England Women ended Day 1 against India Women at Bristol on 269/6. They were firmly on top until late in the day after Heather Knight opted to bat. At one point they were 230/2, with Knight (95) and Nat Sciver (42) looking well set. Mithali Raj, desperate for wickets, had left no stone unturned. India, on their return to Test cricket after six and a half years, did not impress for the first five hours.
Then the off-spinners sprung into action. Sciver went first, trying to sweep Deepti Sharma (2-50). All English batters had swept with panache throughout the day, but Sciver missed this one. For some inexplicable reason, she reviewed: the ball would have hit middle stump.
That wicket ended the 73rd over. By the 82nd, England were 251/6. Amy Jones went first, leg before to one that Sneh Rana (3-77) manage to bring into her. Knight went next, five short of a well-deserved hundred, trying to play inside the line from Deepti but being beaten by the drift. And Georgia Elwiss’ outside edge, off Rana, was well caught by Deepti at slip.
Sophia Dunkley, the first black woman to play for England, and Katherine Brunt are out there, but given how Deepti and Rana have been getting the ball to turn, 325 does not look easily achievable.
Earlier, Lauren Winfield-Hill (35) and Tammy Beaumont (66) batted confidently, adding 69 for the first wicket. Winfield-Hill was dropped by Smriti Mandhana in the slips, and it took an excellent diving catch by Taniya Bhatia off Pooja Vastrakar (1-43) to send her back. She hit the only two sixes of the day, both off seamers. Beaumont added another 71 with Knight before Shafali Verma caught her one-handed at short leg, off Rana.
At 38, Jhulan Goswami toiled hard, sending down 18 overs, on a pitch that held little for her. She ended the day without success. Whether India could have played another spinner can be debated, but it cannot be denied that Shikha Pandey and Vastrakar made little impression, and it was left to Rana and Deepti to bowl 47 of the 92 overs on Day 1.
On a pitch where the ball is turning, India probably needed an Ekta Bisht who could have taken the ball away from the right-hander: all three Indian spinners bowl off-breaks. However, picking Vastrakar, Pandey, and Rana means that India do not have any tail to speak of.
Brief scores
England Women 269/6 (Heather Knight 95; Sneh Rana 3-77) vs India Women.