England won the first Women’s T20 International against India by 18 runs by the DLS method to claim a 1-0 lead in the series. They are also leading 8-4 in the multi-format series; with two T20Is to go, they cannot lose the series.
At the County Ground in Northampton, Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and asked England to bat. India brought in Harleen Deol, Radha Yadav, and Arundhati Reddy, while England got changes included Danni Wyatt, Mady Villiers, and Freya Davies.
Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont added 56 after a sedate start. The Indian opening bowlers, Shikha Pandey and Reddy, kept the pressure thanks to some sharp ground fielding.
Then the Indian spinners struck. Wyatt was dismissed for 31 by Radha Yadav and Beaumont by Poonam Yadav, while Deepti Sharma ran Heather Knight out brilliantly. At 85/3 in the 12th over it was anybody’s game, but this was when Amy Jones joined Nat Sciver.
Both batted aggressively and played some enterprising shots in their 82-run partnership in just 42 balls. Sciver took 24 balls to reach her fifty – a national record. She eventually scored 55 in 24 balls, with 8 fours and a six. Jones hit 4 fours and 2 sixes in her 27-ball 43.
At one point it seemed England would go past 190, but India fielded brilliantly. Pandey picked up three wickets in the 19th over, all of which can be credited to fielders.
In the second ball, Kaur sprinted in and dove forward to catch Sciver. Two balls later Deol did one better. She caught Jones at long off, missed the balance, threw the ball in the air, crossed the boundary, and flung himself back into the playing area to catch the ball. Richa Ghosh stumped Sophia Dunkley off the last ball.
England finally scored 177/7.
India Women collapse
Indian chase had an early blow as Shafali Verma backed away to a straight ball from Katherine Brunt and fell for a duck. Deol joined Smriti Mandhana, who raced to 29 off 17 balls before hitting Sciver to deep square leg.
India faced another blow when Sarah Glenn dismissed Kaur for 1 in the next over. The chance of rain pushed India further in the DLS calculation. The match was abandoned after the fourth ball of the ninth over with India Women 18 runs behind as per the DLS target.
Nat Sciver was named Player of the Match for her entertaining innings. The teams will now move to Hove for the second T20I on Sunday.
Brief scores
England Women 177/7 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver 55; Shikha Pandey 3-22) beat India Women 54/3 in 8.4 overs (Smriti Mandhana 29; Sarah Glenn 1-6) by 18 runs (DLS Method). Player of the Match: Nat Sciver.