Key events
9th over: England 90-3 (Capsey 43, Knight 20) Mark Butcher says there is a very helpful breeze for the right handers hitting legside towards the Marcus Trescothick pavilion. A short ball wide ball from N Sharma is speared away by Knight for four, then Capsey sends one singing through midwicket for four more. The fifty partnership is up in just 23 balls.
8th over: England 78-3 (Capsey 37, Knight 14) Deepti, bowling slow dippers. Knight uses her feet and clips her legside. Capsey sprays straight down the ground past the diving long on for four, then the Heather Knight special, a natty reverse sweep. The crowd, who seem to be wearing woolly hats, applaud wildly.
7th over: England 53-3 (Capsey 31, Knight 8) Fascinating chemistry here with both women playing for a single place. Harmanpreet turns to spin but Charani can’t stem the flow – 13 from her over. A boundary each for Knight – a sweep – and a twirling bish through midwicket for Capsey.
6th over: England 53-3 (Capsey 25, Knight 1) Capsey rescues the power-play single handedly by biffing a six and two fours from the last three balls of Gaud’s over. The first, six ploughed over extra cover, the second, four through long-on, then four hoofed through midwicket.
WICKET! Jones c Deepti Sharma c Gaud 2 (England 38-3)
A bottom-edged pull straight to the unmoving boots of Deepti at midwicket
5th over: England 38-2 (Jones 2, Capsey 11) Capsey, glistening with golden sunshine, faces up Nandani Sharma. She cuts four through backward point then finishes the over with a barrelling boundary through midwicket.
4th over: England 28-2 (Jones 0, Capsey 0) Gaud looks dangerous, wibbling the ball in. Two new batters – Capsey especially with something to prove. Just four singles.
WICKET! Dunkley c Rodrigues b Reddy 16 (England 24-2_
Rodrigues, looking into the sun, holds onto a steepling catch as Dunkley has a bit of haul to deep midwicket
3rd over: England 24-2 ( Jones 0 Capsey 0 ) Morale-boosting boundary boom-boom – Dunkley swats one over long off, shovels one legside before being caught going for a third.
WICKET! Wyatt-Godge b Gaud 5 (India 14-1)
Gaud brings one in and DWH is done like a kipper. Gaud shrugs her shoulders as she is mobbed by her teammates.
2nd over: England 14-1 (Dunkley 8, Jones 0 ) Golden evening sunshine as Gaud hastens in. An lbw appeal against DWH second ball, then Dunkley swings with dual bended knee and forces four down the ground. A quick single, then DWH glides four between the fielders before losing her stumps.
England’s chase
1st over: England 3-0 (Dunkley 2, Wyatt-Hodge 1 ) Reddy, eager, accurate. A clever bouncer that Dunkley ducks. Just a few singles.
Pretty even at half time I think – these big Taunton boundaries make totals tricky to defend. India didn’t get stuck like at Bristol, and sat out far fewer dot balls. Time for me to make a quick cup of tea – back very shortly.
England will need 181 to win
20th over: India 180-5 (Harmanpreet 56, Ghosh 6) Ecclestone with the last over. Dot, then Harmanpreet’s seventh four, like a rolling wave through the offsea to take her to fifty. Two thanks to a fumbled bit of fielding on the rope, a single, then a brilliant dive and slide by Dean turns a boundary into two. The last ball should have resulted in an easy run out of Ghosh, but Ecclestone has a moment of madness and lobs the ball wide of three stumps – and India come back for the second.
19th over: India 168-5 (Harmanpreet 49, Ghosh 1) A thimble of singles, then Deepti pulls square bisecting Kemp and Gibson on the rope. Clever over from Bell.
WICKET! Deepti Sharma c Dean b Bell 32 (India
The slower ball does it again! Deepti can just offer one-handed dart to mid off where Dean back peddles gently to take the catch.
18th over: India 161-4 (Harmanpreet 48, Sharma 27) Deepti rolling pins four through fine leg, but that’s the only boundary. Smith’s four overs go for 40. Can India get close to 200 in the next two overs?
