Recent Match Report – India Women vs England Women 1st T20I 2023،
England 197 for 6 (Sciver-Brunt 77, Wyatt 75, Renuka 3-27) beaten India 159 for 6 (Shafali 52, Ecclestone 3-15) by 38 runs
Nat Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt rescued England from 2-for-2 peril to give their side a 1-0 lead in the T20I series against India.
Both scored rapid-fire half-centuries in a 138-run stand off just 87 balls after Renuka Singh reduced the visitors to 2 for 2 in the first round of the competition at the Wankhede Stadium, eventually taking England to their second Highest T20I score against India. which, despite a 42-ball 52 from Shafali Verma, proved too high a target.
Wyatt, playing his 150th T20I, made a trouble-free return after seven weeks off, having withdrawn from the WBBL citing the onset of fatigue at the end of the English summer. His 75 from 47 balls contained two sixes and eight fours. Sciver-Brunt strengthened what England were missing when they missed their surprise 2-1 T20I series defeat to Sri Lanka in September, with a 53-ball 77 that was equally crucial in the visitors' recovery . Having played sparingly in the white-ball side of the Ashes after injuring her knee in the Test against Australia in June, Sciver-Brunt also picked up a wicket with her second ball, bowling Smriti Mandhana for just 6.
Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone – playing for the first time since undergoing surgery for a dislocated right shoulder in August – produced her best T20I spell against India with 3 for 15 from four overs . Freya Kemp, the teenage all-rounder who had been playing solely as a batter since injuring her back during England's tour of the Caribbean a year ago, stepped in with the wicket of Jemimah Rodrigues, also for single figures, as his team shook off the doubts that had invaded their short game just three months ago.
Dream start for Renuka
Renuka captured two wickets in as many balls – the fourth and fifth of the match, no less – to put England in dire trouble at 2 for 2 as Sophia Dunkley's batting woes continued. After missing England's white-ball series against Sri Lanka following a lean Ashes campaign and managing just a half-century amid a run of single-digit scores at the WBBL, Dunkley returned to the XI starting at the expense of Maia Bouchier, who had held the opening position in his absence.
But when Dunkley pressed the second ball she faced from Renuka, she found herself in a tangle as the ball ricocheted off her elbow and onto the stumps. Renuka then removed Alice Capsey for a first-ball duck with a gem of a delivery that zeroed in on off stump while Capesy played inside, only to hear the definitive clatter behind her. Sciver-Brunt survived the hat-trick, but Renuka's early forays had India looking vibrant and marked a welcome return for their spearhead, playing his first international match since February after overcoming a stress injury.
Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt stabilize things
Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt brought the home side back down to earth with their third wicket to take England's recovery to 140 for 3 by the time Wyatt stepped towards left-arm debutant Saika Ishaque and was confounded by Richa Ghosh. Wyatt should have been out moments after bringing up his half-century, but Pooja Vastrakar dropped a sitter at long-on to India's other debutant, off-spinner Shreyanka Patil. Two balls earlier, Shreyanka made a weak return against Sciver-Brunt, on 45 at the time. Both chances ended Wyatt's thunderous six at long-on, his second maximum. Shreyanka finally grabbed her first wicket, deceiving England captain Heather Knight with a full, straight delivery that crashed against the off stump.
Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt had increased the tempo just after the halfway mark and Sciver-Brunt took the lead by plundering four fours off a Vastrakar, costing 19 in total. It took Renuka's return to the attack to remove Sciver-Brunt in the penultimate over, drawing an edge which Ghosh clawed back via an excellent dive to his right, ending an excellent knock that included 13 fours. Harmanpreet Kaur kept faith in Shreyanka to deliver the final over and she conceded 16 before Jemimah Rodrigues took a catch just inside the deep mid-wicket boundary to remove Amy Jones after a fine nine-ball cameo. 'worth 23 off the final ball with England falling just short of the 200 mark which seemed so out of reach during the opening stage of the match.
She is baaaack
England were understandably noncommittal about Ecclestone's chances of playing this match, with captain Heather Knight and leg-spinner Sarah Glenn revealing nothing in their pre-match press conferences, if anything. is that they were watching her closely. It was hard to take your eyes off the world's best spinner during a devastating comeback from an injury to her non-bowling shoulder, suffered while warming up for a Hundred match. Just as Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt had increased the pressure on the hosts after the mid-innings break, Ecclestone also did the same, removing Harmanpreet with the second ball after the break, a length delivery straight to the stumps which Harmanpreet shaped to cut but only succeeded in cutting.
Shafali looked assertive, particularly early in her innings, and hit three of her nine boundaries against Sciver-Brunt. But she didn't have the support of her teammates and, when Ecclestone and Glenn combined to take her down, swinging wildly at a thrown Ecclestone on a stump and picking out Glenn at the back, the home crowd went silent. Another throw did it for Kanika Ahuja as Sciver-Brunt took over in the 19th over. Glenn chipped in with 1 for 25 from his four overs and, while India had to rue an inconsistent performance on the field, England's victory was nothing short of clinical after their early stutter.
