sciver tidies things up this time. Two runs off it. Largely quiet morning and England will want that to stay.
51/2 (16 overs):
Another cover drive for Punam, running off past the
boundary . That should give her some confidence. Six off the over.
Back after drinks. Cross resumes. She gets a slip.
Here's a look at that Shafali Verma dismissal
45/2 (15 overs):Sciver is reigning in her bouncers , trying to use the short ball to either tire or rile the Indians up. Take the third delivery. Mithali takes this on her left arm very awkwardly and is visibly unhappy about this delivery. Just the one run from the over. Time for drinks.
42/2 (14 overs): Kate Cross comes into the attack and begins with an LBW appeal. The good length delivery nips Punam as she tries to push it through. Seems like it's hit her on middle stump but would have missed the stumps on carry. Cross gives away just the solitary run in the over.
Appeal for lbw turned down. Good length and nipping in as she leans in for the punch. Hit her at a middle stump line but that was going over
41/2 (13 overs): TWO BOUNDARIES IN THIS OVER. Sciver's inconsistencies with her line bite her in the back. Raut greets Sciver again with a simple and graceful cover drive. She complements that with another one breaching the boundary through covers before wrapping the over up with a dot ball. Sciver is not happy. Welcome runs for India.
(12 overs): Shrubsole is back. The pressure remains. It will help England to have Mithali and Punam in the middle at the same time. They are both playing the slow game, not ideal at all for the run rate, but England won't be complaining. Just three runs off the over.
30/2 (11 overs): Nat Scivers comes in.
She maintains her variations between good length and full and leaks just three runs.
27/2: (10 overs): Wicket maiden for Shrubsole.
THOROUGHLY BEATEN. Smriti Mandhana's feet just did not move there. She was trying to play that ball a little square but she's miscued that. It was a good length ball that seemed to straighten after pitching. Smriti got on the back foot to try and make some room to play that ball, but it ends up knocking her offstump. Disappointing for the India openers today. Not the day for the 167 encore.
WICKET: Smriti Mandhana b Shrubsole 10 (25b) 1x4.
27/1 (9 overs): Very tight line and length here from Katherine Brunt. We have an appeal though in that last ball! Redfern has raised the finger. Raut can't believe it. She reviews. Good length ball, looks like it negotiates an inside edge here and hits her knee flap. Is that missing length? YES IT IS. Sliding down leg. Good review by Punam. Redfern off there, uncharacreristically.
25/1 (8 overs): Maiden number two for Anya Shrubsole.
25/1 (7 overs): A familiar Punam Raut here - very nervous start from her. Brunt sends a full delivery which looks like it's pitching at leg but she's beaten. England appeals for LBW but that dies down quickly enough. Oh but here's another appeal, two deliveries later, for LBW again. This time, it's a good length ball. There's an inside edge here but we see the bll hitting the back thigh. Height could be an issue here. Long discussion here but England will not review. YES. SMART REVIEWS PLEASE. Just two runs from this over. England is doing well to keep India on mute.
23/1 (6 overs): That wicket has rattled India a bit. Maiden over. Tidy from England.
23/1 (5 overs): Looks like the one getting impatient here in Shafali Verma. She knocks Brunt aerially, momentarily getting a few optimistic sighs from the English side, but the ball taps off through mid-off one bounce for a boundary. Brunt's second is a short ball, but Shafali has made room and dispatched this between point and short third for another boundary. TWO-IN-TWO. But what do we have here? SHAFALI HAS HOLED OUT. Brunt goes short and Shafali follows routine to make room to push this over the infield, but her timing is all wrong as she ends up going aerial. Shrubsole has a simple catch to take at mid-on. India loses Shafali early. Raut comes in. WICKET: Shafali Verma c Shrubsole b Brunt 15 (14b) 2x 4
15/0 (4 overs): Clever here from England. The bowlers are keeping things tight to try and draw Smriti Mandhana to make a mistake and sacrifice her wicket. What they do get though is gorgeous cut shot for FOUR. Mandhana goes on the backfoot and down it goes through cover.
9/0 (3 overs): Quiet over from Brunt. Just one run from it. She does get an exciting top edge off Shafali but there's no one in the vicinity (fine leg) to convert the opportunity.
8/0 (2 overs): Shrubsole gets a slip for Shafali, but she's sent the third delivery of this over down to the boundary on the leg side. Goes past mid-on for FOUR . First boundary of the innings.
3/0 (1 over): India gets off to a cautious start. No need to hurry for Mandhana and Verma. They're comfortable taking things slow. Brunt is still getting into the groove but manages a disciplined line and length here. Anya Shrubsole will take over at the other end.