17th over: India 159-4 (Harmanpreet 47, Sharma 19) Harmanpreet toe-ends Gibson into the air but it evades two chasing filders. Ignore what I said about Deepti, she drops to her knee and whisks Gibson high and frothy to land just short of the boundary, then Harmanpreet fires the final ball down the ground for four.
16th over: India 140-4 (Harmanpreet 40, Sharma 14) Chase that! Harmanpreet takes a balletic step and flames Dean through the offside for four. But Deepti Sharma hasn’t got in the zone yet and is unable to reach the boundary with the same regularity.
15th over: India 132-4 (Harmanpreet 32, Sharma 12 The wind is really billowing the flags now. Deepti goes down the ground, but doesn’t get enough omphph on Smith to reach the rope. But Harmanpreet does – a mightly slap four four.
14th over: India 122-4 (Harmanpreet 29, Sharma 8) Gibson starts with a wide, but follows up with a couple of dots. She’s an energetic fielder off her own bowling, bounding left and right. India remain boundary-less untill Harmanpreet pulls Gibson’s last ball with some welly past the chasing fielder.
Stephen Nicols gets in touch to reply to Kevin Wilson (over five).
“I’m hoping there are a few more runs left in our batting line-up before we pension them all off. A chase of 200-ish tonight will be hard work, and more good prep for the batters before the World Cup. And I reckon we’ll need all the batting experience we can get for the Test Match at Lord’s.”
13th over: India 113-4 (Harmanpreet 22, Sharma 7) India are in danger of running into a boundary-less patch – as they did at Bristol. The sun is out now, but India can only milk five from Ecclestone.
12th over: India 108-4 (Harmanpreet 18, Sharma 5) Seven from Dean’s over, including a wide and a run-out chance – if Gibson had hit, Deepti could have been in trouble, diving and travelling like a truck through treacle. She is patched up.
11th over: India 101-4 (Harmanpreet 17, Sharma 1) Bell with the rebuild over and rebuild she does. Rodrigues had just pulled her for four before losing her timbers. Deepti Sharma leapfrogs the order to come in next.
WICKET! Rodrigues b Bell 29 (India 100-4)
Flummoxed by the slower ball, an advancing Rodrigues can only turn around to confirm her miserable fate. A delighted Bell punches the air.
10th over: India 94-3 (Rodrigues 24, Harmanpreet 16) Harmanpreet chomps into a short ball from Smith, thrashing it square past two diving England fielders, then dispatches the last offering before drinks for another four through point.
9th over: India 82-3 (Rodrigues 23, Harmanpreet 5) England can’t keep Rodrigues still in the crease, and her ceaseless movements gives her options. She ramps Gibson for four, then swots a short ball past a diving Smith for another.
Harmanpreet today overtakes Susie Bates as the most capped player in women’s cricket – with 368 games for India under her belt.
8th over: India 71-3 (Rodrigues 14, Harmanpreet 3) Harmanpreet and Rodrigues make for a stylish duo at the crease. A fistful of singles from Eclestone’s second over, then Rodrigues shimmies a wider final ball with dancing wrists to the backward point boundary.
7th over: India 63-3 (Rodrigues 8, Harmanpreet 1) Dani Gibson stops the flow of boundaries, and the run out of Bhatia could be crucial.
WICKET! Bhatia run out (Ecclestone) 32 (India 60-3)
Ecclestone with her left hand, a fishtail plait running down her back, runs out the lumbering Bhatia with a throw to the non-striker’s end . A vital wicket for England, Bhatia was in the zone
6th over: India 57-2 (Bhatia 32, Rodrigues 3) Bhatia signs off from the power play with three more boundaries, this time off Dean. An off-balanced sweep, a here-we-go up and over, and finally hammering her down the ground like a rogue nail
5th over: India 45-2 (Bhatia 20, Rodrigues 3) Bhatia, dealing mostly in boundaries this evening, slog-sweeps Ecclestone to pick up four. Four singles on top keeps the scoring rate perky.