3:30pm -
And we begin. Brunt to Smriti Mandhana.
Five minutes to go for start of play. Focus for India is to get as many runs on the board as possible before rain comes interfering. Katherine Brunt will begin proceedings for England.
Squad takeaways: Sneh Rana makes way for Ekta Bisht and still no Jemimah Rodrigues for India. Sarah Glenn is back in the thick of things for England.
Playing XI:
ENG: Lauren Winfield Hill, Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight(c), Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones(w), Sophia Dunkley, Katherine Brunt, Sarah Glenn, Sophie Ecclestone, Anya Shrubsole, Kate Cross
IND: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Poonam Raut, Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia(w), Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Ekta Bisht
TOSS: Heather Knight has won the toss. England will bowl. Debut for
Sophia Dunkley and Shafali Verma. Overcast conditions in Bristol.
2:50pm: We've spotted Sophia Dunkley getting her maiden ODI cap from Nat Sciver. Heartening debut for her. She made 74 in the one-ff Test and comes into the Indian tour with some strong performances. Danie Wyatt has been rested for the ODI series, with seamer Freya Davies and spinner Sarah Glenn coming in. For India, Shafali is touted to make her ODI debut.
2:40pm: Update on the conditions in Bristol
Hi everyone! Welcome to our live match coverage. We're gearing up for what is looking to be an interesting clash between India and England in the first of three ODIs. First up, l et's check on the weather.
Match preview:
Teen sensation Shafali Verma is set to make her eagerly anticipated ODI debut as the Indian women's team seeks white-ball course correction against a strong world champion English side in the first game of the three-match series, here on Sunday.
The 17-year-old batting sensation, who has taken world cricket by storm, has so far played 22 T20 Internationals but was inexplicably not picked for the last home series against South Africa Women, with India witnessing disastrous consequences.
India lost 1-4 against South Africa and there was a lot of debate about Shafali's omission from that series. However on Sunday, no such harakiri is expected to be committed by the Indian team management, which now understands Shafali's true value all the more after her stellar Test debut against England last week with scores of 96 and 63.
Her big-hitting prowess would certainly be of great value for the Indian team, which has lacked impact players save vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who herself has not been in the best of form.
REPORT CARD: BRISTOL TEST -
With defensive players like Punam Raut, skipper Mithali in the top-order, Shafali on her day could be the difference between a sub-par total of 200 and winning score of 235 to 240.
The manner in which Shafali hammered the likes of Anya Shrubsole, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Nat Sciver and Sophie Ecclestone on her Test debut, the home team's coaching staff would certainly be burning the midnight oil to stop the new 'Haryana Hurricane'.
It would be interesting to check out India's team composition which came under a lot of scanner during the series against the Proteas.
Priya Punia had a moderate series against the South Africans at home and India has the option of rookie keeper-batter Indrani Roy, who was selected in the squad on the back of a great domestic 50-over tournament.
If Smriti Mandhana and Shafali open the batting, Indrani might have to wait for her chance as Raut, after a good show and sightly improved strike-rate, would love to come in at No 3, followed by her skipper and deputy Kaur at No 5
All-rounder Deepti Sharma is a sure-shot at No 6 and the choice between Taniya Bhatia and Indrani could mean that the former would be slightly favourite after her second innings performance.
Among four bowlers, the economical Jhulan Goswami is an automatic choice and it would be two among Shikha Pandey, Puja Vastrakar and Arundhati Reddy.
The Indian team had seen how Ecclestone with her wicket-to-wicket left-arm orthodox spin bowling troubled the Indians during the lone Test and hence either Ekta Bisht or Radha Yadav, with similar skill sets, might get preference.
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In case India decides to go with a third spinner, Sneh Rana, with her batting capabilities and impressive off-breaks, will be pitted against diminutive leg-spinner Poonam Yadav.
But Yadav's disastrous performance against South Africa, (0 wickets in five games) makes Rana the favourite.
For England, Sophia Dunkley, after her impressive Test debut last week, is set to get her maiden WODI cap but the batting would mostly depend on seasoned professionals Tammy Beaumont, skipper Heather Knight and all-rounder Siver.
2:15pm - Teams assemble!
Reminder of the points system -
16 points up for grabs in this tournament
Where are the teams playing?
The first ODI will be played at the Bristol County Ground. The one-off Test between both sides were played here last week.
Where to watch - telecast and live streaming details
The first ODI between India and England women in India will be telecast on Sony TEN 1 and available for live streaming on Sony Liv. Jio TV and Airtel XStream will also provide live streaming. Alternatively, you can catch over-by-over updates here on Sportstar.
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