Hello Kevin Wilson! “England probably decided a while back not to roll the dice before a home World Cup but they should probably move on from DWH, Knight, NSB and Jones after this tournament. The side has suffered from moving too many batters around in the past. Time to bring new players in, in fixed positions. I’m not sure I see a role for Gibson. England have plenty of batters who can bowl. Wong has been out of sorts for a while. Invest in Gaur instead.”
4th over: India 37-2 (Bhatia 9, Rodrigues 1) Dean makes the breakthrough in her first over – India are scoring quickly, but losing wickets.
WICKET! Mandhana lbw Dean 8 (India 36-2)
The dog changes the channel by leaping off the sofa with one paw on the controller, when I put it back on, India have appealed an lbw decision. Madhana had gone to sweep, it looks pretty out – even Mandhana looks like she thinks it is out – and out it is.
3rd over: India 31-1 (Mandhana 8, Bhatia 9) Two wides and two fours from Bell’s second over as she gets some punishment from Bhatia, through point and deep third.
WICKET! Verma c Dean b Smith 11 (India 19-1)
Verma is eager for more runs but cramped for room, gets an outside edge ball which holds up in the wind and Charlie Dean collects at point. Clever bowling
2nd over: India 19-1 (Mandhana 7, Bhatia 0) Linsey Smith in sunglasses from the other end. Mandhana clips her off her toes, over the leaping Bell at midwicket for four. Then Verma joins in hawking her through backward square for four more. But then the wicket!
1st over: India 10-0 (Mandhana 2, Verma 7) Lauren Bell directs the field at the top of her mark. The wind ruffles her shirt, the sun suddenly out and glinting on her bun as the church of St James looks on. Mandhana hoiks Bell up and just over mid on, but Verma earns the style points, delicately angling the ball down to the rope. A handful of singles and a wide.
“There’s a good crowd building,” says Raf. “I’m told they’re expecting at least 5,000 people which will be near capacity.”
Selection talk
Sky’s crew talk England selection for the World Cup – they put Capsey/Dunkley/Knight//Gibson/Wong/Corteen-Coleman and Filer up for discussion.
Charlie Dagnall. “I think Capsey accesses more areas of the field, can manipulate the surface a bit more, better against pace and spin, Dunkley is a little bit more one dimensional. Kate Cross agrees, “Capsey can hit areas of the ground where it needs to go, Dunkley doesn’t have that many more options than hitting over the top.”
Tash Farrant “Dunkley and Wyatt Hodge run really well together,I’d back her, tell her she needs to get off to a fast start. She does look quite tentative at the moment though.” She would pick Capsey and Dunkley and leave Knight out, also Capsey and Dunkley are better in the field and running quick singles.
Cross goes for Knight because you need experienced players, despite her lack of strike rate. “There is no space for anchors any more in the women’s game.”
Dagnall says he’d go for Knight as she’s a better player with NSB in the side.
Farrant says Edwards needs to be more flexible with the batting order.
Dunkley goes for Wong “a difference maker, a big game player.”
Farrant would pick Dani Gibson as England need to stack the batting. As would Cross who says Gibson is more of the future of England cricket than Wong.
And here comes Sue Redfern and the teams.
I’ve just disturbed Raf mid-forkful of white chocolate cheesecake in the Taunton media centre.
“We’ve watched two brilliant warm-up acts – we had drummers earlier and now we’ve got a group of dancers with Indian flags. Overcast and windy at the moment, but it’s been dry all afternoon.”
India XI
India make one change, seamer Kranti Gaud comes in for spinner Shreyanka Patil.
India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues (wk), Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Sree Charani, Nandni Sharma.
England XI
No changes from Bristol.
England: Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Amy Jones (wk), Alice Capsey, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Danielle Gibson, Charlie Dean (c), Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell.
England win the toss and bowl!
It’s blowy out there. Charlie Dean looks pleased. “The win at Bristol was brilliant for us, a confidence builder, hopefully we can do more of the same today.” England play the same team.
Preamble
Roll up, roll up for the final game in this T20 World Cup warm-up series. Happily for the crowd, it’s a decider with meaning, England and India both have a point in the purse – and the winner will take the momentum with them into the tournament proper. They’ll toss the coin at 6pm BST, with play starting half an hour later. Pull up a chair and join us!